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ExpressCards, the new PCMCIA?
randallpowell writes "PC Cards will face competition from ExpressCards in 2005 and 2006. Newer notebook PCs will have them to add wireless, HD-TV broadcast viewing, back-up storage, and more. Microsoft, Dell, and Intel are the major backers of this new expansion slot technology. While smaller, they can easily help users expand their notebook's abilities while PC Cards slowly phase out."
Is the goal of everything to eventually become a choking hazzard? What was wrong with the old PCMCIA infrastructure? Why not just add some additional bandwidth and be done with it?
What we need is a good upgradeable PCI standard for desktops so that people can slide their cards in without opening the case. *That* would be innovative...
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Sounds like PC card only smaller. Killer app aside, this could alow smaller laptops/palmtops to accept the kind of expansion devices we've come to expect from PC cards. I mean sure, many devices are comming through with built-in firewire/usb/networking, but this could reduce initial cost as well as size, or imagine a laptop with 4 expansion slots... It's all good. I'm excited to see what comes of it.
Now if only someone could build an AGP device thats PC card size or smaller... get me a radeon x800 for my (imaginary) Powerbook G5.
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Yes just because carrying a lot of additional USB equipment and cables get bothersome. The problem with PCMCIA cards is the fact that laptops are getting thinner and thiner and a laptop that has enough space to hold 2 PCMCIA cards are considered bulky monsters. Besides these cards are used for high bandwidth stuff. But the point of all cards is for them to be outdated and get embedded in the motherboard at some point. remember the PCMCIA eathernet cards with those dongles that break every 5 minutes?
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Okay it's a little smaller than PCMCIA and probably a lot faster or whatever. Natural evolution? Yeah, I guess so.
But I looked at a web site showing a PC/Workstation with a card slot in front and apparantly there are two sizes of slots... the smaller cards are still compatible with the larger slot but it doesn't look nice at all... not to me anyway. I'm getting there would be an easy way to make it look more slick but the picture didn't appeal to me.
Changing formats always has a pain component. Moving away from floppies wasn't all that painful but it has been very long and drawn out and even now, I am still using them for small things like ghost boots and stuff like that. I hope it's worthwhile but I can't help but wonder why they didn't make it somehow work in the PCMCIA format? They could call it PCMCIA2 or something. I guess there are reasons that I'll never hear for all of that.
Linux support is an assumption I make right now... I assume it will happen rapidly. People choked when USB started to catch on and I've never had problems with PCMCIA with Linux but then again, it was only within the past two years that I started using Linux on a laptop anyway. But with some of the players out there now (Intel) I think Linux support will be a given. Intel would be stupid to let Microsoft influence them against Linux at this point since Microsoft isn't supporting their 64bit processors particularly well.
I don't see why they couldn't have the new standard be twice the height of the current PCMCIA cards, but only half the width.
That's large enough for one of the following, flush with the end of the card:
Under this scheme, dongles wouldn't be needed for the most common cards. There would be no protruding connection so that the laptop would fit without any problems in its carrying case. 2 slot machines could be arranged side to side, allowing "double-width" cards to be used for more room.