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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?"

28 of 187 comments (clear)

  1. Meet the Newcard... by baywulf · · Score: 3, Funny

    same as the old.

    1. Re:Meet the Newcard... by Dr+Caleb · · Score: 3, Funny
      same as the old

      and pray we don't get fooled again..

      --
      "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Mark Twain
  2. Summary! by RumpRoast · · Score: 5, Funny

    In new computers, things will be smaller and faster.

    Thanks!

    --

    My Ass hurts.
    1. Re:Summary! by ackthpt · · Score: 4, Insightful
      In new computers, things will be smaller and faster.

      No...

      In summary you will now have to ditch all your old grotty cards to get *NEW* cards! New Mobo, new cards, full employment, a chicken in every garage, etc. And you thought you actually had choice in these things?

      Further summarized...

      All your base are belong to us!

      Yes, this means crap like WinModems which may be the only choice for the new standard paint buyers further into a corner, as manufacturers could give a care less as they try to compete in a highly commoditized market.

      Whee.

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    2. Re:Summary! by Lionel+Hutts · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yes, this means crap like WinModems which may be the only choice for the new standard paint buyers further into a corner, as manufacturers could give a care less as they try to compete in a highly commoditized market.

      This is the first post I've ever seen that quoted "All your base are belong to us" in which that wasn't even the most bizarre sentence. A mixed metaphor, a mangled cliche interbred with another cliche, a conclusion that simply does not follow from the antecedent, and an example with no logical connection to the assertion being demonstrated -- all in 39 words.

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  3. crazy by Boromir+son+of+Faram · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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
    1. Re:crazy by Trigun · · Score: 4, Informative

      The 'standard' is being built upon already established standards, specifically PCI express and USB 2.0. The connection interface will have to implement both, whereas the card itself will only have to implement one of the two.

      The remainder of the standard has to do with tolerances for the connection interface, something that should be standardized to prevent rogue cards burning out your bus, or creating too much interference. They also deal with size and shape, as well as trying to standardize the exection mechanism (although this is only a suggestion at this point).

  4. The end of multiple standards by yourruinreverse · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Will this mean the end of all these crazy SD-card connection based peripherals?

    No, of course not. It just adds one more peripheral standard.

    --
    JeR
    1. Re:The end of multiple standards by ackthpt · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Will this mean the end of all these crazy SD-card connection based peripherals?

      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
  5. Why do we need PC cards anyhow by goombah99 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.
    1. Re:Why do we need PC cards anyhow by Quervo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'm not quite sure I'm informed, but I'll give it a shot:

      Firewire 800 is only 800 M*bits*/s ~ 100M*bytes*/s
      from the article is seems that one way data flow is 250 M*bytes*/s
      so it appears to be about 2.5x as fast. That's one advantage.

      Having a small harddrive (or other small peripheral) that you could access at high speeds (not a lot around, I know: but think of future advances), that wouldn't be dangling around outside your computer. And since laptops are notable not very expandable, but *supposed* to be portable, having something small and fast and not as much trouble as external drives (8lb notebook + 2 lb external drive = too many pounds) is a Good Idea(tm) in my book.

      additionally, there has been some speculation about CPU, memmory, and graphics modules that could be slipped in, but it's not very clear if that's possible or even feasible. But that would be cool if it ever worked.

    2. Re:Why do we need PC cards anyhow by dasunt · · Score: 3, Informative

      I can't speak for other laptop users, but the reason I like PCMCIA cards is that they provide an easy way to swap in and out components, fairly standard (way easier to find a PCMCIA modem then a firewire modem), and the integrated card is harder to break then a dongle, thus leading to the 'bulge' that you speak of for firewire, network, etc cards.

      It would be nice (but I'm not expecting) for the new standard to give the PC Card Redux enough room where it can fit, say, an RJ-45 or two squeezed together USB or firewire ports without a dongle. Instead of a flat card like we have in PCMCIA or PC Card, it would be more of a square peggish looking card. OTOH, the flatter cardbus cards we have today are perfect for miniature hard drives, and memory sticks still aren't made in the largest size as the miniature hard drives.

      As for myself with my old laptop, I'm going to check out the Xircom realport cards. :)

    3. Re:Why do we need PC cards anyhow by chipace · · Score: 3, Informative

      Features sell products... standards can help with uniform driver support. I completely agree with you about their practical benefit. This wouldn't influence me at all.

  6. Re:Yaaaay, lets make a NEW standard! Thatll solve by RazzleFrog · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is a new standard to replace the old standard being created by the same association (PCMCIA) as the old standard. This new standard will allow gigabit ethernet on a card and will be much slimmer than the old cards. They are also talking about making it built into slimline desktops.

  7. PCI / ISA problem avoidance by kevinbarsby · · Score: 3, Informative

    I hope they avoid similar problems that plagued ISA / PCI motherboards.

