Data Acquisition

12.1 History In 1988, the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association was formed inAmerica, by representatives from memory card and chip manufacturers. In Japan, theJapan Electronics Industry Development Association (JEIDA) had been working on amemory card standard since 1985. In 1989 the PCMCIA adopted the 68-pin socket fromJEIDA. Since then JEIDA and PCMCIA have been working very closely to keep theirstandards compatible. By 1990, version 1.0 of the PC Card standard was released. Thisstandard specified memory cards and a socket for virtual drives. The idea was that thememory card would replace the floppy disk. Initially the specifications were developedfor the IBM PC, but soon other types of computers, such as the Apple Macs, wereincorporated into the standard.With the release of version 2.0 in November 1992, the PCMCIA standard now includesprovisions for input and output devices such as modems, hard disk, and data acquisitioncards. It was about this time that the association realized that for full compatibility theyneeded to include software in the standard. This software included card services andsocket services to interface the PC Card to the computer. In 1995 the Personal ComputerMemory Card Association decided that the acronym PCMCIA was too confusing so theyput out a notice that the PCMCIA card would now be known as the PC Card. Inconjunction with this, they released a new standard with no version number. This newstandard is called the PC Card Standard. Below is a list of release dates for the hardwareand software standards.Nov 1990 V 1.0 type 1 memory cardAug 1991 V 1.0 socket servicesSept 1991 V 1.01 type I, II and III addedDec 1991 V 1.0 (draft) card servicesNov 1992 V 2.0 I/O devicesJuly 1993 V 2.1 plug and play1995 PCMCIA changed to the PC Card (DMA)1996 CARDBUS (32-bit)As with most industry driven standards it is often hard to say who started the PC Card.The list of manufacturers is long, but it can be said that Intel had no small part, in somuch as they were one of the first to push their memory chip sets, to encourage themanufacture of PC Cards. Soon afterwards, companies such as Cirrus and Vadem pickedup the ball as it were, and ran with it. Also, it must be mentioned that the United Statesgovernment supply office’s decision to require all their computers be supplied with PCCard interfaces, has helped ensure the future of the PC Card.12.2 FeaturesThe PC Card’s main feature from the start was that it was small and portable. The PCCards are small enough to fit in a shirt pocket. It is no surprise then that the portablecomputer market was the first to include PCMCIA host bus adapters as a standard item.The PC Card can be used on virtually any PC or Macintosh computer. It is a 16-bit busdevice that plugs into one of two slots in a LAPTOP or a full size computer. The hostcard adapter can either be supplied with the computer or added latter. The host card