Winn L. Rosch Hardware Bible, Sixth Edition

PCMCIA Cards

Notebook computers use PCMCIA cards of two types for expansion: 18-bit PC Cards based on the ISA bus and 32-bit CardBus cards based on the PCI bus. No matter which standard a given card follows, however, it must follow exactly the same physical specifications as all PCMCIA cards. Every card will slide into every slot—well, almost. The standard allows for three thickness variations, but one of which is almost never found, and nearly all slots will accommodate the other two sizes. In other words, physically, PC Cards and CardBus cards are identical, and both use exactly the same connector.

Under the PCMCIA standard, PC Cards and CardBus cards come in three sizes, differing only in thickness. The basic unit of measurement—the size of ...