Help, what is a PCMCIA CARD?

Question

There is a slot in my car for a PCMCiA CARD, it is to hold and then playback music i think, but im not sure where to buy one or how to use it. Please help, does it work like a flash drive?

Answer 1

Like the others have already said, its an older expansion slot for laptops, back before USB, firewire, and flash drives were common. You could find all sorts of PCMCIA cards for various functions. Some of the types of cards I've owned are; SCSI interface cards (for external drives/burners/scanners), CF (compact flash) card readers, Firewire 400 (non-powered) interface, 802.11b wireless network interface, and even a USB interface (back when USB was new). I still own the wireless network and CF card reader, I still use them all the time on an older laptop.



There were also some mini-hard drives available, similar to what the early iPods used. Perhaps its meant for one of those types of drives?



Without knowing more about the origin of the port its hard to say. Was it installed from the factory, or was it part of an aftermarket audio/navigation system install? I know a guy who built his own car PC before they sold car PC's, and had the spot where his OEM deck was located converted to a pull out LCD display, with several types of ports and a mini keyboard.

Answer 2

A PCMCIA slot in a car? That sounds weird.



PCMCIA was a interface so that you could add extra function to your laptop. This is a generation old now and new laptops come with ExpressCard slots.



There were Ethernet PCMCIA cards, WiFi cards, serial cards, etc. There were definitely PCMCIA to Compact Flash adapters, as the interface for the two was exactly the same, you just needed something that would align the CF card with the pins in the computer. And since the PCMCIA cards were longer than a CF card you needed something to extend it out so that it could be pulled out of the slot.



There are probably PCMCIA to SD and other memory card adapters too, but they might be getting harder to find.

Answer 3

WOW,



This slot is for older laptops, and you have this in your car. Is your car new??? Well, basically its a slot for a wireless card and there are 2 types of slots, one is the PCMCIA and the express slot which looks the same but will not work with the same card. Other things you can install in the PCMCIA are usb ports, with that, you can hook up a USB flash to your USB PCMCIA port to put music into your car. Well, if your car has a computer installed in it. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Its a form of expansion, like network card, wireless card or USB2 or Firewire card, but not storage or flash drive.