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Extra hardware you'll find useful |
When using a PC110, there are certain bits of hardware that are so useful you wonder how you survived without them. Here's my recommendations of what you should consider buying.
Everyone has different requirements and uses for their PC110. The devices below allow me to connect my PC110 to the outside world, and transfer large quantities of data around quite easily. This is great for testing new builds, drivers, applications, and the like - making full rebuilds so much easier and faster.
Available as either front-access (using a 3.5" bay), or rear access (through the end of the adapter card), PCMCIA adapters are now available quite cheaply for most PC types - even MCA ones ;-) Check with your favourite surplus dealers before paying full price for one. Also, make sure the one you get comes with drivers for your choice of operating system.
I use a rear-access ISA adapter. I chose it because it was cheap, but I could see it used the Intel 82365sl PCMCIA controller - the same as in the PC110, and many ThinkPads - so that guaranteed compatibility and driver support. It gives me 2x type II slots, so I can happily throw in a hard drive, copy files to it, then put it back in the PC110.
Remember that if you get a PCMCIA to CompactFlash adapter (dirt cheap), the desktop PCMCIA adapter will allow you to work with your CompactFlash storage cards too.
 ISA PCMCIA adapter |
 Intel 82365sl PCMCIA controller |
Since I've never been brave (wealthy?) enough to invest in PCMCIA or CF flash cards, I've stuck with PCMCIA type III hard drives. As we all know, this ties up both PCMCIA sockets. However, there are devices available called PCMCIA type converters - basically a type I PCMCIA card with a straight-through connection to an open PCMCIA socket which hangs out the side of the machine. Use this in the top slot, with your type III hard drive in it, and your bottom slot is free to use with a modem or a network card. Be careful, though - depending on the PCMCIA type converter you use, you may find cable conflicts with the card you use in the bottom slot, if it has bulky connectors. X-jack modem cards are notorious for this.
I use a Greystone Peripherals card - this gives me a nice, rigid, open PCMCIA socket, so my type III drive just sticks out in mid-air. Not exactly elegant or practical if you're on the move, but then how many times do you connect to the LAN or a phone line without having a couple of spare square feet of desk space nearby? It does keep the hard drive much cooler ;-)
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| Greystone PCMCIA type converter | |
Only of use if you've got the PC110 docking station, of course. I use a Xircom PE3 parallel port adapter - plug it on to the docking station, load up the drivers, and I've got the PC110 on the home network. There are several brands of these devices available; some are blatant copies of the Xircom ones, but the genuine article comes with the best range of drivers - even OS/2 and NT drivers. The downside to all this is that the parallel port will throttle the LAN connection - parallel ports transfer at between 100KB/s and 300KB/s, compared to the 10MB/s of ethernet. Still, it's too good a facility to overlook.
Be careful if you choose to power such a device off the keyboard/mouse ports of the docking station - many people have blown these ports in the past. Always make sure the PC110 is properly powered off before plugging or unplugging a mouse/keyboard port power feed.
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| Xircom PE3 parallel port ethernet adapter | |
From the driver support point of view, check out the underside of a Xircom adapter, and look for it being a PE3-10xx model - the label should look something like the one below. The earlier PE2-xx and PE10xx adapters are less well supported.
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