Question about Pcmcia type 1 card. Amiga 600-1200 related.

[tedsorvino1]

Hi everyone.
My question is not Amiga specific but i know that experienced Amiga 1200/600 users, may have the answers

I found an old synth (alesis quadrasynth) from the early 90s which only loads sound patches, via pcmcia cards type 1 (3mm).
Apparently it can read both amd and intel series 2, card protocols. Non Ata cards.

The thing with the amd protocol cards is that they are very expensive. The intel series 2 cards are way cheaper, but apparently they need a (pc or laptop) pcmcia card slot with 12v supply, in order to write the files on the flash card

Here’s a link to some relevant info

http://www.benweaver.info/alesis/

So my questions are:

What would be a good way to use a modern computer (either pci-e or usb) for that job? An adapter or something appropriate? I repeat, non ata flash card protocol, in case you missed the detail.

Do i need to find a particular old laptop just for the task?

Thanks in advance

[Boing-ball]

The Amiga 600 and 1200 only provide 5Volts max via the PCMCIA as I recall. Also this is the early days version of PCMCIA. What you describe will not work in an Amiga.

As for PC. Then you are best trying to source an older Laptop. You will be hard pressed to find anything like a PCI or even a PCI-E PCMCIA adapter. Even my 2010 Toshiba laptop only supports the latter PCMCIA-II standards. Good luck 🤞🏻

[tedsorvino1]

Thanks for thevadvice. Any idea what laptop era-models we are aralking about?

[F0LLETT]

Even my 2010 Toshiba laptop only supports the latter PCMCIA-II standards.

lol, remember getting one of the first PCI-E pcmcia slots. Never could use it, as nothing was available at decent prices.
Moved on by time they were affordable.

In regards to 12v, never heard of 12v PCMCIA. Did however see this.

Supply Voltages
- 5V DC +/- 5%
- 12V DC (when required for PCMCIA devices as programming voltage)

Supply Current (absolute Maximum for PCMCIA cards)
- 1A at +5.0V
- 500mA at +12.0V
(Maximum allowed value according PCMCIA specification for inserted cards)

Apparently, 12v is used for programming.

[tedsorvino1]

In regards to 12v, never heard of 12v PCMCIA. Did however see this.

Supply Voltages
- 5V DC +/- 5%
- 12V DC (when required for PCMCIA devices as programming voltage)

Supply Current (absolute Maximum for PCMCIA cards)
- 1A at +5.0V
- 500mA at +12.0V
(Maximum allowed value according PCMCIA specification for inserted cards)

Apparently, 12v is used for programming.

Exactly. 12v is for writing files for writing (programming) files on a pcmcia type 1 - intel series 2- card.

So is there any idea about some specific models - series by all major companies.

[Castellen]

Some PCMCIA cards need an EPROM programming voltage of 5V, while some need 12V.  The Amiga PCMCIA interface in both A600 and A1200 supports 5V and 12V programming modes, which is selected by a register in Gayle.

As to what software support exists for this, I've no idea.  You could try one of the Intel cards and see if it happens to work.  Your success rate may also depend on what the target filesystem is and having a suitable Amiga device driver for it.

[golem]

I'm old enough to remember laptops with 16-bit PCMCIA cards. I mostly remember IBM Thinkpads and Toshiba Satellite laptops from around 1998 had these. It wasn't too long after this laptops started coming with the Cardbus type instead which won't fit in a 1200/600