[NTLK] Voyager's four PC Card 2.01-Ports: What does "cascadeable" mean? (Was Re: 2 slot PCMCIA eMate)

From: DJ Vollkasko (DJ_Vollkasko_at_gmx.net)
Date: Fri Apr 09 2004 - 01:51:43 PDT


>>Nice Idea, but I really don't think it will work. The controler in the
eMate
>>is only designed to have one card attached to it, and unless you want to do
>>some serious hardware hacking, if it's possible, it could get very
>>time-consuming.
>
>Actually, the eMate uses the same Voyager chipset as the MP2x00, so
>it should be possible to hack a second pcmcia controller into it...
>though the easiest way would likely involve a dead 2x00 mainboard to
>remove parts from.

I guess the chipset is the same in all N2 machines, they wouldn't have
changed Voyager for the eMate. It's one off-the-shelf product, custom-built
for Apple.

Voyager supports 4 (!) cascadeable PC Card ports. Now, I haven't been able
- though often I'd tried - to get anybody on NTLK to explain to me the
meaning of "cascadeable" in this context.

The question is - how are the two PCMCIA ports done in MP2x00? How are
multiple PCMCIA ports specified? Are they simply wired in line, like e.g.
SCSI or IDE devices (then no prob to even run the full 4 ports the chipset
provides), do they each have an individual controller (then no-go without
more controllers... challenging hack?), or do they need to be talking to
some bus directly? What does "cascadeable" mean?
   This is an area I don't have the slightest clue about, maybe David or
Frank or any other knowledgeable kind soul enlighten me on this. This is
BTW a certified WikiWikiNewt-HardwareWishList-wish
http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/index.php/AdditionalPcmciaPorts , where
you find links to related documentation, specifially mentioning this
architecture.

Cheers,

DJV.

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