The PCMCIA Card came into existence in 1989 to help promote the standards for the integrated circuit cards I/O as well as the memory. In 1993, another standard 2.1 card was developed thus PC users could get the attachment of any the related peripheral devices that came after that. The card, which looks as a credit card, comes with 68 pins with which it is connected to its slot in the in a PC. The common example is the 28.8 Kbps modem card which is used in most notebook computers. Though the card is commonly used in laptops, it can also be used for the desktops and it could be easily confused with other electronic cards.
The PCMCIA card comes it three sizes which are of different thicknesses ranging from the 3.3mm to 10.5mm. To begin with, the 3.3mm used as memory and it commonly referred to the type I card. It is compatible with the slots of the other two types. The type II, is a 5.0mm card that is used for modems, LANs, Sound as well as SCSI. Finally, the type III card which is largest with a thickness of 10.5mm is used for ATA hard drive. While assembling them, you will notice that a thicker cards cannot fit in the smaller slots while the vice versa is true.
Since they are commonly used with laptops, it is easy to mount them on your PC if it has the compatible slot. Some recent computers do not come with the slot. To be able to use the PCMCIA card you will have to use a special adapter which will be able to link the card to your computer’s USB port. In addition to the adapter, you will be required to have the installation CD for the card and the process of connecting is easy.
To begin with, you will connect one end of the USB to PCMCIA adapter to any of the functional USB ports in your PC and the other end to the adapter. You should not connect the PCMCIA card yet as its time to be connected has not come. Let your windows explorer detect the new device. After a short while, the Add a New Hardware Wizard will prompt you that it has found a new device and will guide you all though the process of installation and configuration. Afterwards, it many require you to reboot the computer once the configuration has been finished.
Finally, you will be required to push the
PCMCIA card
to the USB to PCMCIA adapter and wait for windows to direct you through. It may require you to insert the installation CD and you will do that, as it guides you while you continue with the device installation. During the process of installation, the installation wizard will be asking you what you ought to do. In addition to that, the wizard will search and automatically install the drives for your card and thus it will be detected. Your installation process will then be finished with the computer prompting you to reboot it again for the second time. The process is quite simple and easy to do. It does not require an expert to do a
PCMCIA Card
installation.
