PC Card

Personal Computer Memory Card International Association
A PC Card network adapter
Year created	1991
Superseded by	ExpressCard (2003)
Width in bits	32
Number of devices	1 per slot
Capacity	133 MB/s
Style	Parallel
Hotplugging interface	Yes
External interface	Yes

In computing, PC Card is the form factor of a peripheral interface designed for laptop computers. Originally known as PCMCIA Card, short for Personal Computer Memory Card International Association, the PC Card standard as well as its successor ExpressCard) was defined and developed by the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA), which itself was created by a number of computer industry companies in 1986 by Jacob D. Holm. It was originally designed as a standard for memory-expansion cards to compete with the JEIDA memory card standard developed in Japan. In 1991 the two standards merged as JEIDA 4.1 or PCMCIA 2.0 (PC Card).

PC Card was originally designed for computer storage expansion, but the existence of a usable general standard for notebook peripherals led to many kinds of devices being made available based on the form factor, including network cards, modems, and hard disks. The cards were also used in early digital SLR cameras, such as the Kodak DCS 300 series. However, their original use as storage expansion is no longer common.

Many notebooks in the 1990s had two adjacent type-II slots, which allowed installation of two type-II cards or one, double-thickness, type-III card. The PC card port has been superseded by the faster ExpressCard interface, but some modern portable computers still use them^[which?].

Two PC Card devices: Xircom RealPort (top) type III and 3Com (bottom) type II.

A type I Linear Flash PC Card

Summary[link]

• Pc Card = PCMCIA Card (older name) = 16bit or 32bit.
• Pc Card 32bit version = Cardbus (alternative name).
• 16bit vs 32bit: 32bit includes DMA or Bus Mastering, 16bit does not.
• Type I-III:

Type I: 16bit. Formfactor thickness 3.3 mm.

Type II: 16bit or 32bit. Formfactor thickness 5.0 mm.

Type III: 16bit or 32bit. Formfactor thickness 10.5 mm.

• Pc Card was superseded by ExpressCard in 2003.

Name[link]

PCMCIA stands for Personal Computer Memory Card International Association, the group of companies that defined the standard. This acronym was difficult to say and remember, and was sometimes jokingly referred to as "People Can't Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms".^[1] To recognize increased scope beyond memory, and to aid in marketing, the association acquired the rights to the simpler term "PC Card" from IBM. This was the name of the standard from version 2 of the specification onwards. These cards are used for wireless networks, modems, and other functions in notebook PCs.

The PCMCIA association was dissolved in 2009 and all of its activities are now managed by the USB Implementer's Forum, according to the PCMCIA website.^[2]

Card types[link]

All PC Card devices use a similar sized package which is 85.6 mm long and 54.0 mm wide, the same size as a credit card.^[3] The form factor is also used by the Common Interface form of Conditional Access Modules for DVB broadcasts, and by Panasonic for their professional "P2" video acquisition memory cards.

The original standard was defined for both 5 volt and 3.3 volt cards, with 3.3 V cards having a key on the side to prevent them from being inserted fully into a 5 V-only slot. Some cards and some slots operate at both voltages as needed. The original standard was built around an 'enhanced' 16-bit ISA bus platform. A newer version of the PCMCIA standard is CardBus (see below), a 32-bit version of the original standard. In addition to supporting a wider bus of 32 bits (instead of the original 16), CardBus also supports bus mastering and operation speeds up to 33 MHz.

Type I[link]

Cards designed to the original specification (version 1.x) are type I and feature a 16-bit interface. They are 3.3 mm thick and feature a dual row of 34 holes (68 in total) along a short edge as a connecting interface. Type-I PC Card devices are typically used for memory devices such as RAM, flash memory, OTP (One-Time Programmable), and SRAM cards.

