PCMCIA in an 860?

[kic]

Howdy. I've been lurking here for a little while trying to read up on as much as I can, especially since I'm really feeling the urge to get an 860 now, but I just stumbled onto something somewhere else that intrigued me (ebay, of all places).

I saw a listing for a 760 with a CF to PCMCIA adapter. I've done some poking around, but I've not found much information on using one of these with a Zaurus and using a pcmcia wifi card. I'm guessing that, provided it works, it'll kill the battery, but I'm thinking it may be worth it for the better antenna, provided it's not too demanding on power.

Any info, help, links, etc. would be appreciated. Looking forward to likely spending a bunch of money to replace (shove aside?) my iPAQ (and I'm long and loyal iPAQ user! Ack!).

[iamasmith]

The only thing that I would say on this subject is that if you do get it going beware of power drain.

[tz]

The PCMCIA cards need to be 3.3 volt only compatible.  A Cisco 350 card works (I have one to an external antenna - I had to compile and tweak the drivers though).  Battery drain is a problem, but depending on where you are you could use some kind of spare power.  A Toshiba 5Gb pcmcia ATA drive works too.

[lardman]

Also be careful that the PCMCIA card in question is a true (old) 16-bit PCMCIA card rather than a newer 32-bit CardBus card which won't work (see here for a description: http://www.pcmcia.org/).


Si

[kic]

Thanks for the replies.

I think that pretty much answers all of my questions, and then some.  I'm still not 100% set on getting an 860, but I think I foresee spending in the future.

On a side note, tz, what sort of battery life do you get with your cisco card and antenna connected?

[Miami_Bob]

I saw a listing for a 760 with a CF to PCMCIA adapter.

I'm a long time HP-LX user and think that somebody is misleading you badly.

I have NEVER seen an adapter that allows a PCMCIA card or device to be used in a CF (or SD) socket. And I *have* looked extensively.

I had been using a very old PCMCIA card reader that requires DOS device drivers be pre loaded in order to work, for many years. About a year ago, I began looking for any USB card readers supporting PCMCIA & got burned repeatedly by web hype CLAIMING this ability for devices that would not even physically accept PCMCIA cards. Can you say "RMA with prejudice"?

The ONLY USB based PCMCIA card drive that I was ever able to find ONLY supports FLASH RAM cards. PERIOD. It will not work with WiFi, Network, Modem or other such PCMCIA device cards. Hell, it crashes WindHoze HARD if I even try to use the old style SRAM cards or the original HP95LX demo ROM cards!

I have several CF/SD/etc *card* to PCMCIA socket adapters. But, as nice as they are for my HP-LX machines, the are not worth squat for my C860.

Can you prove to me otherwise (G)? If so, *I'll* buy one myself! A safe bet, IMOHE.

[offthefront]

I have NEVER seen an adapter that allows a PCMCIA card or device to be used in a CF (or SD) socket. And I *have* looked extensively.

http://www.semsons.com/comflastopcc.html

I've used this for toshiba hard drives, wi-fi cards and gps. Cardbus wont work, but everything else I've tried does.

[Miami_Bob]

Sue -

Thanks to the info! Wish I had seen this last year! (G)

My order is going in as we "speak" (G2).

THANKS!!

[Sephiroth]

Sue -

Thanks to the info! Wish I had seen this last year! (G)

My order is going in as we "speak" (G2).

THANKS!!

I am thinking to buy this so, does it work well ?
Thanks for updates

[tz]

If the card is 3.3v, it will normally drain the battery quickly - you will want the bigger battery.  Most wifi cards don't draw too much - and the pcmcia versions are not really different inside (except for something like the Socket CF).

I can usually get 45 minutes warwalking with a Cisco card, but I think it needs more current when transmitting, but I've gone beyond 30 minutes heavily surfing without the battery indicator going to 25%

YMMV.