> The problem is that the PCMCIA adapter doesn't 'handle' anything at all. > It is essentially the 'drive cable' connecting the Smartcard to the Mac. > > -- > Bruce Johnson
Bruce Are you sure about Smartmedia adapters? I know that a compact flash adapter is just a connector but I thought the smartmedia adapter had some active electronics in it, something like a disk controller. Notice that a smartmedia card has 18 contacts, a CF card has 50 and a PCMCIA card has 68. Even assuming that not all 68 pins are used it still seems unlikely that 18 pins would map directly to 68. My understanding was that smartmedia cards contain just the memory chips and rely on the host device to supply the interface. By contrast compact flash cards have memory chips and interface electronics built into the card. I suppose I could pry my adapter apart in the name of science but I'm not that unhappy with it (yet).... If smartmedia does rely on the adapter for it's interface electronics then a poorly implemented adapter could cause problems (I would expect Sandisk would do it right). Conversely reading the adapter in the device it was formatted in means the interface electronics don't change from format/write to read. Following this logic if I format the smartmedia card in the powerbook (with the noname adapter) it should work fine. Unfortunately the camera would not read it but I expect it would be very reliable.... -- Andrew King Ann Arbor Michigan technology is the answer, what was the question? -- G-Books is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-Books list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- >The Think Different Store http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