    As I recall there were a lot of timing issues with the PCI / ISA bridge which affected system performance.

  8. yeah, whatever... by TWX · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Most modern laptops seem to come with an array of smartmedia, compact flash, USB, Firewire, integrated 802.11, and integrated ethernet, so I don't see what the big deals is. Granted, it's nice to be able to swap things into the computer, bit if excessive numbers of dongles are going to be required, just give me the device in USB or firewire, and let the device be the dongle. That way I don't have to carry around this metal wafer-type box too.

    the only two PCMCIA devices that I use on my laptop regularly (which is two years old or more) is the wireless ethernet adapter, which doesn't have a dongle as such, and the compact flash reader, because the laptop is too old to have these features built in. Next unit I buy will probably have them integrated.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  9. The card that most makers want... by blcamp · · Score: 5, Funny

    Someday, the peripheral that hardware and software makers may want on all PCs is the Credit Card reader.

    Want your next Windows Update? Please insert your Credit Card into the reader. What, this is Linux? SCO needs another swipe of your card, please.

    Why stop there? I can see it now: "CNN... the most trusted... and expensive... name in news."

    --
    The problem with socialism is that they always run out of other people's money. - Margaret Thatcher
  10. Forced Obsolescence by nurb432 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Hmmm so PCMCIA cards are being phased out next year .. and PCI slots are already on the gone list for next year ( express PCI ) ...

    I guess they need to make everything obsolete to sell more hardware and keep the PC market afloat.

    Next round of software will be the same: It will require some special hardware components only available in the new machines ( can you say 'trusted computing'? )

    Bah.

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  11. More info: by cK-Gunslinger · · Score: 4, Informative
  12. NEWCARD??? by barureddy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't know about the rest of you, but I have not noticed the bandwidth limits of my pcmcia card. Granted I don't run a gig-bit ethernet, video equipment (firewire takes care of it), or scsi cards, but I don't use my laptop to do that kind of stuff. What I have noticed is the slowness of my laptop hard drive, which will not be able to handle all this new bandwith anyways. Though it is always nice to have more bandwith and smaller cards, there are more important things that need to addressed.

    P.S.
    I hope this NEWCARD uses less power.

  13. anyone else see brewing and think ...? by simong_oz · · Score: 3, Funny

    Heh, so much for RTF! I saw the words "Standard Brewing" in the subject and without bothering to read further immediately clicked through to a story I thought was going to be about one of my favourite subjects - beer! I was not amused ...

    --
    "Because it's there." - George Mallory, when asked why he wanted to climb Mt Everest, March 18, 1923 (New York Times)
  14. Brewing Standard by Anders · · Score: 3, Funny

    I did not get further than "Standard Brewing" before I thought of RFC 2324, namely the Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol.

  15. Re:Pet Peeve by hey · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No that *my* pet peeve. Have about the "NT" (New Techology) OS? Not so new any more is it. I don't think New York and New Delhi are so new any more.
    Still users are aways calling files new this or new that. Then they come back in a year and say what's that?

  16. we need them because by abhisarda · · Score: 4, Insightful

    because there are millions of laptops that are not equipped with USB 2 ports. Thats why there are PCMCIA USB 2 cards.
    Many laptops have only 1 USB port( those made before 2002).
    If you already have a USB mouse, where can you plug in that webcam, USB external keyboard etc?
    Many laptops made before 2002 do not have Firewire ports. If you want to use the iPod and camcorders, you need a Firewire PCMCIA card.

    Take 56k modems and 10/100 ethernet ports. Again, older laptops do not have them onboard. You need PCMCIA cards for that.
    Then you have the case of wi-fi. Unless your laptop is a Centrino, there is no way of going wifi without a wireless card.

    Firewire 800 is "only" in the Macs now. It might come to the PC soon but it will take a while to come to laptops(~6 months). Firewire 400 is the norm for laptops.

    1. Re:we need them because by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If you already have a USB mouse, where can you plug in that webcam, USB external keyboard etc?

      Into your USB Hub. I thought that was the entire point of USB, in fact.

      A new hardware standard is not going to help anyone with an old laptop either; they won't have NEWCARD slots to plug in their USB 2.0 and Firewire NEWCARD's anyway, will they?

      You've missed the point of new standards like NEWCARD completely.

  17. If I get a NEWCARD sound card... by BigBadBri · · Score: 4, Funny
    will it talk NewSpeak?

    Doubleplusgood!

    --
    oh brave new world, that has such people in it!
  18. Future Legal Issues by nurb432 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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 ----
    1. Re:Future Legal Issues by maxume · · Score: 3, Funny

      Why stop at conutries? I say we take it all the way to the coconutries?

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      What the fuck?

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.