Converting PCMCIA types

[Zetr0]

heys there

I am currently wondering if it is possible to convert between types of PCMCIA cards... specificially DRAM and SRAM cards...

recently I have scored a few cards PCMCIA from here and there, I was hoping that atleast one might be compatible with the PCMCIA port of the A600. alas the pins donot line up.

I have a 2MB sram card that has 68pin neatly 2 rows of 34 and works okay with the a600, I want to increase the amount of ram to atleast 4mb for testing purposes..

I have 4 other cards ( 2rows of 34 staggerd! )

4MB low power DRAM ( Kelly Micro Systems )
8MB low power DRAM ( new media corporation )
8MB low power DRAM ( STT4600/8 Toshiba )
32MB DRAM ( Smart Modular Technologies ) -PF125465-10

 Pin Assignments
The pin assignments for 16-Bit PC Card and 32-Bit CardBus interfaces are given here.
+================================================================+
| Pin Assignments For The PC Card And Cardbus Interfaces         |
+---+-----------------+---------+-----+-----------------+--------+
|   |      16-Bit     | 32-bit |$|    |     16-Bit      | 32-bit |
|   +-----------------+        |$|    +--------+--------+        +
|Pin| Memory |I/O+Mem |CardBus |$| Pin| Memory |I/O+Mem |CardBus |
+===+========+========+========+$+====+========+========+========+
|1  |GND     |GND     |GND     |$| 35 |GND     |GND     |GND     |
|2  |D3      |D3      |CAD0    |$| 36 |CD1#    |CD1#    |CCD1#   |
|3  |D4      |D4      |CAD1    |$| 37 |D11     |D11     |CAD2    |
|4  |D5      |D5      |CAD3    |$| 38 |D12     |D12     |CAD4    |
|5  |D6      |D6      |CAD5    |$| 39 |D13     |D13     |CAD6    |
+---+--------+--------+------- |$| ---+--------+--------+--------+
|6  |D7      |D7      |CAD7    |$| 40 |D14     |D14     |RSRVD   |
|7  |CE1#    |CE1#    |CCBE0#  |$| 41 |D15     |D15     |CAD8    |
|8  |A10     |A10     |CAD9    |$| 42 |CE2#    |CE2#    |CAD10   |
|9  |OE#     |OE#     |CAD11   |$| 43 |VS1#    |VS1#    |CVS1    |
|10 |A11     |A11     |CAD12   |$| 44 |RSRVD   |IORD#   |CAD13   |
+---+--------+--------+------- |$| ---+--------+--------+--------+
|11 |A9      |A9      |CAD14   |$| 45 |RSRVD   |IOWR#   |CAD15   |
|12 |A8      |A8      |CCBE1#  |$| 46 |A17     |A17     |CAD16   |
|13 |A13     |A13     |CPAR    |$| 47 |A18     |A18     |RSRVD   |
|14 |A14     |A14     |CPERR#  |$| 48 |A19     |A19     |CBLOCK# |
|15 |WE#     |WE#     |CGNT#   |$| 49 |A20     |A20     |CSTOP#  |
+---+--------+--------+------- |$| ---+--------+--------+--------+
|16 |READY   |IREQ#   |CINT#   |$| 50 |A21     |A21     |CDEVSEL#|
|17 |Vcc     |Vcc     |Vcc     |$| 51 |Vcc     |Vcc     |Vcc     |
|18 |Vpp1    |Vpp1    |Vpp1    |$| 52 |Vpp2    |Vpp2    |Vpp2    |
|19 |A16     |A16     |CCLK    |$| 53 |A22     |A22     |CTRDY#  |
|20 |A15     |A15     |CIRDY#  |$| 54 |A23     |A23     |CFRAME# |
+---+--------+--------+------- |$| ---+--------+--------+--------+
|21 |A12     |A12     |CCBE2#  |$| 55 |A24     |A24     |CAD17   |
|22 |A7      |A7      |CAD18   |$| 56  A25     |A25     |CAD19   |
|23 |A6      |A6      |CAD20   |$| 57 |VS2#    |VS2#    |CVS2    |
|24 |A5      |A5      |CAD21   |$| 58 |RESET   |RESET   |CRST#   |
|25 |A4      |A4      |CAD22   |$| 59 |WAIT#   |WAIT#   |CSERR#  |
+---+--------+--------+------- |$| ---+--------+--------+--------+
|26 |A3      |A3      |CAD23   |$| 60 |RSRVD   |INPACK# |CREQ#   |
|27 |A2      |A2      |CAD24   |$| 61 |REG#    |REG#    |CCBE3#  |
|28 |A1      |A1      |CAD25   |$| 62 |BVD2    |SPKR#   |CAUDIO  |
|29 |A0      |A0      |CAD26   |$| 63 |BVD1    |STSCHG# |CSTSCHG |
|30 |D0      |D0      |CAD27   |$| 64 |D8      |D8      |CAD28   |
+---+--------+--------+------- |$| ---+--------+--------+--------+
|31 |D1      |D1      |CAD29   |$| 65 |D9      |D9      |CAD30   |
|32 |D2      |D2      |RSRVD   |$| 66 |D10     |D10     |CAD31   |
|33 |WP      |IOIS16# |CCLKRUN#|$| 67 |CD2#    |CD2#    |CCD2#   |
|34 |GND     |GND     |GND     |$| 68 |GND     |GND     |GND     |
+===+========+========+========+=+====+========+========+========+ 