Type II[link]

Type-II and above PC Card devices use two rows of 34 sockets, and feature a 16- or 32-bit interface. They are 5.0 mm thick. Type-II cards introduced I/O support, allowing devices to attach an array of peripherals or to provide connectors/slots to interfaces for which the host computer had no built-in support. For example, many modem, network, and TV cards use this form factor. Due to their thinness, most Type II interface cards feature miniature interface connectors on the card which are used together with a dongle, a short cable that adapts from the card's miniature connector to an external full-size connector. Some cards instead have a lump on the end with the connectors. This is more robust and convenient than a separate adapter but can block the other slot where slots are present in a pair. Some Type II cards, most notably network interface and modem cards have a retractable jack, which can be pushed into the card and will pop out wen needed, allowing insertion of a cable from above. When use of the card is no longer needed, the jack can be pushed back into the card and lock in place, protecting it from damage. Most network cards have their jack on one side, while most modems have their jack on the other side, allowing the use of both at the same time as they do not interfere with each other. Wireless Type II cards often had a plastic shroud jutting out from the end of the card, inside which the antennas were housed.

Type III[link]

Type-III PC Card devices are 16-bit or 32-bit. These cards are 10.5 mm thick, allowing them to accommodate devices with components that would not fit type I or type II height. Examples are hard disk drive cards,^[3] and interface cards with full-size connectors that do not require dongles (as is commonly required with type II interface cards).

Type IV[link]

Type-IV cards, introduced by Toshiba, have not been officially standardized or sanctioned by the PCMCIA. These cards are 16 mm thick.

CompactFlash[link]

CompactFlash is a smaller dimensioned 50 pin subset of the 68 pin PC Card interface. It requires a setting for the interface mode of either "memory" or "ATA storage".

Card information structure[link]

The card information structure (CIS) is information stored on a PC card that contains information about the formatting and organization of the data on the card.^[4] The CIS also contains information about:

• The type of card
• Supported power supply options
• Supported power saving features
• The manufacturer
• Model number
• and so on.

When a card is unrecognized it is frequently because the CIS information is either lost or damaged.

CardBus[link]

Two Xircom RealPort Ethernet/56k modem cards. Top one is CardBus, and the bottom is the 5 volt PCMCIA version. Note the slightly different notch.

CardBus are PCMCIA 5.0 or later (JEIDA 4.2 or later) 32-bit PCMCIA devices, introduced in 1995 and present in laptops from late 1997 onward. CardBus is effectively a 32-bit, 33 MHz PCI bus in the PC Card form factor. CardBus supports bus mastering, which allows a controller on the bus to talk to other devices or memory without going through the CPU. Many chipsets, such as those that support Wi-Fi, are available for both PCI and CardBus.

The notch on the left hand front of the device is slightly shallower on a CardBus device so, by design, a 32-bit device cannot be plugged into earlier equipment supporting only 16-bit devices. Most new slots accept both CardBus and the original 16-bit PC Card devices. CardBus cards can be distinguished from older cards by the presence of a gold band with eight small studs on the top of the card next to the pin sockets.

The speed of CardBus interfaces in 32-bit burst mode depends on the transfer type: in byte mode, transfer is 33 MB/s; in word mode it is 66 MB/s; and in dword (double-word) mode 132 MB/s.

CardBay[link]

CardBay is a variant added to the PCMCIA specification introduced in 2001. It was intended to add some forward compatibility with USB and IEEE 1394, but was not universally adopted and only some notebooks have PC Card controllers with CardBay features. This is an implementation of Microsoft and Intel's joint Drive Bay initiative.

Descendants and variants[link]

The interface has spawned a generation of flash memory cards that set out to improve on the size and features of Type I cards: CompactFlash, MiniCard (MiniCard), P2 Card and SmartMedia. For example, the PC Card electrical specification is also used for CompactFlash, so a PC Card CompactFlash adapter need only be a socket adapter.

ExpressCard is a later specification from the PCMCIA, intended as a replacement for PC Card, built around the PCI Express and USB 2.0 standards. The PC Card standard is closed to further development and PCMCIA strongly encourages future product designs to utilize the ExpressCard interface. From about 2006 ExpressCard slots replaced PCMCIA slots in laptop computers, with a few laptops having both in the transition period. Much expansion that formerly required a PCMCIA card is catered for by USB, reducing the requirement for internal expansion slots; by 2011 many laptops had none.

ExpressCard and CardBus sockets are physically and electrically incompatible.^[5] ExpressCard-to-CardBus and Cardbus-to-ExpressCard adapters are available that allow a Cardbus card to be connected to an Expresscard slot, or vice versa, and carry out the required electrical interfacing.^[6] These adapters do not handle older non-Cardbus PCMCIA cards.

Adapters for PC Cards to Personal Computer ISA slots were available when these technologies were current. Cardbus adapters for PCI slots have been made. These adapters were sometimes used to fit Wireless (802.11) PCMCIA cards into desktop computers with PCI slots.^[7]

Technological obsolescence[link]

USB devices are available for almost all functions for which the PC Card interface was originally used. The ExpressCard, which replaced the PC Card, contains a PCIe 1x and a USB 2.0 interface. Cardbus devices can be plugged into an ExpressCard adaptor having a PCI-to-PCIe Bridge.

See also[link]

• Conditional access module (CAM)
• ExpressCard
• List of device bandwidths
• USB for mobile modems
• Zoomed video port

References[link]

1. ^ Clark, Scott H.; Norton, Peter (2002). Peter Norton's new inside the PC. Indianapolis: SAMS. pp. 33. ISBN 0-672-32289-7. 
2. ^ http://www.expresscard.org/web/site/developer.jsp
3. ^ ^{a b} Scott Mueller, Upgrading and Repairing PCs Eleventh Edition, Que, 1999, ISBN 0-7897-1903-7 pp. 1236-1241
4. ^ Linux PCMCIA Programmer's Guide
5. ^ "PCMCIA Frequently Asked Questions". http://www.pcmcia.org/faq.htm#expresscard. 
6. ^ "Newegg.com product search results for CardBus ExpressCard". http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=cardbus+expresscard&x=12&y=30. 
7. ^ http://homecommunity.cisco.com/t5/Wireless-Adapters/PCI-SLOT/m-p/58789

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: PC cards

• Understanding PC Card, PCMCIA, Cardbus, 16-bit, 32-bit.
• PCMCIA official website (no longer active; archived circa 2008 by the Internet Archive)
• Linux PCMCIA Information Page (kernel 2.4 and earlier)
• Linux Kernel 2.6 PCMCIA
• PCMCIA/CardBus Linux Status Survey
• PCMCIA pinout
• PCMCIA (PC Card) pinout and signals
• Simple FAQ on PCMCIA & PC Card

v t e Memory cards Main articles Memory card reader Comparison of memory cards SD Card and MultiMediaCard family comparison Types CompactFlash (CF, CFast) Express Card JEIDA MultiMediaCard (MMC) Memory Stick (MS, MS-PRO, MS-PRO HG, MS-XC) miCard Microdrive (MD) MiniCard P2 (MicroP2) PC Card (PCMCIA, CardBus, CardBay) Secure Digital (SDSC, SDHC, SDXC) SmartMedia (SM) SxS Universal Flash Storage (UFS) USB xD-Picture XQD

v t e Computer bus official and de facto standards (wired) General System bus Front-side bus Back-side bus Daisy chain Control bus Address bus Bus contention Plug and play List of bus bandwidths Standards S-100 bus Unibus VAXBI MBus STD Bus SMBus Q-Bus ISA Zorro II Zorro III CAMAC FASTBUS LPC HP Precision Bus EISA VME VXI VXS NuBus TURBOchannel MCA SBus VLB PCI PXI HP GSC bus CoreConnect InfiniBand UPA PCI-X AGP PCI Express Intel QuickPath Interconnect HyperTransport Portable PC Card ExpressCard Embedded Multidrop bus AMBA Wishbone Storage ST-506 ESDI SMD Parallel ATA (PATA) DMA SSA HIPPI USB MSC FireWire (1394) Serial ATA (SATA) eSATA eSATAp SCSI Parallel SCSI Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) Fibre Channel (FC) iSCSI ATAoE Peripheral Apple Desktop Bus HIL MIDI Multibus RS-232 (serial port) DMX512-A IEEE-488 (GPIB) EIA/RS-422 IEEE-1284 (parallel port) UNI/O ACCESS.bus 1-Wire I²C SPI EIA/RS-485 Parallel SCSI Profibus USB FireWire (1394) Fibre Channel Camera Link External PCI Express x16 Thunderbolt Note: interfaces are listed in speed ascending order (roughly), the interface at the end of each section should be the fastest Category

Yashwantrao Balwantrao Chavan (12 March 1913 - 25 November 1984) was the first Chief Minister of Maharashtra after the division of Bombay State and the fifth Deputy Prime Minister of India. He was a strong Congress leader, Cooperative leader, social activist and writer. He was popularly known as Leader of Common People. He advocated socialist democracy in his speeches and articles and was instrumental in establishing co-operatives in Maharashtra for the betterment of the farmers.

Introduction[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Yashwantrao Chavan was born in a peasant family on 12 March 1913 in the village of Devrashtre in Satara District (now in Sangli District) of Maharashtra, India. He lost his father in his early childhood and was brought up by his uncle and mother. His mother taught him about self-dependency and patriotism. From his childhood he was fascinated by the freedom struggle of India. Despite the adverse family situation.

Chavan was an active participant in the struggle for independence of India. In 1930, he was fined for his participation in the Non-cooperation Movement led by Mahatma Gandhi.During this period he came in contact with Swami Ramanand Bharti,Dhulappa Navale,Gaurihar(Appasaheb) Sihasane & V.S.Page.There friendship lasted forever. In 1932, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for hoisting the Indian flag in Satara.

Chavan obtained his B.A. in history and political science from Bombay University in 1938. In this period, he was involved in many social activities and was closely associated with the Congress party and its leaders, such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel and Keshavrao Jedhe. In 1940, he became President of Satara District Congress. In 1941 he passed his LLB. In 1942, he married Venutai at Phaltan in Dist Satara.

He was one of the delegates at the Bombay session of the A.I.C.C. in 1942 that gave the call for Quit India and he was subsequently arrested for his participation in the movement. Chavan was finally released from jail in 1944.

Early political career[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

In 1946, he was first elected as MLA from the South Satara constituency. In the same year he was appointed as parliamentary secretary to the Home Minister of Bombay State. In the next government of Moraji Desai he was appointed as Minister of Civil Supplies, Social Welfare and Forests. In 1953 he was a signatory to the Nagpur Pact that assured equitable development of all regions of Maharashtra.

Sanyukta Maharashtra Movement[link]

In 1957 Yashwantrao Chavan was elected from the Karad constituency. This time he was elected as Leader of Congress Legislative Party and became Chief Minister of the bilingual Bombay state. From 1957 to 1960 he was elected to the All India Congress Working Committee. He was one of the architects of the state of Maharashtra through his support for the Sanyukta Maharashtra Movement. On 1 May 1960, Yashwantrao Chavan became the first Chief Minister of Maharashtra.^[1]

Chavan's vision for Maharashtra for the development envisaged the equal development of both the industrial and agricultural sectors across all the regions of the state. He sought to realise this vision through the co-operative movement.

Legislation regarding democratic decentralized bodies and the Agricultural Land Ceiling Act were passed during his regime as CM.

Roles in Central Government[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

In 1962, he was appointed Defense Minister of India in the wake of India-China Border Conflict. After the resignation of Krishna Menon as Defense Minister in 1962, Pandit Nehru appointed Chavan as Defence Minister. He handled the delicate post-war situation firmly and took several decisions to empower the armed forces and negotiated, along with Pandit Nehru, with China to stop the war. He was the Defense Minister during the Indo-Pakistan War of September 1965.

In the next general election, Chavan was elected unopposed as Member of Parliament from the Nashik parliamentary constituency. On 14 November 1966 he was appointed Home Minister of India. On 26 June 1970 he was appointed as Finance Minister of India and was appointed the Foreign Minister on 11 October 1974. In June 1975 an internal emergency was declared in India and in the subsequent general elections, the Congress was routed. In the new Parliament, Chavan became the Leader of opposition in 1977.

In 1978-79, Chavan quit Congress and joined Congress (Urs) along with Devaraj Urs, Kasu Brahmananda Reddy, A.K. Antony, Sharad Pawar and others. He was appointed as Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India in the cabinet of Prime Minister Charan Singh.

Split in Congress[link]

At the end of 1978, at its annual session in Bangalore, the Congress split into two namely; Congress (Indira) and Congress (Urs). The important leaders who joined the Congress Urs were Devaraj Urs, Kasu Brahmananda Reddy, A.K. Antony, Sharad Pawar, and Yashwantrao Chavan. On the other side, Indira Gandhi established her own party christened Congress (I) and it included leaders like Shankar Dayal Sharma, Umashankar Dixit, Kamruddin Ali Ahmad, Shri. C. Subramanian, Barrister A.R.Antulay and Gulabrao Patil. Yashwantrao Chavan's political career suffered a major setback following his decision to move away from Indira Gandhi. Congress (Urs) disintegrated and Devaraj Urs himself joined the Janata Party and Congress(Urs) was renamed the Indian Congress (Socialist).

In the general elections of 1980, Congress (I) won a majority in Parliament and came to power under the leadership of Indira Gandhi. In this election, Yashwantrao Chavan was only candidate elected from Maharashtra as a MP on a Congress (S) ticket. In 1981 Yashwantrao Chavan returned to Congress (I) and was appointed the Chairman of the Eight Finance Commission of India in 1982.

Yashwantrao Chavan died of a heart attack on 25 November 1984 in Delhi. He was 71. He was cremated in Karad with full state honours on 27 November 1984.

Literature[link]

Yashwantrao Chavan took a keen interest in literature. He established the Marathi Sahitya Mandal and supported the Marathi Sahitya Sammelan(Conference). He was very closely associated with many poets, editors and several Marathi and Hindi writers. He initiated compilation of Marathi Vishwakosh (a Marathi language encyclopedia). For this, he nominated Lakshman Shastri Joshi as a chairman. He had planned to write his autobiography in three parts. The first part covers his early years in Satara district. Since his native place is situated on the banks of Krishna River he named the first volume as "Krishna Kath". His years as the Chief Minister of the bilingual Bombay state and later as that of the newly formed Maharashtra state were spent in Mumbai and so the proposed name for the second volume was "Sagar Tir". Later in 1962 he was appointed Defence Minister of India by Nehru. From then on he was in Delhi until his death in 1984; so he had proposed the name "Yamuna Kath" for his third volume. He was able to complete and publish only the first volume.

Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishtan (Memorial)[link]

In 1985, Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishtan (Memorial) was established in Mumbai. The objective of setting up the memorial was to perpetuate his memory by acknowledging his rich, outstanding and valuable contribution to society and democratic institution and development process in India's socio-political life and to undertake activities and programme particularly for the elevation of common man and promote his cherished ideas nurtured in freedom struggle and thereby strengthening Socio-economical fiber of India.

In 1984, an engineering college named Yeshwantrao Chavan College of Engineering was established in Nagpur. In 1989, an open university named 'Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University' was established at Nasik in Maharashtra.

External links[link]

• Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishthan, Mumbai

References[link]