ExpressCard to PCMCIA Adapter for 1784-PCMK

[Paul B]

Keep us posted bud!

There is surely a joke here about IT dept's but I don't dare say it until you figure it out.

 

[Crash+Flash]

Happy camper

After waiting for over 2 months for my ebay purchase from gigacity to arrive from Hong Kong, I gave up. I will say that they quickly posted my credit.

Then I found this one;
http://www.shopdigi.com/product.aspx?pf_id=PC-EXP and they shipped it the same day I ordered it. Since they are local to me, it arrived the next day. I plugged it in and windows recognized it immediately, but nothing happened when I inserted the PCMK. Just for yucks, I went to Device Manager and scanned for new hardware. Lo and behold, it was discovered and all the drivers loaded and RSLinx is happy! Now I'm curious what would of happened if I'd done that with my Duel adapter...
The hardest part was finding my physical PCMK card, it's been floating around the office unused for so long.
(I am running XP Pro SP3)

 

[Alan Case]

Hi.
Just bought one. We will see how it works.
My $4000 worth of cards may not be redundant anymore.

Regards Alan Case

 

[jkerekes]

Does anyone know of a product that uses a USB interface instead of the express slot and that WORKS with the varoius AB comm cards?

 

[Alan Case]

Try a USB to express slot adaptor joined to the above mentioned adaptor. USB to express slot adaptors are cheap. Have seen them down to $10.
Regards Alan Case

 

[Oceansoul]

My IT department "upgraded" me to an older computer, so i could use the PCMCIA slot. Never got round to actually trying my adaptor.

I dont think the PCMK will work with USB. I have read that the PCMK needs to interface directly with the I/O of the motherboard to achieve its speeds (think back to the 90's when PCMK was released. Serial was too slow, and PCMCIA was the only option.)

This is why only some of the express card adaptors work. Some interface with the PCI bus (like PCMCIA does), some interface with the USB bus.

 

[procet]

Interesting thread. I too am looking to avoid having to by a $2000 U2CN cable from Rockwell, one I am sure is made overseas for $50 or less. Anyway my thoughts: If a company claims to have a 16-bit PC card adapter then it should work because by definition the 1784-PCC (in my case) is a 16-bit PC card and by convention must use those standards as laid out by PCMCIA (or JEIDA). Before EC slots I never had any trouble installing PCMK or PCC cards using either W2K or XP into a PCMCIA slot.

Therefore, hypothetically speaking, any EC adapter claiming Type I/II 16/32 bit PCMCIA conversion should work because this is the definition the 1784 cards fall into.

And then there is reality.....

Anyway I plan to buy one of these EC adapter cards suggested here. One thing I will note is I tried one of my British collegue's Duel Adapter and it did not work on my Vostro 1720. Duel techs claim this (code 21) is a hardware issue with Dell Vostro.

 

[Oceansoul]

Interesting thread. I too am looking to avoid having to by a $2000 U2CN cable from Rockwell, one I am sure is made overseas for $50 or less. Anyway my thoughts: If a company claims to have a 16-bit PC card adapter then it should work because by definition the 1784-PCC (in my case) is a 16-bit PC card and by convention must use those standards as laid out by PCMCIA (or JEIDA). Before EC slots I never had any trouble installing PCMK or PCC cards using either W2K or XP into a PCMCIA slot.

Therefore, hypothetically speaking, any EC adapter claiming Type I/II 16/32 bit PCMCIA conversion should work because this is the definition the 1784 cards fall into.

And then there is reality.....

Anyway I plan to buy one of these EC adapter cards suggested here. One thing I will note is I tried one of my British collegue's Duel Adapter and it did not work on my Vostro 1720. Duel techs claim this (code 21) is a hardware issue with Dell Vostro.

I think the problem is alot of these adaptors interface with the USB bus and not the PCI bus. Expresscard slot is basically a glorified USB slot after all.

 

[procet]

All true, I was basing my observation on the "claims" made by the companies claiming adapters. Being a techie like yourself we base our assumptions on specs. So if they claim Types I/II 16/32 bit compatibility then the claim needs to meet the specs as laid out by PCMCIA or the claim is invalid.

Just for everyones info the Dell Latitude series still offer standard PCMCIA slot OR optional Express card slot. They still offer 9-pin serial as well, a bonus . Unfortunatley the Latitude customization can take a simple $900 laptop (E5510) up to almost $2000 once you add on more RAM, better monitor, etc etc .

 

[Alan Case]

Hi.
I finally got around to trying the Hong Kong adaptor.
It recognised an AB PCMK card was plugged into the machine.
I had to load the AB PCMK driver and all seemed to work in Linx.
I have not connected to a real network yet but all seems to work so far. (Dell Vostro 1710 with XP SP3)
Regards Alan Case

 

[procet]

I will be very interested in hearing this. I just ordered the recommendation from shopdigi.com for $50 plus $20 for shipping. My computer is a Vostro 1720 running XP SP3 so we are close. The only difference is I am trying to get a 1784-PCC card going. Happy New year down under as you are probably getting it now hours before me!

 

[jkerekes]

I'm interested too. My laptop does have a PCMCIA slot, but I'm running W7 64 bit, so there isn't any drivers. I use VMware for the programming software which doesn't recognize PCMCIA slots. So if this can work, I'd be very interested in getting one.

 

[Larry B]

Tried it. Don't work.

 

[jkerekes]

Back to the drawing board!

 

[baldone]

Hi.
I finally got around to trying the Hong Kong adaptor.
It recognised an AB PCMK card was plugged into the machine.
I had to load the AB PCMK driver and all seemed to work in Linx.
I have not connected to a real network yet but all seems to work so far. (Dell Vostro 1710 with XP SP3)
Regards Alan Case

Were you able to get this to work and if so do you have a link to the adaptor?