PCMCIA

Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA), founded in 1989, is a non-profit international trade association of approximately 300 companies, to establish technical standards for PC Card technology and to promote interchangeability among computer systems. They have developed a definition and a format that has been approved by the industry, thereby making it possible to combine products from different manufacturers to create a customized system. In addition, standard user interfaces allow for faster development and learning of new applications. The other standardization organizations other than PCMCIA are ANSI (American National Standards Institute), ITU (International Telecommunication Union), IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers), ISO ( International Standards Organization), and VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association). PCMCIA has developed two types of standards, namely, the PC Card Standard and the Express Card Interface, to enable the addition of many devices to the computer. The PC Card standard is now being slowly withdrawn and the utilization of the Express Card interface is strongly encouraged.

PCMCIA standards

PC Cards
Express Card Interface

PC Card Standard

Due to the rapid growth of mobile computing technology in the early 90's, the PC Card technology was innovated for mobile computers. This technology brought benefit to many industries and subsequent vertical and horizontal applications, including smart cards, automobiles, set-top boxes, and others. PC Cards are small credit-sized devices, originally designed for adding memory to laptop computers, but have expanded several times to include other types of devices also. The PC Card standards specifications are composed in 11 volumes, for the benefit of hardware manufacturers and software developers. These standards also have some intellectual property rights, depending upon the usage of the technology by the hardware manufacturers and software developers.

Overview of PC Card Standard Specifications

Volume 1: Overview and Glossary
Volume 2: Electrical Specification
Volume 3: Physical Specification
Volume 4: Metaformat Specification
Volume 5: Card Services Specification
Volume 6: Socket Services Specification
Volume 7: PC Card ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) Specification
Volume 8: PC Card Host System Specification
Volume 9: Guidelines
Volume 10: Media Storage Formats Specification
Volume 11: XIP (eXecute In Place) Specification

Types of PC Cards

There are three types of PC Cards measuring the same length and width (85.6 mm x 54 mm) but of varying thicknesses, namely, 3.3 mm, 5.0 mm, and 10.5 mm for Type I, Type II, and Type III cards respectively. All the three types use the same 68-pin connector. These cards can be inserted in a PC slot or also known as PCMCIA slot, which is built inside the laptop. Due to the varying thicknesses of the cards, a thicker card slot (for Type III) can accommodate a thinner card (Type I, Type II), but a thinner card slot (Type I ) cannot accommodate a thicker card (Type II or Type III). Type I PC Cards are usually used for Input/Output devices like RAM, SRAM, Flash, and OTP cards. Type II PC Cards are usually used for Input/Output devices like data/fax modems, mass storage devices, and LAN. Type III PC Cards are used for devices with thick components like rotating mass storage devices (portable disk drives). For wireless applications, devices like antennas can be configured with extended PC Cards. All cards can be changed on the fly without rebooting the system. With the increase of applications of the PC Card technology, different releases came into the market. The releases were, 1.0, 2.0, 2.1, 5.0, and 8.0, which from supporting memory also supported the 32-bit CardBus interface. The PC Card slot is a necessary feature of cheap computer notebook, cheap laptop, laptop, laptop notebook, notebook, notebook computer, best computer notebook, best notebook, cheap notebook, gaming notebook, laptop notebook computer, notebook PC, refurbished notebook, refurbished notebook computer, tablet notebook, used notebook, used notebook computer, web cam notebook, and wireless notebook.

Some PC Card Applications

10/100 Mbps Ethernet Adapters
A/D Converters and other Data Acquisition Devices
AM/FM Radio Tuner
Biometrics cards (Fingerprint reader)
Bluetooth cards
CD-ROM Interface
Cellular Phone Interface (WAN)
Digital Camera
Docking Station Interface
Ethernet LAN Adapters
GPS (Global Positioning System) Cards
Hard Drives (Rotating)
Infrared Wireless LAN Adapters
ISDN Cards
Joystick Interface Cards
Memory Cards - Flash, SRAM, and many others
Memory Cards Adapters - SD, MMC, SmartMedia, CompactFlash, MemoryStick, etc.
Modem/Ethernet Combination Cards
Modem Cards
Parallel Port Interface
PDA PC Card
Radio LAN Adapters
SCSI Adapters
Security Tokens
Serial Port Interface
SmartCard Readers
Sound Cards, Input and Output
Token Ring LAN Adapter Cards
TV Tuner
VGA
Video Capture/Frame Grabber Cards
Video Teleconferencing Cards

ExpressCard™ technology

PCMCIA in the spring of 2003 introduced the new standard named as ExpressCard standard with the broad coalition of PCMCIA member companies like Dell, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Intel, Lexar Media, Microsoft, SCM Microsystems, and Texas Instruments. Due to this standard, thinner, faster, and lighter modular expansion to desktop and notebook computers is possible. Capabilities that can be added are memory, security devices, wired and wireless communications cards. ExpressCard slots can accommodate modules designed by other standardization organizations like USB- IF (Universal Serial Bus Implementers Forum) and PCI-SIG (Peripheral Component Interconnect- Special Interest Group). ExpressCard is available in two sizes, namely 34mm wide known as ExpressCard/34 and 54mm wide known as ExpressCard/54, with both modules having length of 75mm and a height of 5mm.

Applications of ExpressCard

All the applications of the older PC Card Technology are proposed to be supported. In addition, due to the more power, better thermal dissipation and enhanced circuit board real estate, the following applications are also supported.

Communications: wired and wireless LAN and WAN
Interface: 1394A & B (FireWire 400/800), SATA, Serial/Parallel, etc.
Multimedia: Television tuner, multiple monitors, video grab
Storage: Solid state (Flash) and small (one inch) rotating optical and magnetic micro-drives
Security: Identity sensors (SmartCard, biometric)
Adapters: Flash memory cards (MMC, SD, xD, MemoryStick, CompactFlash, etc.)

PC Card technology compared with ExpressCard technology

Size. ExpressCard modules are roughly half the size of PC Card, as well as being lighter (34 or 54 mm x 5 mm x 75 mm for ExpressCard vs. 54 mm x 85.6 mm x 5 mm for CardBus).
Speed. ExpressCard modules use serial (PCI Express and USB 2.0) data interfaces rather than the ISA (16-bit PC Card) or PCI (CardBus) parallel bus interfaces, improving bus speed in data transfer while reducing the number of signals needed in the interface (2.5 Gb/s [PCI Express] or 480 Mb/s [USB 2.0] for the ExpressCard interface vs. 132 MB/s maximum theoretical throughput for the CardBus interface.)
Cost. Because of its streamlined system and mechanical design, ExpressCard designs are anticipated to have a lower implementation cost. Additionally, existing PCI Express and USB 2.0 silicon implementations can be repackaged into ExpressCard modules.
Less power. ExpressCard modules require less power than has traditionally been required.
Ease of use. ExpressCard modules offer a much easier method for installing new capabilities in a desktop computer because it eliminates the need to open the CPU chassis to add functionality (sealed box computing). In addition, it is hot-swappable between mobile and desktop systems, another plus for end-users.
Connector. 26 contact, single row beam-on-blade for the ExpressCard interface vs. 68 contact, dual row pin-and-socket for PC Card/CardBus.
Power supply. 3.3 V and 1.5 V for the ExpressCard interface vs. 5.0 V and 3.3 V for PC Card/CardBus
Host Interface. ExpressCard interface signals are supplied by host's base chipset where PC Card/CardBus requires a CardBus controller chip in addition to the host's base chipset.
• Scalability. The ExpressCard interface is intended to extend to the next generation of both PCI Express and USB, where CardBus will not be extended beyond the existing interface.