PC Card types and sizes

[frankwalsh1962]

I bought a 600e from ebay and would like to find out which cards I can use with it. There is a slot with two little 'doors' on the right hand side, and one on the left hand side which is smaller. I think the two on the right are / is a PC Card slot but don't know about Type I or Type II. Can I put two cards in here, or only one thick one? What type are the thin ones? The slot on the left is possibly Compact Flash but I am not sure. Any help for a beginner would be welcome. Thanks

[whizkid]

The 600E has two CardBus slots on the right. They will take 16-bit cards which are also called PC Card, or PCMCIA; and they will take 32-bit cards, which are called CardBus.

Type I, II and III refers to the thickness of the card. The slots will each accept one Type I or Type II card. A single Type III card will fill both slots.

Type I devices are very thin, and are usually just memory. Type II are thicker, and most devices are Type II. I have a compact flash adapter, a wired network card, a wireless network card, and a modem that are all type II. SCSI cards, sound cards, and cell phone network cards are available and most are type II.

The tiny slot on the left of the machine, near the back, is a USB 1.1 port. It should work with most USB 2.0 devices too, but at 1/40 the speed.

[frankwalsh1962]

Thank you - that is exactly what I hoped for. I can have two of the type II cards or one of the type III which is how I shall organize it.

I discovered about the USB port, I can use that for many types of plug-in device.

Great community - I look forward to learning lots just by browsing!

[whizkid]

You can use one of the CardBus slots to add USB 2.0 ports to the machine. Plus: Up to 40 times faster; can add two or more ports. Minus: Takes up one of your two slots; isn't free.