Next-gen PCMCIA: Expresscard

An anonymous reader writes "According to this article at WindowsForDevices, the PCMCIA trade association rolled out version 1.0 of its next-generation standard for modular mobile and desktop computer expansion at this week's Intel Developer Forum in San Jose, CA. Dubbed "ExpressCard", the new standard is "thinner, lighter, faster" than the group's previous PC Card standards, according to PCMCIA chairman Brad Saunders. ExpressCard achieves its space reduction by replacing the legacy parallel buses of the first and second generation PCMCIA card standards with state-of-the-art, high-speed serial connections, following a trend common in current computer system design."

Comments

Do desktops use pc cards anymore?

[xintegerx]

Or is it just for notebooks?

PCMCIA

[xybe]

PCMCIA: People Cannot Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms

Vis a vis USB 2.x?

[mcrbids]

So, will this by "High speed" PC-Card or "Full speed" PC-Card?

Re:Vis a vis USB 2.x?

[SeanTobin]

I'm betting on "Ultra speed" or "Super speed"

Whats so great about serial?

[Ark42]

Is it just simpler or something? Why would serial be any better/cheaper/easier to make then a similar parallel device? If the cost is relatively the same, and the bandwidth per wire is the same, and you aren't making long cables that you don't want a lot of wires in, doesn't it make more sense to throw some extra lines in there to double, quadruple, etc. the total throughput?
Things like PCI slots and PCMCIA cards and RAM it only seems to make more sense to use a wider bus, to me at least.

WTF - Worst PCMCIA buys ever...

[teamhasnoi]

I went looking for PCMCIA stuff that wasn't a network, wireless, firewire, USB or memory card and found this and this.

Don't even get me started on this!

At these prices, the damn things better make me breakfast, you follow?

Standards joke

[rexguo]

"The great thing about standards, is that there are so many to choose from"