what are PCMCIA cards, what are the various subtypes and how do they work?

Answer 1

It's a special kind of card that is usually made for laptops. They're fairly the size of a credit card (a bit thicker).

Most laptops can handle 2 of them. They mostly add connectivity to your laptop, such as wireless network adaptors, Bluetooth adaptors and video capture devices. They also may have hard drive features.

They were introduced many years ago before the USB devices. Now, most PCMCIA devices are replaces by USB devices, much easier to install and manage. PCMCIA devices have tendancy to be a bit tricky to install due to their drivers, and you'll usually be limited to 2. USB devices may need drivers too, but they're still fairly easier and you theoretically can have dozens on your computer.

The other thing about PCMCIA vs. USB is that if you buy a PCMCIA device, it will typically only work for your laptop (unless you buy a PCMCIA adaptor for you desktop PC). However, USB ports will always be compatible for both your laptop and your desktop PC.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Component International Association) cards are expansion cards generally used in Laptops. They are now also known as PC Cards, as the original intent was for memory expansion (hence the name), but they have grown to encompass a great variety of possibilities:

Memory Expansion
Sound Cards
Networking Cards
Modems
Wireless Cards

The original PCMCIA spec called for 3 subtypes, known (as you might have guessed) as Types I, II, and III.

Type III cards were large - they required 2 PCMCIA slots to fit into your laptop, and generally held hard drives. Now that everything is getting smaller, you rarely if ever see them any more.

Types I and II are smaller, and take only one slot. You will see that most laptops nowadays list 1 or 2 PCMCIA type I/II slots available. They are used less frequently now thanks to USB, but they are still handy. Creative makes an excellent sound card (Audigy II PC Card) which far exceeds the abilities of most internal sound cards. Sprint is now on a big kick advertising their wireless cards, which connect to their cell towers, so you can get online almost anywhere there's a signal.

Most PCMCIA devices are swappable - you can add and remove them while the laptop is running

Hope that helps!