One of the shortcomings of the T30 series is the lack of USB2. I have always use a PCMCIA card for my T30, but I hate to have to pop the card out whenever I have to put the laptop into my bag. I know there is a flush fitting PC card out there. So far I have not been able to locate one, until today. I came across this on eBay:

link

To make it even better, this card uses NEC chipset, and does not require the use of dongles! I will report back when I get my sweaty paws on it.

Moderator edit: Shortened URL to prevent horizontal scrolling

I have one of those on the way as well. Ordered it last week and its coming from overseas. If it works as advertised, my X23 will be one sweet machine!

bummer though that you can only get 100mA unless you plug in an external power supply.

one solution i can think of would be to steal juice from one of the regular USB ports and route it to the card with a short cable...


dave

The ad said 500mA per port, but I don't trust anything they said. That is why I would like to get my hands on the actual item and run some tests.

this add:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Inside-hide-type-AKE ... dZViewItem

looks to be for the same product but goes into a little more detail.



dave[/url]

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... 0265495967

Looks like the cable is provided in some auctions. The one I bought doesn't say, but I hope the cable is included as well.

cool, i thought that by "external power supply" they were expecting us to drag along a wallwart...

looks like that cable will need some chopping done though, no need for a whole meter in length.


dave

Just picked mine up from the post office this morning. I have it plugged into my T23 running XP SP3. Plug and Play as advertised. The plugs are a little tight, but this may vary from device to device. Not a big deal for me. I tested it by copying a video from the hard drive to a 4gb Sandisk Cruzer. Works at USB 2.0 speeds. The power cable isn't required for flash drives (this one at least).

This card is going into my X23 which had its lid recently upgraded to one with antennas. With this card, my little travel laptop is complete. I am VERY happy to have a flush fitting USB 2.0 card.

Edit: Make that "happy" instead of "very happy." Found out that the PCMCIA card comes out when I pull on the flash drive due to the snug fit. Its a little more of a hassle, but still worth it to have USB 2.0. If anyone else receives theirs, please check to see how your USB device plugs fit. I would be most interested to know if this is an individual problem or not.

i guess i'll be getting one of these to use

The previous links to eBay auctions are out-of-date. I receive the following error message from eBay...



Here is another link...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0171226674



Photos...

http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/ashopone/usb-20-cardbus.jpg
http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/ashopone/us ... rdbus3.jpg


http://www.bst-cable.com/img/cable/57.jpg

http://www.szsunpc.com/smallImg/570.JPG




Admin note: Removed one of the inline images - added *PIC* warning to subject line; the remaining one may go dead in a few weeks if eBay removes it.

The previous item was listed on eBay Canada. There are several US based sellers...

http://stores.shop.ebay.com/digizon__W0 ... mit=Search
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0114466465

List of Flush-mounted USB 2.0 Cardbus PCMCIA Adapters...

1- AKE USB2.0 CardBus BC168

2- Apricorn EZ USB 2.0 CardBus Card - Part #: EZUSB2CB - 2-Port
http://www.superwarehouse.com/images/pr ... usbcdb.jpg
http://ak.buy.com/db_assets/prod_images ... 312973.jpg


3- IBM 33L3245/32P5080 USB 2.0 CardBus Adapter
http://www.impactcomputers.com/32p5080.html

List of Flush-mounted USB 2.0 Cardbus PCMCIA Adapters...

eBay keywords (use different combinations)
-- Cardbus, PCMCIA, PC Card
-- Inside hide, hide away, short
-- Laptop, Notebook
-- USB, USB 2.0


1- AKE USB2.0 CardBus BC168
-- two USB ports default to 100mA without power supply
-- both ports become 500mA, when 5V cable is connected to machine's USB 1.1 port
-- quick connect, no dongle (pigtail)
-- easily found new for less than $20


2- Apricorn EZ USB 2.0 CardBus Card - Part #: EZUSB2CB - 2-Port
-- one fulltime 500mA port
-- one fulltime 100mA port
-- AC power supply not required
-- requires dongle (pigtail) that provides two ports
-- same design as IBM
-- discontinued
-- not many were sold, so difficult to find used


3- IBM 33L3245/32P5080 USB 2.0 CardBus Adapter
-- one fulltime 500mA port
-- one fulltime 100mA port
-- AC power supply not required
-- requires dongle (pigtail) that provides two ports
-- expensive, sometimes has high as $200
-- discontinued
-- many still available, can be found new for $80

Posted here too:

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=77345&p=512878#p512878

Love these cards, but with HDs, that AC adapter is sometimes needed if the laptop USB ports don't deliver 0.5A (some don't).

I have one of those protruding cards (ugh) and it serves its purpose well. The thing I've noticed is that there seems to be a heat issue in that part of the laptop. I have a T30 and if that USB card is taken out after an extended period of time it is very hot! I'd think that the heat would begin to affect the performance of the component. I'm also wondering if anyone has a link to a flush SD(HC) card reader for one of the slots?

I had one of these for my X32 as well. Awesome idea, but I had the same problems (Excessive heat and card pulls out with certain devices) as listed above. To me, it was worth it in order to not have a card sticking out. Also, I ran several different devices, including a hard drive in an external enclosure, and never had to use the power cable once.

