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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: XDelusion on February 21, 2014, 08:43:23 PM

Title: PCMCIA Sound Card
Post by: XDelusion on February 21, 2014, 08:43:23 PM
What prevents a 600 or 1200 from using a PCMCIA sound card?
Title: Re: PCMCIA Sound Card
Post by: odin on February 21, 2014, 08:48:39 PM
Drivers probably.
Title: Re: PCMCIA Sound Card
Post by: psxphill on February 21, 2014, 09:13:51 PM
Quote from: odin;759384
Drivers probably.

Drivers and it A600/A1200 isn't 100% PCMCIA so there can be hardware incompatibilities too. It would be pretty cool though to have a relatively cheap 16 bit sound sampler and output.
Title: Re: PCMCIA Sound Card
Post by: golem on February 21, 2014, 09:47:56 PM
I used to have one of those for my laptop. It doesn't fit a 600 or a 1200 PCMCIA socket because it is 32-bit I think or because it is the wrong voltage. There are notches on the card so it doesn't physically fit. And then you would need some genius to code the drivers and the application to support those drivers. I sold mine though because it was such a bitch to load all the drivers on the laptop. At least Paula just works ).
Title: Re: PCMCIA Sound Card
Post by: XDelusion on February 21, 2014, 11:28:25 PM
GLAD to hear! If the issue were a lack of drivers, I'd have been upset. :)

Quote from: golem;759388
I used to have one of those for my laptop. It doesn't fit a 600 or a 1200 PCMCIA socket because it is 32-bit I think or because it is the wrong voltage. There are notches on the card so it doesn't physically fit. And then you would need some genius to code the drivers and the application to support those drivers. I sold mine though because it was such a bitch to load all the drivers on the laptop. At least Paula just works ).

EDIT: On that note, the next Amiga Expansion kit needs to come equipped with a 32-bit PCMCIA expnsion slot. ;)
Title: Re: PCMCIA Sound Card
Post by: psxphill on February 21, 2014, 11:55:13 PM
Quote from: XDelusion;759394
EDIT: On that note, the next Amiga Expansion kit needs to come equipped with a 32-bit PCMCIA expnsion slot. ;)

PCMCIA was a card interface for ISA, which is what the Amiga has.
PCCARD was a card interface for PCI, which is what the 32 bit cards are (although they refer to 16 bit PCMCIA as PCCARD as well).
 
The latest interface is called ExpressCard. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExpressCard
 
It is basically a card connector for USB and PCI Express.
 
I think most of the express cards I have used are USB based.
 
tbh USB is probably good enough for sound cards.
Title: Re: PCMCIA Sound Card
Post by: commodorejohn on February 22, 2014, 12:24:17 AM
Quote from: psxphill;759396
tbh USB is probably good enough for sound cards.
If you already have a USB controller, sure. Not so much if you'd rather not spring for one just so you can use a USB sound card for which you paid still more money. I'd be surprised if there weren't 16-bit PCMCIA sound cards out there, considering how many of the things there were back in the days of 486 and early Pentium laptops. Probably just a driver issue.

(But then, I'm the kind of person who thinks putting a sound card in an Amiga is pretty silly to begin with...)
Title: Re: PCMCIA Sound Card
Post by: XDelusion on February 22, 2014, 12:31:17 AM
Quote from: commodorejohn;759398
If you already have a USB controller, sure. Not so much if you'd rather not spring for one just so you can use a USB sound card for which you paid still more money. I'd be surprised if there weren't 16-bit PCMCIA sound cards out there, considering how many of the things there were back in the days of 486 and early Pentium laptops. Probably just a driver issue.

(But then, I'm the kind of person who thinks putting a sound card in an Amiga is pretty silly to begin with...)


Trident/Posieden doesn't support USB sound cards.
Title: Re: PCMCIA Sound Card
Post by: odin on February 22, 2014, 12:50:19 AM
Quote from: XDelusion;759394
GLAD to hear! If the issue were a lack of drivers, I'd have been upset. :)

EDIT: On that note, the next Amiga Expansion kit needs to come equipped with a 32-bit PCMCIA expnsion slot. ;)


Nah, plenty of 16-bit PCMCIA sound cards available:

http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=30840

Better get coding if you want them to work on your 1200 :p.
Title: Re: PCMCIA Sound Card
Post by: XDelusion on February 22, 2014, 12:53:35 AM
Quote from: odin;759403
Nah, plenty of 16-bit PCMCIA sound cards available:

http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=30840

Better get coding if you want them to work on your 1200 :p.


 I'm utterly SHOCKED that no one has done so in all the years passed!
Title: Re: PCMCIA Sound Card
Post by: spirantho on February 22, 2014, 09:53:53 AM
Quote from: XDelusion;759401
Trident/Posieden doesn't support USB sound cards.


Don't tell that to my A4000! I wouldn't want my sound card on my Deneb to stop working!
Title: Re: PCMCIA Sound Card
Post by: XDelusion on February 22, 2014, 12:33:34 PM
Quote from: spirantho;759421
Don't tell that to my A4000! I wouldn't want my sound card on my Deneb to stop working!


