Powerbook G3 cardbus memory card reader

Question

Powerbook G3 cardbus memory card reader

I'm using OS 8.6 on a Powerbook G3 Kanga. I just bought a Macally USB Cardbus adapter and would like to find a memory card reader that will work with OS 8.6, as well as read the newer faster memory cards. I read that although the Sandisk SDDR-75 reader will work with OS 8.6, "These newer cards are much faster then our older cards and the reader may be having problems reading these faster cards."

Does the memory card reader have to be USB 1.0 or can it be USB 2.0?
(Would the USB 2 require too much power for the PCMCIA slot?)

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Powerbook G3, Mac OS 8.6 or Earlier

Posted on Oct 6, 2006 3:57 PM

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Answer 1

jpl

Level 7

28,285 points

Oct 6, 2006 8:07 PM in response to Beverly Corrigan

Beverly,

Welcome to the Discussions.

The Powerbook G3 "Kanga" does not natively support CardBus PC cards, only PCMCIA. USB and FireWire PC cards use the faster CardBus interface of 32-bit addressing while the older PCMCIA standard is 16-bit addressing. The Powerbook G3 Series Wallstreet was the first CardBus-compatible powerbook.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=31181

In addition, OS 9.2.2 and earlier are limited to USB 1.1 speeds and does not support USB 2.0.

There have been successful attempts installing a USB PC card in unsupported 'books but I would steer you away from this approach. USB 2.0 PC cards may not work well although they are backward-compatible to USB 1.1. You would also have to install USB Adapter Card Support software and the USB card reader will require its own power supply since the USB PC card does not supply sufficient bus power to power the USB card reader.

Here is the link describing using a USB PC card in the Kanga:
http://www.wwc.edu/~frohro/Cardbus/Cardbus.html

However, there is a much simpler solution. Buy a PC Card Adapter like this one from Sandisk:
http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Catalog(1139)-SanDiskCard_Adapters.aspx

Buy the PC Card Adapter that supports the kind of memory cards you wish to use, and just put the memory card in the Adapter and plug it into the PCMCIA card slot. There are no drivers to install, is much faster than USB 1.1 and no power issues...just plug and play.

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