PCMCIA

Personal Computer Memory Card International Association defined standards for memory card external slots (ports) to peripheral devices such as fax modems. PCMCIA slots are common in printers, and notebook/laptop computers, but these "slots" have been troubled technologies from the start. Before buying a computer with PCMCIA slots, readers are advised to read Doe (1994) and Smarte (1994) regarding the problems and hopes for improvements in the future. Doe (1994) , p. 172 states that: "User outrage about this incompatibility has scared many people away from PCMCIA." The Type I slots are 3.3 mm thick and serve mainly as memory cards. The Type II slots are more input/output compatible with fax modems and LAN adapters. The Type III slots are 10.5 mm thick and can be used for porting to some auxiliary storage devices such as external hard drives. One problem is that some vendors who claim to have Type III slots are really manufacturing with only Type II slots stacked on top of each other giving rise to a .5 mm incompatibility difference. There is also some doubt whether PCMCIA technology can be expanded to 32 bit and 64 bit processors of the future. Smarte (1994) , pp. 204-205 compares performances of leading PC models on various PCMCIA attributes and functions. Readers might especially want to note how many of the computer models "fail" with respect to SCSI performance using PCMCIA slots. Smarte (1994) , p. 208 also provides a small glossary of PCMCIA terms. For example, "CIS" depicts Card Information Structure of formatting and data organization on the card. "Plug and play" is a feature that allows changing of cards without having to reboot the system. Smarte (1994) , p. 215 also provides a listing of new PCMCIA technologies and their vendors.

Stands for "Personal Computer Memory Card International Association." It can also mean, perhaps more appropriately, "People Can't Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms." This way-to-long acronym stands for an association founded in 1989 which develops standards for expansion cards for portable computers. Though the PCMCIA standards were originally designed for adding memory to portable computers, they been expanded to include numerous other devices. There are three types of PCMCIA cards, all of which are rectangular and measure 8.56 by 5.4 cm., but have different widths: Type I: up to 3.3 mm. thick, mainly used to add additional ROM or RAM.Type II: up to 5.5 mm. thick, typically used for fax/modem cards.Type III: up to 10.5 mm. thick, often used to attach portable disk drives. PCMCIA slots also come in three sizes -- a Type I slot can hold one Type I card, a Type II slot can hold one Type II card or two Type I cards, and a Type III slot can hold one Type III card or one Type I and one Type II card. Another nice thing about PC Cards is that they can be removed or inserted "on the fly," which means you don't have to turn your computer off to exchange them and you don't have to restart for the computer to recognize them. PCMCIA cards are also called PC cards, to help save energy.