Sorry, yes you are correct, it is not the software end that was preventing me using a USB sound card before (on my 600 and under MorphOS), it was the hardware. Someone did once tell me that Deneb's play well with them...

...I wish everything would.

 Slotless Amigas really need a cheap Sound Card and GFX Card Solution.
Title: Re: PCMCIA Sound Card
Post by: psxphill on February 22, 2014, 12:39:26 PM
Quote from: commodorejohn;759398
If you already have a USB controller, sure. Not so much if you'd rather not spring for one just so you can use a USB sound card for which you paid still more money.

USB sound cards are effectively free.
 
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8-1-USB-USB-2-0-Portable-B5UT-Sound-Card-USB-Sound-Card-Notebook-Desktop-Adapter-/231105474683?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item35cef5b07b
 
I don't know whether there is a standard for USB sound cards, or whether you have to buy a particular one though.
 
I was suggesting USB over forking out for PCI or developing a PCI express solution. For PCMCIA it would make sense for someone to write a driver, but I expect everyone uses PCMCIA for networking these days.
Title: Re: PCMCIA Sound Card
Post by: som99 on February 22, 2014, 01:41:11 PM
Quote from: psxphill;759429
USB sound cards are effectively free.
 
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8-1-USB-USB-2-0-Portable-B5UT-Sound-Card-USB-Sound-Card-Notebook-Desktop-Adapter-/231105474683?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item35cef5b07b
 
I don't know whether there is a standard for USB sound cards, or whether you have to buy a particular one though.
 
I was suggesting USB over forking out for PCI or developing a PCI express solution. For PCMCIA it would make sense for someone to write a driver, but I expect everyone uses PCMCIA for networking these days.


Yepp they work well enough, bought one for one of my servers that didn't have built in sound to use sound alarm for some events :)
Title: Re: PCMCIA Sound Card
Post by: XDelusion on February 22, 2014, 01:52:11 PM
Quote from: psxphill;759429
USB sound cards are effectively free.
 
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8-1-USB-USB-2-0-Portable-B5UT-Sound-Card-USB-Sound-Card-Notebook-Desktop-Adapter-/231105474683?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item35cef5b07b
 
I don't know whether there is a standard for USB sound cards, or whether you have to buy a particular one though.
 
I was suggesting USB over forking out for PCI or developing a PCI express solution. For PCMCIA it would make sense for someone to write a driver, but I expect everyone uses PCMCIA for networking these days.


Indeed indeed, I had bought 3 of them a while back when I had an eMac with MorphOS, but sadly that arrangement did not work out.  

 Great cards for all other alt OS's though!
Title: Re: PCMCIA Sound Card
Post by: Thorham on February 22, 2014, 02:18:28 PM
Quote from: commodorejohn;759398
(But then, I'm the kind of person who thinks putting a sound card in an Amiga is pretty silly to begin with...)
Indeed. Same for graphics cards.
Title: Re: PCMCIA Sound Card
Post by: psxphill on February 22, 2014, 02:45:46 PM
Quote from: Thorham;759432
Indeed. Same for graphics cards.

It's no more silly than still using an Amiga at all.
 
There were add on graphics cards and sound cards even when commodore were still alive, so we have API's for them and old software will then work with the modern hardware.
 
It's not my thing sure, but I wouldn't judge anyone for doing it.
Title: Re: PCMCIA Sound Card
Post by: XDelusion on February 22, 2014, 02:49:51 PM
If I had the AAA chipset, I would not want a gfx card.

As for the sound card, well when working with OctaMED S.S. you come to realize that some sorts of sounds are better off in 16-bit.
Title: Re: PCMCIA Sound Card
Post by: psxphill on February 22, 2014, 09:47:04 PM
Quote from: XDelusion;759437
If I had the AAA chipset, I would not want a gfx card.

AAA was going to be a dog. It had no AA compatibility because it pre-dated AA. The design was overly complex to work around problems that wouldn't exist when it would have been able to come out.
 
I'd settle for the mythical AA+. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_AA%2B_Chipset (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_AA%2B_Chipset) If it hadn't been for AAA then we'd likely have had all the AA+ features.
Title: Re: PCMCIA Sound Card
Post by: dj.echo on September 26, 2015, 06:49:21 AM
the AMIGA is PCMCIA Type II complaint so you could get one of these sound cards or USB cards they just need drivers :hammer:
Title: Re: PCMCIA Sound Card
Post by: Matt_H on September 26, 2015, 09:03:09 PM
Thread necromancy! :)

We did sorta have a PCMCIA sound card back in the day (http://www.bigbookofamigahardware.com/bboah/product.aspx?id=1263). So, yes, I would imagine that drivers are the only thing preventing a slightly more recent 16-bit PCMCIA card from working...
Title: Re: PCMCIA Sound Card
Post by: skolman on September 26, 2015, 10:47:30 PM
Quote from: XDelusion;759401
Trident/Posieden doesn't support USB sound cards.


http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=989297&postcount=220