how do i find out what type of PCMCIA card i need

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kaitlin4599
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how do i find out what type of PCMCIA card i need

Post by kaitlin4599 »

ok so i recently scored an old laptop from a thrift store. its a compaq armada SB 5200, reason im asking is my laptop only has one usb 1.1 port from what i can tell it looks like the laptop came stock with win 98se and i figured id add more usb ports via pcmcia but i have no clue whether my laptop takesd 16bit 32bit pcmcia or both

edit i have a few dos games that i wanna play with a usb controller but need more usb ports
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Quadko
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Post by Quadko »

Nice score! A quick search didn't turn up anything that directly tells 16/32. I'm getting some PC Card/PCMCIA info from the wiki article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_Card

Can you use usb controllers in dos games using win98? I didn't know that, cool! Does it depend on the game? I've dreamed for years of something someway somewhere to use usb controller on real dos hardware for real dos games. But Dosbox works OK these days. :)

Brainstorming:
I assume, but could be wrong, that 32bit pcmcia is backwards compatible so a 16bit card will always work?

If budget allows, buy one of each?

Find a cheap/broken type II card and see if it fits? If so, you're good for 32bit, otherwise need a Type I 16 bit.

32 bit has synonyms like Cardbus and Bustmaster, 16bid cards do not. Perhaps searching that?

Does it say it supports Type I, II, or III cards? Looks like Type I is 16 bit only and 3.3 mm. Types 2 & 3 are 16 or 32 and are larger - 5mm & 10mm. Measuring might tell you, but it's a 1.7 mm difference, and you might not be able to tell from the outside. :P
kaitlin4599
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Post by kaitlin4599 »

well u can always download an older version of xpadder or something but most of my games that use controllers were designed for dos/win98 for example duke 3d can use a controller as for the type of card i guess ill have to take a leap of faith and find out lol but it only has one usb port and its a 1.1 i need at least 2 ports one for a flash drive the other for usb controller akak gamepad
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Quadko
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Post by Quadko »

And just to check, a cheap 4 port USB hub won't give you the extra ports you need? Both USB Drive and Controller should work fine on a hub, unless there's something funny going on. And no drivers necessary unlike the PCMCIA card.


I knew some dos games used controllers, but I thought they still had to be GamePort ("PC Joystick Connector"), didn't know they could be USB in Win98. I've got a Win98 box gathering dust, I'll have to try that out sometime, thanks for the hint! :D
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