Comment by liminalsunset | Hacker News Reader

Comment by liminalsunset | Hacker News Reader

This is a nice throwback to the form factor of PCMCIA cards for really old laptops - the original expansion card slot for notebook computers. [1] The cards often had to stick out, whether to host a thick connector or an antenna. Here, we see a miniaturized version of that form factor...

Later, this was replaced by ExpressCard, but that never took off as much as PCMCIA cards. Back in the day, laptops came with one or two PCMCIA slots, which could be used to add full size IEEE1394, USB, Ethernet, or even Wi-Fi ports. I remember having to use an ORiNOCO Gold Wi-Fi card to get online back in the day. I had a desktop that had a slot in the front that it plugged into

[1] https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=pcmcia&iax=images&ia=images

I still remember using that in order to have WiFi on campus. This was in 2000 so it was quite amazing to have wireless internet and home wifi wasn’t that common since dial-up was still common.

You’re right, it said Orinoco in the label. Lucent Technologies was printed there too.

Orinoco cards were also great for wardriving, I paid a premium to get one over here in the UK (where they were way less common) with an external antenna connector on it.

Sadly USB-C is not the same as PCMCIA or PCIe.

USB-C (as a connector) is perfectly capable of delivering PCI Express via either Thunderbolt or USB4.

> delivering PCI Express via either Thunderbolt or USB4.

What's the difference?

My understanding is that, roughly, TB3 ⊂ USB4 ⊂ TB4. The USB4 spec is based on TB3, and (mostly?) requires TB3 compatibility, and TB4 is effectively USB4 plus bells and whistles. I think this goes to the point of USB4 ports with all the optional features qualifying as TB4 ports.

Needs pretty expensive chipsets to do that though

I would hope that we've learned our lesson after all the DMA attacks we had with Thunderbolt 4.

Isn't USB-C just far superior over PCMCIA?

Is there a reason it is not a good replacement for it even when you want the card/module form-factor rather than external devices?

THAT is a very interesting question WRT protocol (USB) specs vs hardware interface specs.

Congrats, now I've really something to ponder.

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