Transcend PCMCIA 5-in-1 card reader on Amiga 1200

[LoadWB]

I picked up a Transcend PCMCIA 5-in-1 card reader for my M2 (via Memory Stick Pro adapter) and SD cards with my laptop.  Of course, I could not resist trying them in my A1200, which already has the CF0: driver installed and working on CompactFlash cards.

I was pleasantly surprised to see it work, and work well.  It works with both my M2 and SD cards, the former being 4GB and the later being 2GB.

Just thought I'd share that for anyone else looking to do the same.  A quick search of the forums did not turn up anything similar.

I'm using this adapter:

http://www.transcendusa.com/Products/ModDetail.asp?ModNo=36&LangNo=0

The adapter works with SD, MMC, SM, MS, and MS Pro.  However, I do not have MMC, SM, or MS cards to try.

[Reynolds]

Maybe they should have to be informed to modify the requirements part and include Amiga OS 2.x as well... Who knows.

[LoadWB]

Why not?  The company I got my CF-IDE adapters from thought it was great that I was using them in Amigas.  Maybe Transcend has a sense of humor  :crazy:

[DBAlex]

@LoadWB

Yup, I bought an el-cheapo PCMCIA 5-in-1 card reader from ebay and it worked with my A1200 too, so I can read SD cards (which are generally cheaper & more convenient than CF). This along with the PCMCIA WiFi card (An orinoco from ebay) are the most useful (and probably cheapest) things that you can add to a desktop A1200.

Next step would be a cocolino (maybe) and a Subway USB... although with the 5-in-1 SD card reader i'm not really sure you even need USB... just copy the files over to the card, and since most laptops now have a card reader its even more useful. :-D

[DBAlex]

One thing I was also thinking, do Type-II USB 1.0, 1.1 or 2.0 cards exist?

I did a search for it & it seems Chris Hodges thinks its possible... I would be willing to try and find a card and send it to him if it would mean the possibility of USB on an A1200 through the PCMCIA port... would beat the £70 Subway.

[tonyyeb]

Will ANY PCMCIA Wifi card work on an A1200? The only orinoco one i can find is £40+!

[amiga1260]

How do you get a 4gb card to work? I tried it with a PCMCIA Compact flash reader from SanDisk. I can't get a 4 GB card to work.

[DBAlex]

@amiga1260

Thats probably because its an SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) card, the A1200 PCMCIA SD reader only supports non-sdhc cards which the max is 2GB. I have a 2GB card and it works perfectly, plus you can get them new cheaply on ebay.

 :-)

[LoadWB]

amiga1260 wrote:
How do you get a 4gb card to work? I tried it with a PCMCIA Compact flash reader from SanDisk. I can't get a 4 GB card to work.

My understanding is the M2 (MemoryStick Micro) doesn't need the SDHC stuff as it's a specific extension of the SD format.  It's just a 4GB card formatted FAT.  Might be FAT32, but I'll have to check on the PC again.

[EDIT: It is FAT32, which fat95 works with just fine.]

As for the USB via PCMCIA, I was just wondering the exact thing last couple of days.

The only issue with PCMCIA is that it is being phased out in favor of ExpressCard, which is one lane of PCIe and a USB2.0 bus.  But so long as there's PCMCIA cards that work with Amiga stuff, who cares, eh?

Yeah, while others are interested in donating towards a USB Video adapter, I'm certainly interested in donating towards a USB PCMCIA for 1200.  Ohhhh, yeah.

[stanlong]

are you talking classic A1200 or tower

[Jiffy]

stanlong wrote:
are you talking classic A1200 or tower

Not relevant.

[wawrzon]

how about setting up a general database of current amiga compatible hardware for noobs? a single thread like this will soon be forgotten!

[LoadWB]

wawrzon wrote:
how about setting up a general database of current amiga compatible hardware for noobs? a single thread like this will soon be forgotten!

If there is one, I'll happily submit my findings as they turn up.  Otherwise, I have been posting here as the forums can be searched, and I try to include specific verbiage for locating ease.