Thinkpads Forum

I have a 380ED 2635-6AU, running Win98SE.
I am really confused about the type of PCMCIA slots it has.
On the spec sheet here:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... RVK73.html

it says 2 type I or 2 type II or 1 type III.

I am looking for a 16-bit PCMCIA wifi card(probably only 802.11b are
available?), and see some older models are type II.

How can I know for sure which type slots I have?

Any help and recommendations on wifi cards are appreciated.
Thanks

The 380ED has type II slots. When looking for a card, make sure it's not cardbus (cardbus cards have that gold colored piece of metal at the end where the connector is).

VIBM wrote:it says 2 type I or 2 type II or 1 type III.

Those refer to sizes of cards, not how old or new they are. Type I almost doesn't exist, they are thinner than standard Type II PCMCIA cards. Type II are the standard ones that fit in a standard PCMCIA slot. Type III are rare: they occupy two Type II slots stacked one on top of the other. Almost all cards you will see anywhere will be Type II cards. The 380 I think has two Type II slots on top of each other, so you could fit in two Type I cards (one in each slot), two Type II cards (one in each slot), or one Type III card (one card occupying both slots).

The 16bit PCMCIA cards I am not so knowledgeable about, but I know that if your Thinkpad only takes the 16 bit cards, then if you get a CardBus or 32-bit card you will find that it doesn't even physically fit in the slot because there is a tiny difference in the way the grooves along the side fit.

Phil.

Thank you both very much for your help.
So I guess I'll look for a type II card that is NOT cardbus(gold strip).
So far, the Netgear MA401, looks like it might work.

VIBM wrote:So far, the Netgear MA401, looks like it might work.

MA401 may not work with WPA - imho.

If you need WPA (not WPA2) take a look at CISCO Aironet 350.

I have a 380 ED, and I don't think you'll find any 16-bit wifi cards ... I think they did not even make any actually.

gator wrote:I have a 380 ED, and I don't think you'll find any 16-bit wifi cards ... I think they did not even make any actually.

Sorry to disagree gator , but I have a 3Com and Belkin card which were 16bit. In fact I use the Belkin card in my 701c... Well, I did until I upgraded my network to WPA.

Don't know the Belkin card's model number off the top of my head, but the 3Com card is this one: http://www.3com.com/products/en_US/deta ... CRWE62092A

The X-jack antenna is awesome. I used this in my X23 until I upgraded to internal wireless and filled the PCMCIA slot with a USB 2.0 card.

Early versions of the LinkSys WPC11 (802.11b only) were also 16-bit. I have one.