From: Peter H. Coffin (hellsop_at_ninehells.com)
Date: Fri Apr 04 2003 - 18:59:29 PST
On Fri, Apr 04, 2003 at 08:28:16PM -0600, Dylan Stewart wrote:
> On 05.4.03 at 0:57:44, Peter H. Coffin wrote:
> > One way to handle this (possibly VERY simply and inexpensively) would be
> > onboard bluetooth and a combo dual Type 2/single Type 3 PCMCIA slot,
> > which is a really compact expansion arrangement, and support ATA on
> > those. That'll allow simple addition of wireless cards and CF adaptors.
> > I have to admit I'm kind of a fan of the PCMCIA form for just about
> > everything save stuff that requires dongles.
> >
> > That setup and integrated bluetooth would make for some pretty minimal
> > hardware requirements in the unit, save a bunch of design costs, and
> > enable the thing to use a bunch of existing hardware. (You wanna use a
> > Firewire hard drive? Get a PCMCIA firewire card and write some drivers.
> > Boom. Gigs of external storage for longterm daily data collection.)
>
> Well, why not include FireWire, USB, and power as the ports and AirPort and
> Bluetooth internaly. That would take care of almost any expansion need.
Because if you never use one or more of them, you've still paid for it.
With PCMCIA, you pay for two sockets only, and get your own choice of
interface from there out, be it USB or whatever.
> There would be no real reason to have a PCMCIA slot at all.
IBM Microdrive. pager cards. barcode scanners, just to name a quick few.
My point with this is that every expansion port included onboard,
there has to be the extra hardware behind it that port, increasing the
complexity. If I'm not going to use it, I don't wanna pay for it. Just a
USB or Firewire port would work, as the addition of a hub expands those
out to everything else, but I don't see the point for having USB *and*
CF, when one can buy a USB CF reader.
--
9. If a self-destruct mechanism is necessary, it will not be a large red button
labelled "Danger: Do Not Push". The big red button marked "Do Not Push" will
instead trigger a spray of bullets on anyone stupid enough to disregard it.
--Peter Anspach's list of things to do as an Evil Overlord
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