Never can have too many USB ports

@emeraldgirl08 Flush SD cards:
From Hong Kong: http://cgi.ebay.com/PCMCIA-SM-MS-Pro-SD ... 0117570818
from California: http://cgi.ebay.com/Multi-in-1-PCMCIA-P ... 0173866737

Update:
WED JUN 10th I ordered two AKE USB2.0 CardBus BC168 cards from eBay.
a. the first from member "digizon" from somewhere in CT.
b. the second from member "buyertrend" from somewhere in China.

THU JUN 11th "digizon" ships
SAT JUN 13th "buyertrend" ships

SAT JUN 13th I receive item from "digizon" However, I only receive the AKE card. I do not receive 5V cord which connects USB1.1 port to AKE card. I do not receive install CD. "digizon" promply repies to my e-mail. His supplier does not provide 5V cord. His supplier does not provide install CD. "digizon" suggests that I attach AC power cord to my USB to external HDD adapter and to my powered USB Hub. "digizon" informs me that install CD only contains driver for Windows 98. Install CD is not required for Windows XP. My T30 does not startup new device hardware install wizard. The AKE PC Card works fine without driver.

THU JUN 25th I receive item from "buyertrend" I receive AKE card, 5V power cord, and install CD on mini-disc (it is only something like 3.5 inches in diameter).

hiya. ive got a t30 with a bmdc200 which works fine for a while until this starts happening,

i got this card AKE USB2.0... to use with my wd external mass storage big mistake
well i installed it , intsalled driver provided.
so i plug in the external hd, it just starts beeping and dont come up in
my computer. ive read that it needs more power..... oh well didnt work but after that i started getting this message when i turn on my bluetooth radio and eventually screws up my bt and wont work ,, and this is without anythinbg plugged in usb or the card slot...
USB Device Not REconized
one of the usb devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned and windows cant
recognize it....


so apparently from what i read .. there are tons of people with this problem , its been around a while and nobody has fixed it.

so meantime i just went into device manager and disabled error messages,
but it still breaks my bt connection

heres my thread about it USB device not recognized after pressing fnf5 bt radio on


so i wanna ask u guys if there is a way to change the port to a different one.
or how to reinstall the original driver for this usb

or mabe disable the driver..

what ive read, the sub 2.0 stays installed on that usb and cant be removed.

ya so when i turn on bt radio i a unknown device shows up in device manager.

somehow the slot port is connected to usb,, how can i change this


maybe if i send more power to the port i can get the external hard drive working right.
any advice?>


note my bluetoth works fore a while then after that device not found message starts popping up, i go to control panel click on bluetooth device and go to options and click
turn discovery on and i get this

an error occured while windows was saving your settings
the following settings were not saved
discoverability settings
connection settings...

then i cant get it re-enalbed
but the next day it works again and i can turn on discovery
so i dont know.. ..
any help is apprectiated.

als when i installed the usb 2.0 card i dont see usb 2.0 in the device manager, has anyone got this working on a T30?


what if i change the bt card to one without the modem?

Using IBM T30 with Windows XP installed (mine has SP2)...

The AKE USB2.0 PC Card works fine. No need to install any drivers.


However, you are attempting to access an external mass storage HDD. It requires 5V power. The AKE USB2.0 PC Card does NOT provide 5V DC power.

Solution #1
Purchase a cord with normal USB connector and a male connector for AKE USB2.0 PC Card. See my previous post, where one vendor provided the cable and the other vendor did not.

The original USB 1.1 port will then supply 5V power to AKE USB2.0 PC Card -- which will then, in turn, provide 5V power to external mass storage HDD.


Solution #2
Purchase a cord with normal USB connector on one end for external mass storage HDD and two "Y" USB connectors on the other end (one to tap into power from USB1.1 port and the other for I/O via AKE USB2.0 Card). Actually this option won't work, because the external mass storage HDD will attempt to perform I/O via T30's USB1.1 port.


Solution #3
Find another way to supply 5V DC power to external mass storage HDD -- if it is possible use a 115V AC power supply.


Solution #4
Purchase an external USB hubstation that is powered by a 115V AC power supply.

ok thanks robert.. ya i got that cable with the card..
ha thats what its for,, well i plugged er in and works. much faster now..
thanks

still getting the
USB Device Not REconized
one of the usb devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned and windows cant
recognize it....

<http://www.usbgear.com/computer_cable_details.cfm?sku=USBG2UE&cats=103&catid=538,134,103>

Does anyone have any opinions on this one?

I just bought an iPod touch and I really am tired of slow USB on my T23. I have several devices that would be a lot faster, printer, camera and iPod if I installed a card. I need the flush mount because of my network card.

Thanks!

Heather

Most everyone on this T21, T22, T23, T30 forum is using AKE USB2.0 BC168. Verify that eBay seller is providing (or that you are able to purchase one from local electronics store) the short cable that supplies 5V power from you machine's USB1.1 port.

The reason is the Dongle cable. The AKE does not require a Dongle cable.

If you like to use a Dongle cable with your PCMCIA card, then this USBGear card will work fine.

You might want to consider a firewire card as well. The speed may be faster for file transfers to your iPod.

Except that iPod touches connect to computers via USB 2.0 and not firewire. Only the first few models of of the original iPod used firewire and that was dropped a looooong time ago in favor of USB.

Firewire is a necessity to have when "capturing video" from a vhs/digital tape orientated camcorder.