Slashdot Mirror
Standard Brewing For PC Card Replacement 'Newcard'
winston_pr writes "The details on the successor to the PC Card is starting to take form with details being given in this article at Nikkei Japan. The standard is scheduled to be finalized in 2003, while the first PCs with NEWCARD slots are expected to ship in the second half of 2004. Will this mean the end of all these crazy SD-card connection based peripherals?"
Isn't this the wrong way to go about it? Usually the hardware is built and then the standard is derived from that, guaranteeing compatability. What if the standard requires something that turns out impossible to implement? Everything will be broken. We'd never have cool tech like FireWire, PCI, and SDRAM if hardware producers had to wait for a standard before they even started working on products.
Boromir, son of Faramir, King of Gondor and Minas Tirith
Can some informed person speculate as to what the purpose of a PC card is in the day of Firewire800? Does a PC card have better bus access or something? Is it a form factor issue (e.g. its not dangling but is sort of part of the laptop?) With laptops getting smaller and PC-cards tending to get larger and bulging outside the chasis, the form factor issue looks less distinct to me. so why PC cards?
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
PCs have stayed pretty much the same because the majority of PC owners want something upgradable, and something they can fix themselves without a 200x jewelers loupe and nerves of steel.
Various folks have tried the iMac concept, IBMs little goofy thingamajoo comes to mind (was it the S series?) People dont have a problem with the standard sized box, and slots they can use.
MicroPCs have their place, and that niche will expand. But I cant see any reason I would want my main desktop to be anything but what it is, something I can put together and take apart by myself without a lot of headache.
I've built a couple flexATX form factor PCs for my kids, and they're fun, but it's a bitch to work even that small, I wouldnt want to work with anything much smaller. My big tower desktop, I can replace a video card or add a HDD in about 2 minutes.
If it ain't broke, dont fix it.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Step one create a new standard and milk the licensing as long as your can.
Step two repeat step one.
That really is the purpose of the newcard. Plug and play peripherals which can plug in on the desktop, while the rest of the PC is located under the desktop.
From the article:The concept for the NEWCARD Console, an external peripheral allowing expansion cards to be swapped in and out easily, was also shown. The idea is to have only the display, keyboard, mouse and NEWCARD Console on the desktop, with the PC main unit made as small as possible and stored under the desk or otherwise out of the way.
While that may be true today, dont be suprised if in the near future the 'homeland security' department will mandate you use 'approved hardware and software' before you can get online. And use of anything other will be considered criminal...
Then watch it expand to other conutries..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
For those who can't be bothered to read the article, the new interface is basically USB + PCI-Express. This means that 2 new things become possible; cards that can use the USB interface become very cheap so we should see a load of cheaper devices appearing as cards. Secondly, PCI-Express cards are possible.
One thing I was wondering is, is there any chance people could fit a graphics card into this form factor. Then you could upgrade the graphics of too-slow laptops.
No, of course not. It just adds one more peripheral standard.
Also means getting another pocket or drawer hold more crap in. Smaller, yes, but more diverse.
"Ah, this model uses Newcard and SD and has an adapter for PCMCIA so you can plug in another adapter for your CF card, blah, blah, blah."
Funny how more octopus-like compact electronics get when you finally have everything hooked up to it.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar