We use PCMCIA WLAN cards in various embedded systems
 for wireless access. However, they are getting harder
 to find since most vendors have switched to cardbus.

 Does anyone know of a vendor/source which is promising
 long term availability of PCMCIA WLAN cards ????
 (i.e. 5+ years)

Thanks,
  Stuart

"Stuart J Adams" <s...@std.com> skrev i meddelandet
news:ca7nlc$prg$1...@pcls4.std.com...
> We use PCMCIA WLAN cards in various embedded systems
>  for wireless access. However, they are getting harder
>  to find since most vendors have switched to cardbus.
>
>  Does anyone know of a vendor/source which is promising
>  long term availability of PCMCIA WLAN cards ????
>  (i.e. 5+ years)
>
> Thanks,
>   Stuart

Forget PC-Card, it is dead...
Reason is the movement towards 802.11g, which is 54 Mbit.
Can't do 54 Mbit using PCMCIA.
USB seems the way to go at this point.

The fact that 802.11g is mainly needed to increase the number of nodes
in the system, rather than increase the throughput of a single node
does not change this unfortunately...

-- 
Best Regards,
Ulf Samuelsson   u...@a-t-m-e-l.com
This is a personal view which may or may not be
share by my Employer Atmel Nordic AB

"Ulf Samuelsson" <u...@atmel.nospam.com> wrote:

>Forget PC-Card, it is dead...
>Reason is the movement towards 802.11g, which is 54 Mbit.
>Can't do 54 Mbit using PCMCIA.
>USB seems the way to go at this point.
>
>The fact that 802.11g is mainly needed to increase the number of nodes
>in the system, rather than increase the throughput of a single node
>does not change this unfortunately...

10 Mbit Ethernet interfaces are still readily available at low cost,
even though the 100 Mbit (and faster) standards have been around a
long time.

Iosoft isn't the only company introducing new 802.11b products, and we
are all working hard to ensure the longevity of the standard, using
PCMCIA, CF, or other interfaces.

Ulf, I have great respect for your work, but in this case I think you
are being unnecessarily provocative and alarmist; is this part of an
Atmel agenda to convert us all to embedded USB?

Jeremy Bentham
Iosoft Ltd.

Have you tried Symbol?
They use them in their DOS products.

Stuart J Adams wrote:

>  We use PCMCIA WLAN cards in various embedded systems
>  for wireless access. However, they are getting harder
>  to find since most vendors have switched to cardbus.
>
>  Does anyone know of a vendor/source which is promising
>  long term availability of PCMCIA WLAN cards ????
>  (i.e. 5+ years)
>
> Thanks,
>   Stuart

These comments are intended to be my own opinion and they
may, or may not be shared by my employer, Atmel Sweden.

"Jeremy Bentham" <j...@iosoft.nospam.uk> skrev i meddelandet
news:1...@4ax.com...
> "Ulf Samuelsson" <u...@atmel.nospam.com> wrote:
>
> >Forget PC-Card, it is dead...
> >Reason is the movement towards 802.11g, which is 54 Mbit.
> >Can't do 54 Mbit using PCMCIA.
> >USB seems the way to go at this point.
> >
> >The fact that 802.11g is mainly needed to increase the number of nodes
> >in the system, rather than increase the throughput of a single node
> >does not change this unfortunately...
>
> 10 Mbit Ethernet interfaces are still readily available at low cost,
> even though the 100 Mbit (and faster) standards have been around a
> long time.
>
> Iosoft isn't the only company introducing new 802.11b products, and we
> are all working hard to ensure the longevity of the standard, using
> PCMCIA, CF, or other interfaces.
>
> Ulf, I have great respect for your work, but in this case I think you
> are being unnecessarily provocative and alarmist; is this part of an
> Atmel agenda to convert us all to embedded USB?
>

No, I dont represent Atmel here, but I think that WLAN cards don't have a
long
lifetime, and I see that CF is disappering from new products (802.11g) but
USB will remain.


-- 
Best Regards
Ulf at atmel dot com

Jeremy Bentham wrote:
> "Ulf Samuelsson" <u...@atmel.nospam.com> wrote:
> 
> 
>>Forget PC-Card, it is dead...
>>Reason is the movement towards 802.11g, which is 54 Mbit.
>>Can't do 54 Mbit using PCMCIA.

It may be less than ideal, but to say "can't do" is sweeping.
If there is demand, someone will make it.

>>USB seems the way to go at this point.
>>
>>The fact that 802.11g is mainly needed to increase the number of nodes
>>in the system, rather than increase the throughput of a single node
>>does not change this unfortunately...
> 
> 
> 10 Mbit Ethernet interfaces are still readily available at low cost,
> even though the 100 Mbit (and faster) standards have been around a
> long time.
> 
> Iosoft isn't the only company introducing new 802.11b products, and we
> are all working hard to ensure the longevity of the standard, using
> PCMCIA, CF, or other interfaces.
> 
> Ulf, I have great respect for your work, but in this case I think you
> are being unnecessarily provocative and alarmist; is this part of an
> Atmel agenda to convert us all to embedded USB?

  Not sure I follow the logic?. USB makes sense for short-haul, node-node
designs, but there are many embedded apps it cannot touch.
  Atmel have an ARM device comming with USB, CAN and Ethernet 10/100MAC, 
which sounds a usefull 'embedded bridge' device.
  Ethernet does not seem to be going away.
-jg

"Jim Granville" <n...@designtools.co.nz> skrev i meddelandet
news:c7qyc.1968$N...@news02.tsnz.net...
> Jeremy Bentham wrote:
> > "Ulf Samuelsson" <u...@atmel.nospam.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >>Forget PC-Card, it is dead...
> >>Reason is the movement towards 802.11g, which is 54 Mbit.
> >>Can't do 54 Mbit using PCMCIA.
>
> It may be less than ideal, but to say "can't do" is sweeping.
> If there is demand, someone will make it.
>

Let me Clarify,
You can build a 54 Mbit WLAN chip with a PCCARD interface
but you cannot get the 54 Mbit throughput over PCMCIA.
As I said in the first post, there are reasons to have a 54 Mbit
PCCARD, but from what I have seen so far, there
is nothing out there.


-- 
Best Regards,
Ulf Samuelsson   u...@a-t-m-e-l.com
This is a personal view which may or may not be
share by my Employer Atmel Nordic AB

In article <Q%Byc.2670$9n5.2283@amstwist00>,
Ulf Samuelsson <u...@atmel.nospam.com> wrote:
>
>"Jim Granville" <n...@designtools.co.nz> skrev i meddelandet
>news:c7qyc.1968$N...@news02.tsnz.net...
>> Jeremy Bentham wrote:
>> > "Ulf Samuelsson" <u...@atmel.nospam.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >>Forget PC-Card, it is dead...

I doubt that.

>> >>Reason is the movement towards 802.11g, which is 54 Mbit.
>> >>Can't do 54 Mbit using PCMCIA.
>>
>> It may be less than ideal, but to say "can't do" is sweeping.
>> If there is demand, someone will make it.
>
>Let me Clarify,
>You can build a 54 Mbit WLAN chip with a PCCARD interface
>but you cannot get the 54 Mbit throughput over PCMCIA.
>As I said in the first post, there are reasons to have a 54 Mbit
>PCCARD, but from what I have seen so far, there
>is nothing out there.

Maybe I'm missing something, but my 54 Mbps Wireless PC Card from NETGEAR
(32-bit CardBus WG511) works just fine and is available all over the place!

I know Linksys and other manufacturers make 802.11g cards as well, so I
don't understand why you say "from what I have seen so far, there is 
nothing out there"??

========= For LAN/WAN Protocol Analysis, check out PacketView Pro! =========
    Patrick Klos                           Email: p...@klos.com
    Klos Technologies, Inc.                Web:   http://www.klos.com/
==================== What goes around, comes around... =====================

<p...@klos.com> escribió en el mensaje news:caevv0$kmq$1...@pyrite.mv.net...
> In article <Q%Byc.2670$9n5.2283@amstwist00>,
> Ulf Samuelsson <u...@atmel.nospam.com> wrote:
> >
> >"Jim Granville" <n...@designtools.co.nz> skrev i meddelandet
> >news:c7qyc.1968$N...@news02.tsnz.net...
> >> Jeremy Bentham wrote:
> >> > "Ulf Samuelsson" <u...@atmel.nospam.com> wrote:
> >> >
> >> >>Forget PC-Card, it is dead...
>
> I doubt that.
>
> >> >>Reason is the movement towards 802.11g, which is 54 Mbit.
> >> >>Can't do 54 Mbit using PCMCIA.
> >>
> >> It may be less than ideal, but to say "can't do" is sweeping.
> >> If there is demand, someone will make it.
> >
> >Let me Clarify,
> >You can build a 54 Mbit WLAN chip with a PCCARD interface
> >but you cannot get the 54 Mbit throughput over PCMCIA.
> >As I said in the first post, there are reasons to have a 54 Mbit
> >PCCARD, but from what I have seen so far, there
> >is nothing out there.
>
> Maybe I'm missing something, but my 54 Mbps Wireless PC Card from NETGEAR
> (32-bit CardBus WG511) works just fine and is available all over the
place!
>

maybe it's a naming problem??,
i just read a bit and it seems that PCCard refers to the 16bits version and
CardBus to the 32bit version (33MHz with bus mastering)
http://www.pcmcia.org/papers/cardbus.htm
and both are promoted by PCMCIA (i've to admit that i call them all "a
PCMCIA card"...)


> I know Linksys and other manufacturers make 802.11g cards as well, so I
> don't understand why you say "from what I have seen so far, there is
> nothing out there"??

not only that, you can also get USB2.0 and Firewire expasion cards

>
> ========= For LAN/WAN Protocol Analysis, check out PacketView Pro!
=========
>     Patrick Klos                           Email: p...@klos.com
>     Klos Technologies, Inc.                Web:   http://www.klos.com/
> ==================== What goes around, comes around...
=====================