Use your PC Cards in a Type 1 CF Slot

[Anthony Caruana]

The Compact Flash to PC Card Adapter lets you use PC Cards, such as Wireless LAN Cards, with the iPAQ Compact Flash sleeve and with devices like the HP Jornada that don’t have support for PC Cards. In this review I take a look at this product and let you know if it's worth it.<br /><br /><img src=http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/arcaruana-month01-article-1.jpg border="0"><br /><!><br /><i> There are a great many PC Card peripherals available. In general, these are cheaper and easier to find that their Compact Flash equivalents. The CF to PC Card adapter lets you use Type 2 PC Cards with any device that has a Type 1 CF Slot.</i><br /><br /><span><b>Where To Buy</b></span><br />The CF to PC Card Adapter costs <a href="http://shop.store.yahoo.com/semsons-inc/index.html">USD $25.99 from Semson and Co.</a> plus delivery. Mine took about a week to arrive from when the order was confirmed. Pretty good response as I am in Melbourne, Australia.<br /><br /><span><b> Why do we need a CF to PC Card Adapter? </b></span><br />I recently bought an iPAQ 3850 and have been looking to accessorize. I acquired a CF sleeve and was looking for a way to add PC Card functionality without the bulk of a PC Card sleeve. This adapter lets me carry just one expansion sleeve and use my PC Card peripherals. This adapter also allows devices that are limited to a Type 1 CF slot to use PC Card peripherals. This is a great solution for Jornada 54X users and at just 17 grams this device adds a lot of value to my iPAQ without adding much to the weight and size.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/arcaruana-jan03-cf2pcmcia-3.jpg" /><br /><i>Figure 1: The adaptor in an iPAQ 3850</i><br /><br /><span><b>Installation and Use</b></span><br />Installing the adapter is the easiest thing in the world. Just slide it into your CF slot and voila! There are no drivers to install. The adapter is a passive interface that basically connects the appropriate CF connection pins to their PC Card counterparts. As far as I can tell it does not have any effect on battery life until you connect a PC Card peripheral to it.<br /><br />The connecter between the CF part of the device and the PC Card interface is made of a very flexible rubber material. This allows the PC Card to be folded back onto the back of the Pocket PC. As you can see from the picture below, the connector is very flexible. When you hold it in the palm of your hand you can hold the card hard against the back of the Pocket PC.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/arcaruana-jan03-cf2pcmcia-2.jpg" /><br /><i>Figure 2: The adaptor with a WLAN card in an iPAQ 3850</i><br /><br />I have used the CF to PC Card adapter with a Compaq WL100 WLAN card and a DLink DWL-650 Wireless LAN card. Both cards work exactly as if they were in my old PC Card sleeve. The vendor also states that the adapter is compatible with memory card adapters, PC Card hard drives, ATA Flash PC Cards, Modem cards, LAN Cards, GPS Receiver Cards, GSM/GPRS Cards and Communications Cards. The keep an updated compatability list on their Web site.<br /><br /><b><span>Gotchas</span></b><br />There aren’t any real problems with this product. However, be aware that PC card devices can drain a battery quite quickly. The Compaq PC Card sleeve counters this with its built-in battery. The CF to PC Card adapter is a compromise between portability and battery life. As my iPAQ CF Sleeve lacks a card eject button I have to pull the adapter out with my fingers. The connection between the rubber interface and the CF card feels pretty strong but I’m not sure how long it will last. If you live in a particularly dry climate I’m not sure how well the rubber will last before it starts to perish. However, I doubt that this will be much of an issue in most environments.<br /><br />PC Card hard disks, while compatible with this adapter, may not really be suitable. The flexibility of the interface means that it may be difficult to keep the hard drive still. However, I doubt that you’d have any problems if you held the drive against the back of your Pocket PC.<br /><br /><b><span>Conclusions</span></b><br />I used to own a PC Card sleeve for my iPAQ and recently sold it in favour of this adapter. The battery life issues aren’t much of a concern for me. Its portability makes it a winner in my opinion. It is cheaper than a CF sleeve for an iPAQ and it has the advantage of being usable in my old Jornada 548. If you are looking for a cheap way to add PC Card functionality to your CF equipped Pocket PC then I recommend this product. If battery life is a major concern for you then you might be better off with a different PC card solution such as the iPAQ PC Card sleeve.

[dbrahms]

got this many months ago. Works great. use it for my 2gb toshiba pc card...easier than taking a 2nd sleeve (pc-sleeve) with me. It's odd since it just dangles there...and my side plastic-supports seemed to have broken off...but it still works great. I think i paid about $25

[JeZaD]

Is there a SD to CF converter available anywhere??

Then you could plug two SDs into your Dell PocketPC at the same time... how wonderful!

