Pcmcia USB card

[tekopaa]

I didnt belive that pcmcia bus could handle usb but dx offers these cards

http://www.dx.com/p/wbtuo-bc168-note...1#.VFoVMPmsXRw

Would these be compatible with Amiga if driver/support .. be available

[jbenam]

They're CardBus, which is 32-bit. The Amiga only supports 16-bit PCMCIA.

[tekopaa]

but in picture it looks like 16bit PCMCIA.

http://bixnet.net/images/PCCard-16Bit-CardBus.jpg

[jbenam]

Indeed, but the sticker and the description says otherwise

I'm not even sure if the golden grounding strip is needed at all (maybe for Cardbus slot sensing?)...

[Oli_HD]

Just on a side note theres no reason why the PCMCIA port cant support USB, Zorro 2 can and the chip used on the Thylacine is 8bit so could be interfaced to a C64 if you really wanted to.
I know the chip on the Thylacine had a developers board that was an 8 bit ISA card. (XT)

Doesnt matter though as yes, that card is cardbus.

[jbenam]

Originally Posted by Oli_HD

Just on a side note theres no reason why the PCMCIA port cant support USB, Zorro 2 can and the chip used on the Thylacine is 8bit so could be interfaced to a C64 if you really wanted to.
I know the chip on the Thylacine had a developers board that was an 8 bit ISA card. (XT)

Doesnt matter though as yes, that card is cardbus.

Looks like a good upgrade for the next version of Sakura, the 4MB PCMCIA card made by strim and friend!

[Supamax]

Many many years ago I saw non-CardBus (16 bit) PCMCIA USB 1.1 cards.
I should have bought one, because they disappeared long ago .

I have an old notebook which has no USB ports, and one of those cards would be the only solution for it (its two PCMCIA slots are not CardBus-compatible).

[Arnie]

What about something like this......

http://www.ratocsystems.com/english/products/CFU2U.html

[FOL]

Originally Posted by Arnie

What about something like this......

http://www.ratocsystems.com/english/products/CFU2U.html

Accept, you cant get them now.

[Arnie]

Or this......

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cablematic-C...FfMZtAoduigA9Q

[jbenam]

Originally Posted by Arnie

Or this......

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cablematic-C...FfMZtAoduigA9Q

Cardbus, won't work in the Amiga.

[Arnie]

maybe this.......

http://www.smartphonemag.com/cms/blo..._your_handheld

[jbenam]

Originally Posted by Arnie

maybe this.......

http://www.smartphonemag.com/cms/blo..._your_handheld

IIRC CompactFlash I/O should be pin-compatible with PCMCIA.

That could work, but good luck in finding them nowadays On the other hand, building a new PCMCIA solution using the Thylacine chip should be perfectly doable.

strim is the man for this discussion (If only he would pop in here!)

[alexh]

The only 16-bit PCMCIA USB1.1 bridge chip is the Oxford Semiconductors / PLX Technologies CFU950 (which I worked on).

I donated several including FPGA development boards to Michael Boehmer and Chris Hodges. I am sure they are now lost in the mists of time.

I did have several more but I think I junked them just recently (I got too many boxes full of crap as it is). I'll have an eyeball around the Amiga boxes tonight.

I think only one company made a product with this chip (in the USB configuration) SolarExpress PDA II

[alexh]

Looking in the cupboard at work I found the last three 16-bit PCMCIA FPGA devkits.

I can provide the schematics for the boards, the Xilinx pinmap UCF file and possibly an example top-level VHDL file.

I cannot give the design (obviously).

So who wants will use them? You could make your own PCMCIA->USB 1.1 bridge.

[jbenam]

Originally Posted by alexh

Looking in the cupboard at work I found the last three 16-bit PCMCIA FPGA devkits.

I can provide the schematics for the boards, the Xilinx pinmap UCF file and possibly an example top-level VHDL file.

I cannot give the design (obviously).

So who wants will use them? You could make your own PCMCIA->USB 1.1 bridge.

You should PM strim. I'm sure he'd be interested in them for Sakura2

[alexh]

What is Sakura2?

Unfortunately they are pretty much single purpose.

PCMCIA connector-> (FPGA + Config PROM) ->USB connector.

I think maybe one has a breakout header

[jbenam]

Originally Posted by alexh

What is Sakura2?

Unfortunately they are pretty much single purpose.

PCMCIA connector-> (FPGA + Config PROM) ->USB connector.

I think maybe one has a breakout header

Sakura is a new PCMCIA RAM expansion which came out some months ago:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?...cia+ram&page=3

strim was thinking of making a new version ("Sakura2" was my name, there's still no official naming) with Ethernet and other goodies on it - maybe he can also stick a 16-bit USB port on it?

[strim]

strim was thinking of making a new version ("Sakura2" was my name, there's still no official naming) with Ethernet and other goodies on it - maybe he can also stick a 16-bit USB port on it?

I think I'll stick with RAM, Ethernet, Flash and SD controller for now. Okay, feature list for Sakura Mk2 is still open, but I have to be very careful to keep the price at acceptable level. Adding stuff like FPGAs would increase the cost. I'll try to keep it all in one CPLD + ASICs.

Work in progress: http://c0ff33.net/drop/sakuramk2-v0.pdf
(very very slow progress, since I am busy with Decelerator 4030 now)

[jbenam]

Originally Posted by strim

I think I'll stick with RAM, Ethernet, Flash and SD controller for now. Okay, feature list for Sakura Mk2 is still open, but I have to be very careful to keep the price at acceptable level. Adding stuff like FPGAs would increase the cost. I'll try to keep it all in one CPLD + ASICs.

Work in progress: http://c0ff33.net/drop/sakuramk2-v0.pdf
(very very slow progress, since I am busy with Decelerator 4030 now)

Thanks for taking the time to reply!

Maybe a dedicated USB-PCMCIA solution (I know there's request for such thing!) could keep the costs low enough for it to be an interesting proposal?