Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

PicoPCMCIA – a PCMCIA development board for retro-computing enthusiasts

yyzkevin.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 31 posts

Re: PicoPCMCIA – a PCMCIA development board for retro-computing enthusiasts

#2

Post by geerlingguy »

I was able to see the development card in person at VCF Midwest last year; it's a very neat project! The version he had at VCFMW was in a transparent plastic case[1], which looks even better than the IBM-inspired design of the one on this page.

[1] https://youtu.be/hF0NKvmQmVA?t=47 (I couldn't find a good picture elsewhere)

Edit - I found this video on his YouTube channel with more info (with the latest version of the card): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-04EoGlayY

Re: PicoPCMCIA – a PCMCIA development board for retro-computing enthusiasts

#7

Post by geerlingguy »

riskable wrote: post #3

For those who aren't aware what PCMCIA stands for: People Can't Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms

If you want to refresh an old memory, it actually stands for "Personal Computer Memory Card International Association" but nobody knew that. And it was later called 'PC Card'... then there was the faster ExpressCard that wasn't backwards compatible.

It was fun being able to expand your computer's IO capabilities by adding on a network card, modem, USB, FireWire, etc. with these modules. It's similar to Framework's little USB-C-based modules, though those modules are just too small for a lot of circuits without a very creative design.

Re: PicoPCMCIA – a PCMCIA development board for retro-computing enthusiasts

#8

Post by simcop2387 »

geerlingguy wrote: post #7
riskable wrote: post #3

For those who aren't aware what PCMCIA stands for: People Can't Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms

If you want to refresh an old memory, it actually stands for "Personal Computer Memory Card International Association" but nobody knew that. And it was later called 'PC Card'... then there was the faster ExpressCard that wasn't backwards compatible. It was fun being able to expand your computer's IO capabilities by adding on a network card, modem, USB, FireWire, etc. with these modules. It's similar to Framework's li…

My understanding (probably wrong) is that pcmcia was based off the ISA bus and then pc card updated to pci based and express card was pcie

Re: PicoPCMCIA – a PCMCIA development board for retro-computing enthusiasts

#9

Post by tonyarkles »

simcop2387 wrote: post #8
geerlingguy wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to refresh an old memory, it actually stands for "Personal Computer Memory Card International Association" but nobody knew that. And it was later called 'PC Card'... then there was the faster ExpressCard that wasn't backwards compatible. It was fun being able to expand your computer's IO capabilities by adding on a network card, modem, USB, FireWire, etc. with these modules. It's similar to Framework's li…

My understanding (probably wrong) is that pcmcia was based off the ISA bus and then pc card updated to pci based and express card was pcie

Close! The PC Card rename was because people were confusing the name of the association with the specific form factor.

PCMCIA and PC Card = ISA

CardBus = PCI and ISA - slot was backwards compatible so you could use a PC Card in a CardBus slot

ExpressCard = PCIe

Post reply on HN