ToughBook CF-Y7; PC Card Slot adapters

Hello everyone!


What types of adapters are there for the PC Card Slot for the Y7?

HDMI?
USB?
DVI-D?
EXPRESS CARD?
MINI DISPLAY PORT?


Really dont want to upgrade to something newer as this is a beast of a laptop....just want more connections!

 

What connections/ports do you NEED?
You have to pay attention to the power requirements of those cards and what you plug into them.
The PCMCIA/Cardbus slots have limited power available.

pc card | eBay

 

I was wondering if I could purchase an PC Port to Express Card adapter, then try to get either USB 3, HDMI, DVI adapters.


maybe im asking too much>

 

pc card to expresscard $7.00

New ExpressCard 34 to PCMCIA PC Card Adapter | eBay

usb 3 expresscard $8.00

New Express Card 34 54 to 2 USB 3 0 Port Adapter ExpressCard 5 Gbps D3 | eBay

hdmi expresscard $85.00

Startech Echdcap HDMI to ExpressCard 1080p HD Video Capture Card Adapter | eBay

I can't find a expresscard to dvi yet.

A post by mnemeth a few years back.

Yup. You'll be lucky if you didn't burn out the power supply to your PCMCIA slot; the AKE shorty USB cards will do that when they fail. Hopefully you didn't have it plugged in long enough to do permanent damage.

The problem with these cards is this; the PCMCIA slot can provide 3.3V at 400ma to any card plugged into it (This is part of the JEDEC standard for PCMCIA). The USB ports need to put out 5V for many USB powered devices to function properly, so they have an inverter circuit (or DC-DC converter) to kick the voltage up. This would be fine, except for the fact that the JEDEC (Or is it IEEC? I can't remember) standard for USB is 5V/500ma per port. Now I know that it comes with a power dongle cord so you can plug into another USB port for additional current; but that's STILL not enough.

Remember the 3.3V/400ma limit of the slot... well, that includes the current to run the card itself, as well as anything plugged into it. Your card TRIES to feed that current load; but since it has poor (or none, probably) current limiting circuitry, some of that load gets transferred through the controller chip itself and PLOOP! dead card.

It's happened to me with at least two of the 6 cards I have; 2 others were DOA, started to heat up like a coffee warmer with nothing ever plugged into them. Another failed while I was learning these limitations and may either have failed due to initial suckage or due to my unwitting abuse. I have 1 left that still works; I only use it for meeses or Flash drives.

mnem
Short card? Short-lived.

 

hey shawn thanks a lot for the info, really appreciate your expertise.


have you heard of vidock?

i was thinking of getting the pcmcia to express card, and then using a vidock for gaming?

 

interesting.....that should work fine..

How to Upgrade Your Notebook Graphics Card Using DIY ViDOCK

 

but i wonder if the vidock will be able to draw enough power from the toughbook.....what do you think

 

the vidock has its own 90w power supply.


It is powered by a 90w external power adapter or standard desktop power supply. In our case we went with a spare 330W SeaSonic power supply laying around the office to power the ViDock and ATI Radeon 4890.