Secure Digital I/O Expansion Slot in iPAQ 1910?

[pelikan3]

I have read several articles about new I/O products for the SD slot, including digital camera connections and memory equiped WiFi cards.

I also read a review of the new ViewSonic V35 handheld in Pocket PC Magazine, and it mentioned that the V35 has one Secure Digital I/O expansion slot" and goes on to explain that this means the slot will support the new I/O products soon to be available, including modems, Blue Tooth tranceivers, WiFi cards, digital cameras and more.

That said... will all SD slot equipped PPC's be able to support these new products, or are they memory only slots unless otherwise specified?

Would anyone know if the iPAQ 1910 would support such products? I am particularly interested in the Sandisk WiFi card with 256MB of memory that is due out in the next few months.

Thanks!

[Janak Parekh]

That said... will all SD slot equipped PPC's be able to support these new products, or are they memory only slots unless otherwise specified?

Would anyone know if the iPAQ 1910 would support such products? I am particularly interested in the Sandisk WiFi card with 256MB of memory that is due out in the next few months.
No, not all units support SDIO. The 38xx series definitely don't, and never will. The 1910s currently don't, but rumor has it that a driver might be able to support SDIO, because the XScale has built-in support for it. (Note that this rumor did not come out of HP; at this time there are no plans that I know of to release SDIO support for the 1910. It's a shame. :cry:)

--janak

[Stik]

I also read a review of the new ViewSonic V35 handheld in Pocket PC Magazine, and it mentioned that the V35 has one Secure Digital I/O expansion slot" and goes on to explain that this means the slot will support the new I/O products soon to be available, including modems, Blue Tooth tranceivers, WiFi cards, digital cameras and more.

pelikan3,

Something you should be aware of. There is SDIO ' based ' on SDIO specs, such as Toshiba's version of SDIO, and what is proclaimed to be the industry standard, PPC's with SDIO capable slots that will come equipped with bSquare's SDIO software and driver.

Heres an SDIO FAQ sheet put out by Chris De Herrera that explains the current state of SDIO....

http://www.cewindows.net/faqs/sdiotypes.htm

In the case of the Viewsonic V35, ' if ' it is indeed equipped with an SDIO capable slot, ( Viewsonic itself doesn't mention this capability on its website, but, you are correct that most reviews make the claim ) it is based on the Toshiba flavor of SDIO. The only reason I can make this claim is because of the following SDIO add on being marketed for the unit....

http://www.pocketpccentral.net/viewswrless.htm

I have yet to see, in my traversing of PPC forums, of anyone using this setup to confirm if it actually works. I remain skeptical until I do. :roll:

In conclusion, if a PPC does not have the bSquare SDIO components on board, the forthcoming Sandisk WiFi card with 256MB of memory ( or other industry based, not Toshiba based SDIO periphials ) will not work with the unit.

[pelikan3]

So...

Does this mean that, if a third party provider (i.e, Sandisk, Sychip) offers a product with an accompanying SDIO driver, be it industry standard or proprietary, it should run on the 1910? What if they offered PPC specific drivers (i.e., for Dell, Compaq, HP etc.)? For those units running XScale processors, wouldn't the inate SDIO support be enough to allow those products to run, as long as they had SDIO drivers?

[Janak Parekh]

Does this mean that, if a third party provider (i.e, Sandisk, Sychip) offers a product with an accompanying SDIO driver, be it industry standard or proprietary, it should run on the 1910?
Probably not. You'd need some sort of SDIO enabler software from HP first. Preferably the bSquare enabler drivers, because it seems everyone's complying to that standard. It's possible, though, that Sandisk/Sychip offer drivers for non-bSquare units that are still SDIO. The 1910 is not either of these at the moment.

--janak