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inexpensive CF to pcmcia adapter & 2GB Toshiba (modified 0 times) makehell Profile I've just bought an CF-pcmcia card adapter for $26 from sempsons. (http://www.semsons.com/comflastopcc.html) Its flexible, the pc-card part has a rubber booty and can actually bend 180 degrees. I am waiting now for a pc-card Toshiba 2GB drive from TigerDirect ($99). The next cheapest price I found for the Toshiba is $169 at newegg, so this a great deal (however newegg also carries the 5GB version). Hopefully this combo will work in the A1. 07-15-2002 13:06:05

RE:inexpensive CF to pcmcia adapter & 2GB Toshiba (modified 0 times) Musicman38 Profile | Email Does it fit n your IA-1 ?? If so it's perfect for my application, with a small PCCard Hard drive I could run Windows 98 easy.. Please let me know if it fits OK on the IA-1 -Musicman38 07-15-2002 21:10:50

RE:inexpensive CF to pcmcia adapter & 2GB Toshiba (modified 0 times) makehell Profile It fits pefectly. Just a minor effort to make sure its completely seated. You may be able to trim the plastic over the CF socket and fold the pc-card drive to reside inside over the CF socket. I haven't tested this since I won't get the toshiba til tommorrow. Also you might have to do the voltage trick that has been reported for more reliable IBM microdrive usage (jumper in 5volts to replace the the 3.3volts on the CF socket) 07-16-2002 18:44:02

RE:inexpensive CF to pcmcia adapter & 2GB Toshiba (modified 0 times) Musicman38 Profile | Email While this seems like a great Idea, that voltage problem makes it difficult. Would be nice to just plug in a microdrive and boot from it, but as I read most microdrives will not work with the supplied 3.3 volts from the IA-1. I know of several External Hard drive Cases that plug into a PCMCIA slot, and it allows one to run a standard 3.5 inch Hard Drive. It's also externally powered. Should work as the adaptor gets it power for the IDE drive from its own power source... 07-21-2002 21:07:26

RE:inexpensive CF to pcmcia adapter & 2GB Toshiba (modified 0 times) GRISHNAKH Profile I haven't have any problems running win98 from my 340 meg Iomega Microdrive in the compact flash slot so it's possible to do without any voltage mods. 07-22-2002 06:15:26

RE:inexpensive CF to pcmcia adapter & 2GB Toshiba (modified 0 times) Musicman38 Profile | Email GRISHNAKH, Does you microdrive overheat or anything when running for extended periods ? Do you leave it on all the time running ? Very interested to know, because if it works, I'll just get a microdrive and be done with it. Does anyone know if the little IBM Microdrive is able to run 24/7 and last any length of time in the IA-1's CF slot ? -Musicman38 07-22-2002 08:37:22

RE:inexpensive CF to pcmcia adapter & 2GB Toshiba (modified 0 times) GRISHNAKH Profile I leave it on all the time pretty much. At least for 4 or 5 days in a row. All I'm doing with it right now is using it for a VNC client. If you're using more intensive software, then you might have to worry about the drive heating up. 07-23-2002 05:39:53

RE: Sempson's CF to PCMCIA adapter and 2GB Type][ HDD (modified 0 times) keith721 Profile bought the CF to PCMCIA adapter from Sempson's http://www.semsons.com/comflastopcc.html and was delighted to find that it worked great with my ZiO! USB CF adapter and the 2Gb Kingston DP-PCM2/2GB 2GB DataPak PC Card Type II Hard Drive http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?sku=K22-1000%20P However, when attaching to my IA-1 and rebooting, it doesn't seem to be detected quickly enough by the BIOS to become the primary boot device. I need to mention that my BIOS is 'hackable' but currently in 'quick boot' mode where the BIOS is inaccessible, until I desperately re-open and hack the BIOS jumper. Anyway, it *WILL* boot off a 32 MB Compact Flash card in the slot, so I wonder if it's just a timing issue, or if anyone thinks it's probably the IA-1's 3.3V supply? any suggestions would be greatly welcomed... keith721 08-30-2002 19:35:19

RE:inexpensive CF to pcmcia adapter & 2GB Toshiba (modified 0 times) GRISHNAKH Profile The voltage issue is a possibility. Here are the specs from the Kingston website. It's for the 5GB version. I'm not sure if that'll matter: http://www.kingston.com/products/pccard.asp Voltage 3V+/-5% or 5V+/-5% SpinUp Current 370 mA (3.3V) or 380 mA (5.0V) Active Read Current 360 mA (3.3V) or 370 mA (5.0V) Active Write Current 390 mA (3.3V) or 400 mA (5.0V) Idle Current 150 mA (3.3V) or 160 mA (5.0V) Standby Current 70 mA (3.3V) or 75 mA (5.0V) Sleep Current 15 mA (3.3V) or 20 mA (5.0V) 08-31-2002 07:20:18

RE:inexpensive CF to pcmcia adapter & 2GB Toshiba (modified 0 times) keith721 Profile GRISHNAKH: thanks i had reviewed those, and 3.3V should not be a problem, nor should the current requirements which don't exceed 400 mA at either voltage. i'll probably have to break down, open the case, and short the BIOS jumper. either that, or flash blank data over the internal SanDisk, forcing it to check the external HDD for an o/s... 08-31-2002 08:09:12

RE:inexpensive CF to pcmcia adapter & 2GB Toshiba (modified 1 times) keith721 Profile aw, nuts . . . opened it up, reset the BIOS successfully, redefined all BIOS options using a CF card in the slot, and it just doesn't like the CF-to-PCCARD adapter with the 2GB HDD card inserted. it seems to lock up the keyboard input, which sounds suspiciously like a voltage/current issue. looks like an opportunity for a single-pole double-throw toggle switch, with one pole at 3.3V, the other pole at 5V, and the common/center pole connected to the voltage pin of the CF slot. with my fat fingers and no caffeine, i might be able to successfully get it working. . . wish me luck! keith721 08-31-2002 18:44:56

RE:inexpensive CF to pcmcia adapter & 2GB Toshiba (modified 0 times) GRISHNAKH Profile If you ever get that working, I found a budget version on clearance at buy.com. 260MB for $33.95 with free shipping. It appears to be Kingston brand also. http://www.buy.com/retail/clearance/product.asp?sku=70009290 09-02-2002 06:53:35

RE:inexpensive CF to pcmcia adapter & 2GB Toshiba (modified 0 times) CmdrRaster Profile I found an alternative CF to PCMCIA adapter- and this one has a power brick, as well as jumperable voltages to output to the drive in question. The link is here: http://www.accurite.com/CFPCAdapter.html I just won my IA-1 on eBay, and plan on using my old 105MB IBM PCMCIA drive I used to use on my Thinkpad 730T unit, loaded with Win95, with one of these. You folks see any issue with shorting the BIOS, setting it to boot to CF slot, plugging in the CF to PCMCIA adapter, plugging in the PCMCIA HDD, and powering it via the little wall brick? 09-25-2002 19:44:19

RE:inexpensive CF to pcmcia adapter & 2GB Toshiba (modified 0 times) my80chevette Profile I believe I saw somewhere that this problem can be fixed by a pause command put in somewhere that gives the microdrive a chance to spool up and be bootable. I'm not sure where I saw this though............. It makes sense that at the lower voltage the card/drive would require a longer spool time and your bios is by-passing it when it fails to provide a return within a given time. This might require a script placed on the internal sandisk which would then access the microdrive. I'm not positive on any of this so shoot me if I'm wrong!!! 11-03-2002 00:26:58

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