I have no qualms in building a bridge board... i am just wondering if its not only possible but if some one has done it before.

[alexh]

two rows of staggered pins are NOT PCMCIA they are this strange hybrid design I am sure. Used on some laptops before PCMCIA became common. It is difficult to get the vendors to admit that they are not PCMCIA.

I would appreciate photo's of the cards that dont work so we can put together some sort of list.

[Zetr0]

if only i could find the pinouts of these hybrids, you never know alexh... a bridge board could be made...

although i doubt it would just be a passive solution it would be an interesting exercise me thinks...

when i get some time i will take some pictures

[Smiley]

I thought the pcmcia slot could only handle 4mb of memory regardless of its type.

Interesting if you got something working. 32mb via pcmcia slot hmmmm

[Zetr0]

I doubt that could happen my friend, I dont believe the addressing space on the A6/12 pcmcia port can go that high... i think maximum is 8MB ... or was it 16... hmmm i have to hit the hayens manual

but still any would be nice...

[alexh]

The maximum address space without paging is 4Mbytes

[Zetr0]

there ya go... 4MB!


thankies alexh!

[Smiley]

Originally Posted by Smiley

I thought the pcmcia slot could only handle 4mb of memory regardless of its type.

I knew it!

[Jope]

I think you guys ought to channel your efforts towards a clip-onto-cpu 8MB expansion and forget the slow sram cards.. :-)

Aminet has a good starting point here:
http://aminet.net/package/hard/hack/hddmem_exp_a50

[Chain]

I will shot mine which isnt pcmcia but have same size, just as warning...

[alexh]

Originally Posted by Jope

I think you guys ought to channel your efforts towards a clip-onto-cpu 8MB expansion and forget the slow sram cards.. :-)

Aminet has a good starting point here:
http://aminet.net/package/hard/hack/hddmem_exp_a50

Waste of time if you ask me.

[Jope]

Originally Posted by alexh

Waste of time if you ask me.

What is? The clipon mem expansion? Come now, that's a fun little soldering project.. Definitely more fun than PCMCIA RAM cards. :-)

[Zetr0]

@jope
now there something to have a little fun with in the summer hols!

@alexh
if only i could get my mits on the toshiba hybrid pcmcia pinouts!!!!

[Zetr0]

hmmmm


I dont seem to be having much luck finding a toshiba reference to thier *hybrid pcmcia design...

anyone got any ideas?