Storage Devices; Pc Card (Pcmcia); Expresscard - Asus VX1 Hardware User Manual

Notebook pc

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Storage Devices

Storage devices allow the Notebook PC to read or write documents, pictures, and other files to various

data storage devices. This Notebook PC has the following storage devices:

• PC card or ExpressCard (depending on model)

• Optical drive

• Flash memory reader

• Hard disk drive

The Notebook PC supports PC Cards (or sometimes referred to as PCMCIA cards) to allow expansion

like PCI cards on desktop computers. This allows you to customize your Notebook PC to meet a wide

range of application needs. The PCMCIA socket can interface with type I or type II PC cards. PC cards

are about the size of a few stacked credit cards and have a 68-pin connector at one end. The PC Card

standard accommodates a number of function, communication, and data storage expansion options. PC

cards come in memory/flash cards, fax/modems, networking adapters, SCSI adapters, MPEG I/II de-

coder cards, Smart Cards, and even wireless modem or LAN cards. The Notebook PC supports PCMCIA

2.1, and 32-bit CardBus standards.

The three different PC Card standards actually have different thicknesses. Type I cards are 3.3mm,

Type II cards are 5mm, and Type III cards are 10.5mm thick. Type I and Type II cards can be used in a

single socket and Type III cards take up two sockets.

32-bit CardBus Support

CardBus support allows PC Cards and their hosts to use 32-bit bus mastering and operate at speeds of

up to 33MHz, transferring data in burst modes comparable with PCI's 132MB/sec. By comparison, the

standard 16-bit PC Card bus can handle only 20MB/sec. Since the Notebook PC is equipped with

CardBus broader and faster data pathway, it can handle bandwidth-hungry operations, such as 100Mbps

Fast Ethernet, Fast SCSI peripherals, and ISDN-based video conference. The CardBus peripherals sup-

port plug and play.

The CardBus socket is backward-compatible with 16-bit PC Cards serving at 5 volts operation while

CardBus operates at 3.3 volts to reduce power consumption.

One 26pin Express card slot is available to support one ExpressCard/34mm or one

ExpressCard/54mm expansion card. This new interface is faster by using a serial bus

supporting USB 2.0 and PCI Express instead of the slower parallel bus used in the PC

card slot. (Not compatible with previous PCMCIA cards.)

Using the Notebook PC

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