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OT: USB adapters for PCMCIA slots
You had me wondering I dug mine out. It is a (Navy Exchange POS)
Micro Innovations Model Number USB740R. If I had the power supply
that goes with it; according to the card it should be a 5V/1A supply.
I just plugged it into the (new) Libretto. I am going to play a
little and see what I get out of it. If I can find the power supply
for this thing you are welcome to it Cathy. Otherwise I can look
around for one. I seem to remember this one was only like $20.
Now that we are completely off topic I want to share something
somewhat related. I have some interesting computer/power challenges
in this old house I am renting. I have a micro tower with built in
5.1 audio. I have it hooked up to a set of speakers that sound decent
but not great. There are NO grounds in the house so I had to "make" a
few on the ground floor. Upstairs where the computers are I don't
have a handy pipe to use for a ground like I did for the washer and
dryer.
So I wanted more volume and a little more clarity so I hooked up an
older Onkyo Reciever to a set of Bose 301's. When I plugged it into
the computer it made the most God-awful noise. I quickly found that
this was noise due to a lack of grounding on both the computer and the
reciever.
What does this have to do with the USB discussion? Well USB was my
answer. I picked up a "Turtle Beach Audio Advantage" device a year or
so. It is a small USB device about the size of a thumb drive. It
only has an output of two channels but via software you can do some
cheap approximations of surround. Well it didn't do exactly what I
wanted--I was looking for a cheap alternative to an Soundblaster
Extigy to add 5.1 to a laptop. An Extigy is simply an external USB
Soundblaster setup. Well this thing was about the same as the onboard
sound--not very good and it wasn't 5.1 by any means. You could make
things echo a little but it sure wasn't worth the $20 or so I paid for
it. (an Extigy was at the time like $180)
So the Turtle Beach device got thrown in a box and forgotten about
until a couple weeks ago when I was looking for something else and ran
across it. For shits and grins I used it as an interface between the
PC and the stereo. I only have a pair of 301's so two channels was
fine. It isolated the noise. Additionally it has a fiber output so I
can output to a MiniDisc recorder if I so choose.
I did eventually find my cheapish quality 5.1 for my laptop...
Soundblasters Audigy 2 ZS Notebook PCMCIA card. It was much cheaper
than the Extigy and was actually a better product all around. It also
has fiber in/out, a 5.1 pigtail. Not that I carry a 5.1 system with
me... It does fairly seamless transition from one driver to the
other. (it doesn't get rid of your existing drivers so when it isn't
plugged in you can still hear sound.)
On 4/1/07, Allyn <amalventano1@tds.net> wrote:
> > I guess the USB PCMCIA card I have is cheap. I want to know
> > why I don't get any balloons!!! Bastages.
>
> The USB interface has to support detection of the overload and reporting it back to the OS via the driver. A card I've got on my
> laptop pops the balloon if I plug in even a 80mA mouse (without extra power).
>
> > What is the difference in voltages PCMCIA type 2 or 3?
>
> The different PCMCIA types have nothing to do with the voltage supplied. 3.3V support came with DMA mode support (~1995). The slot
> connector is physically keyed to prevent a newer 3.3V card from being physically inserted into an (older) 5V-only slot.
>
> > "fattie" device like my "hardcard" and my Xircom 56K/Ethernet
>
> Does everyone on the planet have one of these or something? (I have 3).
>
> Al
>
>
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