[Janak Parekh]

Is there a SD to CF converter available anywhere??

Then you could plug two SDs into your Dell PocketPC at the same time... how wonderful!
Did you mean to say two CF's (or PC) cards?

In any case, SDIO is electrically different from CF. No adapter exists for that. SD-to-CF adapters exist, but I'm not sure that's the direction you want to go. Besides, the Dell's SD slot is not SDIO anyway...

--janak

[greenmozart]

I'd like to find an SD-CF adapter to use in my next digicam purchase - probably a Canon G2 or G3. I'd like to use the adapter in the camera so I can record all my photos onto SD. My preference is to use SD for all file storage and CF for peripherals. Anyone know where to find one of these?

Nevermind, just found it at Semson's, too.

[Daimaou]

Is there a SD to CF converter available anywhere??

Then you could plug two SDs into your Dell PocketPC at the same time... how wonderful!

Yes this kind of stuff exist , we got this kind of SD Drive on CF Format, now... for SDIO support I don't know

[IanG]

I've got one of these as well - it works great with my e740 and Toshiba 2gig HD and 3com modem. I had no problem getting my delivery to England as well - I think it took about a week.

It isn't compatible with all PC cards though, but I think there is a list of wroking cards on the semsons website

Ian G

[dean_shan]

Nice. I've been looking for somthing like this for a while. It would be nice to be able to hook up one of those Toshiba hard drives.

[ledpocket]

Just for fun, I tried out this combo:

sd card inserted in a dazzle 4-in-1 pc card inserted in a sycard cf-pc card adapter - inserted in a toshiba e740 cf slot.

The combo was recognized immediatly in file explorer as "storage card" and had no problem opening up the picture that was stored there.

The sycard is about the same thing as the semsons, but cost about $100 a year and a half ago.

btw I have seen some multi-card readers at compusa that look like they use cf1 or cf2 adapters to accomodate sd, ms, sm etc. in the main usb reader. Maybe one of those adapterswould work as a straight sd to cf in a ppc?

[sscheuri]

I purchased one several months ago.

I use it in conjunction with a GPS sleeve, and MiniStumbler software, in my Ipaq 3600 series. The Orinoco Gold PC Card works flawlessly in this adapter, and I was able to simultaneously capture GPS coordinates and WiFi access points without any external wires (except for charging).

Now, if MiniStumbler just worked with the HP 5455...and for that matter, the GPS sleeve!

This product definitely fills a gap, and does it admirably.

To feed other comments, there are CF-SD adapters that are the size of a CF card. I believe Panasonic makes one. I just wish Sony would get off their horse and concede that Memory Stick just won't fly.

Scott
[email protected]

[bmhome1]

One needs to be VERY aware that the typical CF slot only is designed to output around 100mah while PCMCIA devices will draw typically dramatically higher amperage and there IS a risk of damaging the CF host device. Anyone using or considering using one of these adaptors should read:

http://www.sycard.com/tech165.html

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

I'd like to find an SD-CF adapter to use in my next digicam purchase - probably a Canon G2 or G3. I'd like to use the adapter in the camera so I can record all my photos onto SD. My preference is to use SD for all file storage and CF for peripherals. Anyone know where to find one of these?

Nevermind, just found it at Semson's, too.
Careful. Most SD-to-CF adapters are larger than standard size CF cards; thus the adapter will stick out somewhat. If your camera requires the CF card to be of standard size, then the adapter likely won't work for you.

The only SD-to-CF adapter I know of (which I have) that maintains CF standard size is made by Panasonic and those are only available in Japan AFAIK.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

This product is great for WiFi users that have been "stymied" by Cisco's LEAP encryption. Cisco has a PCMCIA WiFi card that will allow you to access a Cisco powered wireless network that is LEAP enabled. CF WiFi cards from DLink, Netgear, & Linksys do not yet support LEAP, so if you have one of these cards and (for example) your work or school has a Cisco WiFi network, you cannot connect with your CF card. Cisco doesn't make a CF WiFi card, so this adapter may be a short term solution for folks in this category.

KCT

[Underwater Mike]

The Semsons adapter has been a godsend since moving from my iPAQ+PC Slider to the Axim: I can still use my power-hungry but sizable Toshi PCMCIA drive. And, the fold-over flexibility of the adapter means that the drive can rest against the back of the Axim in the case.

My only gripe is that the adapter doesnt have the "lip" or ridge that's often included on CF cards to easy extraction for the adapter from the slot. In fact, as I've griped elsewhere, I've come quite close to destroying the Semsons adapter trying to get it out of my Axim's slot. I've tried the electrical tape suggestion others have used but no luck.

Any suggestions on how to not break the thing? :snipersmile: