Want to Borrow: USB 1.1 PCMCIA

Hey guys, I'm trying an experiement and I need to use a USB 1.1 PCMCIA card to make it work, I think.

Basically I'm trying to get my Garmin GPS unit to work with VirtualPC. I read (But can't find it now!) that if you can get a USB 1.1 PCMCIA card it will work.

I'd be willing to buy one but I can only find 2.0 cards. Anybody got a 1.1 card they're willing to loan me to try? I'm willing to pay shipping both to and from me.

eMail via the address in my profile if you think you might be able to help!

Thanks,

The key to USB devices under windows in VPC is to plug them in only after windows is loaded and running. Anything that is there when you launch VPC will be in use by MacOX. This was true for my testing things with keyspan serial adaptors anyway. I last used a very old version of VPC, but it definitely worked then as long as you were willing to fiddle with it. I'd be very surprised if a separate USB card was necessary...

Worth a try if you've already tried everything else though.

Saaby, I have a SIIG V1.0 5-port card you can have. I don't have a clue what happened to any documentation/drivers that might have come with it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif

Larry

Here's the thing, is it a PCMCIA laptop card, or a PCI desktop card?

I know beggars can't be choosers, but I can't cram a desktop card into my laptop /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

My foul-up- PCI card. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Larry

Thanks anyway! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Just curious Saaby, which Garmin GPS product is it, and does the laptop itself not have USB ports?

It's a Garmin GPS 60CS. I am on a Mac laptop.

Garmin doesn't play with Mac, even through VirtualPC. Well I read something that the main reason for this is not the Mac itself, but that the Macs don't use a USB chipset compatible with the GPS unit. Like I said, I can't find it now, but I found a little page where a guy said he used an IOGEAR USB 1.1 card and voila! Garmin connectivity via USB in VirtualPC.

I can connect right now with a serial connection, but that's slooowwwwww.

Just a thought, but can you increase the speed of the serial port? I know its possible on a Windows OS, but I'm not sure about a Mac.

Even at maximum speed it's still significantly slower than USB 1.1.

There's no such thing as a usb pcmcia card as far as I know. They're all cardbus. Is that ok? Or are you trying to use an older laptop?

There are some CF usb pcmcia cards that you could use in a pcmcia slot with an adapter and maybe an external power supply. You're probably better off just getting a more recent old laptop (ebay) that has built-in usb.

I think card bus and PCMCIA are physically identical, I should be able to use either?

The key difference is the data path interface. 16-bit PCMCIA Cards are based on a 16-bit "ISA-like" interface.
CardBus Cards use a 32-bit "PCI-like" interface. Check the spec's of your laptop on an official site, if you put a CardBus device into a laptop that can only handle PCMCIA, you will not be able to read or utilize the CardBus device.

Saaby, older laptops don't support cardbus. Older means maybe Pentium 166 and below. Cardbus became widespread around the same time as USB, so if your laptop doesn't have USB, there's a good chance it doesn't support Cardbus.

LOL!

I have USB! Supposely the reason the Garmin isn't working is it isn't compatible with the USB chipset in Macs, so if I can get a USB card it should theoretically work with VirtualPC. Well also supposedly it's not compatible with most of the USB 2.0 chipsets, so USB 1.1 is the safest way to go.

Maybe I should just grab a 2.0 Cardbus card to see if it works.

I have a USB 2.0 PCMCIA card you can borrow.

My new laptop has USB 2.0...

Do you need the driver disk also?

Nah, it's a Mac so if the driver isn't built in it probably doesn't exist. I'll drop you an eMail if you don't mind?

What is that madness? Any USB 1.1 device should work with any USB2 host. If it doesn't, it's not meeting spec and isn't allowed to carry the USB logo. The GPS should work fine with your Mac's builtin USB port, if there's appropriate Mac software for i.

There's no such thing as a USB2 PCMCIA card, at least USB2 hi-speed. USB2 cards are all Cardbus. But if your Mac is fairly recent, Cardbus should be fine, modulo software driver issues.

Saaby, before going to extremes to find working hardware, check see if its a compatibility issue. The hardware you have probably works, just that Garmin does not write software to support a Mac.
GPSy is a sophisticated Macintosh GPS communications and GIS mapping program. GPSy connects your Macintosh to a broad range of Global Positioning System (GPS) navigational units and has advanced mapping, logging, and data transfer features. Try here, and see if the software works.

Garmin has *not* written software for the Mac. I'm trying to use this in VirtualPC which is Windows being emulated on top of OS X.

The fact that their USB cable is not Mac compatible should not, in and of itself, be a problem -- because you can pass your USB ports through to the VirtualPC, as I do the Keyspan Serial to USB adaptor.

The Garmin USB cable won't work with the USB passthrough though. Some say that it's the chipset being used in the Mac laptops and that some PCs have the same problem, which is why I'm going to try the USB card.