PCMCIA - USB

[DyLucke]

Is there any PCMCIA - USB driver around for OS3.0?

I've seen some PCMCIA cards with 4 USB ports that are really cool to plug some USB pens or such.

Thanks!

[MozzerFan]

Nope. There are no drivers for that.
Besides I doubt it if these cards are suitable for the 16-bit PCMCIA slot of the Amiga.

[adonay]

This have been talked about alot although there are atleased 2 PCMCIA 16bits cards . But will never work unless drivers were to be written

[MozzerFan]

Also if there were any drivers for it, version 3.8 of the poseidon usb stack can't be registered anymore. Version 4.0 and up are locked to E3B hardware.

[MozzerFan]

Just looked on aminet and noticed the ANAIIS usb stack. Maybe the author could be persuaded to write a driver for these cards. However this usb stack doesn't support mass storage devices yet. It looks promising though.

[Colani1200]

I guess it's time for a little Poseidon bounty reminder.  ;-) Once the source is available new drivers can be developed much easier.

[DyLucke]

Yea bec if some driver is written for one of these babies, just think about what we could plug on the USB port...

Limited speed of course, but what is important is to be capable of using USB devices.

I hope we could see a real improvement on this direction.

Cheers

[Gilloo]

MozzerFan wrote:
Maybe the author could be persuaded to write a driver for these cards.

Persuaded with what?
- weapon of mass destruction.
- lot of beer.
- girls.

MozzerFan wrote:
However this usb stack doesn't support mass storage devices yet. It looks promising though.

ANAIIS supports mass storage (usb keys, smart card reader, hppsc) since febuary of this year (0.97 version).
I don't put this in the package because plug/unplug are not managed yet and it's not currently user friendly.
 :-P
You can use external driver using the Sirion API, ANAIIS does the same.

[alexh]

DyLucke wrote:
Is there any PCMCIA - USB driver around for OS3.0?

AFAIK there are no PCMCIA USB host cards compatible with the Amiga. They are all Cardbus (32-bit PCMCIA).

If you want USB on A1200 you need to buy a Subway card from E3B (about £80) which connects to the internal clock port.

adonay wrote:
There are at least 2 PCMCIA 16bits cards.

What are they?

AFAIK there is only one 16-bit USB host chip (the OXCFU950 designed here at my company) and it is not used in any PCMCIA->USB cards the public can buy.

I sent some samples and the linux driver code to Michael Boehmer and Chris Hodges a long time ago.

[MozzerFan]

@Gilloo

Persuaded with what?

Seriously,
If 16-bit pcmcia usb-cards really do exist and are for sale, and you are willing to write such a driver, maybe a small bounty could be set up. If there are enough users out there, who are interested (and there are still a lot of a600/a1200 users out there), it must be possible.

I am the lucky owner of a subway and deneb card myself, so for me it doesn't matter, but I'm sure there are still enough users who don't have a subway.

[alexh]

MozzerFan wrote:
I'm sure there are still enough users who don't have a subway.

They could always buy one ;-)

[Fransexy_]

alexh wrote:

MozzerFan wrote:
I'm sure there are still enough users who don't have a subway.

They could always buy one ;-)

but, it would freed the clock port for a soundcard or other clockport card  :-D

[MozzerFan]

They could always buy one

Vesalia sold them for 89€, but are out of stock now.
Couldn't check out amigakit.com (website didn't respond).
I just saw a 32-bit pcmcia usb card for 16€.
Makes me wonder what a 16-bit pcmcia usb card would cost (if they exist). Me thinks it would be a lot cheaper than the subway.

[alexh]

My company makes the chips at the heart of the Subway and the only 16-bit PCMCIA USB host chip. There is only a small difference in price.

The big cost of the Subway is that they are manufactured and tested in low volumes just for the Amiga market. You cannot compare prices with mass produced CardBus USB cards.

Amigakit seem to have a DNS problem. Their secondary URL seems to be working fine

http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com

[MozzerFan]

I know why the subway is so expensive. I was just pointing out that if amiga users had a choice between paying 88€ or 20€ the choice would be easy.