P2 offload Lenovo S10 with addonics adapter

[Jason Adams]

I am starting a new thread on this because this is a how to. There is another thread (http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=173113) that was started on this asking if it could work. It was stated that the Lenovo S10 would not work as a p2 offload station. My continued tests have proven this to be incorrect and I did not want you to dig through 4 pages to find a set up guide.

This is as concise as I could remember it.

*OS - I am using the XP HOME that came pre installed. Other users have installed OS10, Vista and even WIN7 with some results but none have posted any good results with the adapter. This set up guide uses the Out-of-the-box S10e OS.

Hardware:
Lenovo S10e - Radio Shack (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3573059) for 299.00.
Addonics express to card buss adapter - addonics (http://www.addonics.com/products/host_controller/adexc34cb.asp)for 59.99

I am also using E series P2 cards. - This is exciting because Addonics has had limited success with their adapters and E series cards, but this set up works.


Install.

1.) Install the p2 drivers from panasonic (http://www.panasonic.com/business/provideo/p2-hd/downloads-and-updates.asp) - make sure you have the latest ones
2.) Insert the adapter - DO NOT PUT THE P2 card in the adapter just yet. Winxp will detect and auto install the pci-pci bridge
3.) remove adapter from computer and reboot

NOTE - It is important to think of the p2 card and the adapter as a single card. Do not simply eject the p2 card and reinsert into the adapter, You need to always disconnect and reconnect the adapter and p2 card as one unit.

4.) After reboot insert the card (p2 and addonics together) then you need to manually install the drivers for the p2 card. Yes. After you have already installed the driver package from panasonic.

addonics has some screen cap videos to help with this.

vid 1 (http://www.addonics.com/support/download/video/ADEXC34CB-01.avi)
Vid 2 (http://www.addonics.com/support/download/video/ADEXC34CB-02.avi)

addonics does have good support. They remote controlled my desktop to do this. If you can not get it give them a call.

If done correctly the netbook will detect the card and display it as a drive that you can see with win Explorer or p2 viewer.

When you are finished with the card remove it (again adapter and p2 card as one) the drive will unmount and disappear from the WinExplorer.

QUIRKS: The next step is to make provision for one of the limitations of this adapter/hardware combo. The netbook WILL NOT AUTO MOUNT THE CARD WHEN IT IS RECONNECTED. This hardware is only somewhat hot swapable. Not to worry there is a work around that only adds 2 clicks to mount the card.

5.) Go to control panel (classic view) and right click on "add hardware" button. Select create shortcut. This will place a shortcut on the desktop. I renamed my shortcut "refresh p2" and even changed its Icon.

When you reinsert the card (again card and adapter) the led on the adapter will light but not mount. Go to our new desktop short cut and double click. The new hardware wizzard launches. Click next and immediatly the card will mount. YOU DO NOT NEED TO RUN THE WIZARD ALL THE WAY THROUGH. You can cancel the wizard after hitting next. The next button will refresh hardware changes and mount the card.

If you are familiar with device manager you can refresh from there to mount card.


To recap the workflow from now on is

1.) inserts card/adapter combo.
2.) rescan hardware or use our desktop shortcut work-around to mount card
3.) offload with winExplorer or P2 viewer
4.) remove card/adapter combo together when finished
5.) repeat with next card


Final Quirk:

I have noticed if you boot your machine with the adapter plugged in it disables the WIFI. I can only assume that system is expecting the pcmcia adapter to be an air card and makes provision for it by disabling WIFI. Removing adapter and rebooting will re-enable WIFI.

UPDATE - Thanks for the Question Barry. Sorry I was not clear on this. You can have WIFI and card at the same time. JUST DON'T BOOT THE MACHINE with card in the express slot. As long as you plug your card into the netbook after it has booted you can have WIFI and read P2 cards.



UPDATE - WINDOWS 7

Just wanted to let everyone know I just got this working on a WIN7. I set it up on WIN 7 Home Premium machine from my local Sam's Club.

WIN 7 actually works better because it does away with the rescan/remount task.

Just follow the directions as usual, but instead of creating a desktop shortcut to scan for hardware changes. Just scan once and the card will mount. Then go to the card in WIN EXPLORER right click and hit eject. If you eject the card in WIN 7 before you unplug it will auto mount when you plug it back it.



Summation:

For my money the cost/performance of this solution far outweighs the quirks. This is a portable battery powered P2 offload station for around 500 bucks.

Not to mention the netbook has an sd slot for scene files/metadata it makes it a great companion for p2 cameras.

Even with Software, OS, and recovery partition I have 135gigs available on the drive for p2 data.

They even make a 9 cell battery for this NETbook that will run the computer for nearly 8 hours. I don't know what that would translate to with heavy p2 offloading and hard drive spinning but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Thanks
Jason

[kabtv]

Thanks Jason, very very interesting...
How is the transfer rate with your system ?

[Jason Adams]

Thanks Jason, very very interesting...
How is the transfer rate with your system ?

Ok this is cool. It is almost twice as fast as downloading from the camera via USB.

I downloaded a full 16 card in 4:50 seconds. I re-downloaded the same card via USB from Camera in 9:50 seconds.

These times are approximate I clicked transfer and hit go on a stop watch.

This is awesome. I use to use my dell laptop hooked up to an external usb drive. The 16 gig card would take almost 18minutes from camera USB to external USB HD.

[Barry_Green]

Oooh, man, that's the perfect offload device. Wish it had gigabit ethernet so all our Mac users could be hooked up with a single-slot card reader for under $400! Well, actually, I guess they can, because you can get a USB to Gigabit Ethernet adapter for under $40, so yeah, for under $400 here's a fully functional, brand-new, P2 offloading station which just so happens to have 160GB of internal storage. Nice find, Jason!

About the wifi - can you manually turn it on and off with the radio slider switch? Any way to have both wifi and expresscard at the same time?

[Jason Adams]

About the wifi - can you manually turn it on and off with the radio slider switch? Any way to have both wifi and expresscard at the same time?
Sorry I was not clear. It is only a problem if you BOOT the machine with the adapter plugged in. If you mount the card and adapter after the OS is booted and logged in then you Have WIFI and can use the card adapter. Just don't leave the card in during a boot cycle.


I am getting really jazzed about this. This machine uses a a standard 2.5 inch sata drive. IT MAY VOID YOUR ORIGINAL HD WARRENTY but you could put a 350 or 500 gig drive in the netbook or even go SSD.

Tiger direct has a 500 gig 7200 rpm drive (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4434267&CatId=1277) for 129.00 bucks.

Here are tutorials on how easy drive upgrades are.

written tutorial (http://www.netbooktech.com/2008/10/09/guide-to-upgrading-memory-and-hard-drive-on-the-lenovo-ideapad-s10/)

Video Tutorial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TOo_ptCMEY)

I mentioned Battery Upgrades. HERE IS A COMPARISON.

3 cell weighs 150gm, lasts for 2 hr and takes 2 hr to charge
6 cell weighs 300gm, lasts for 4.5 hr and takes 4 hr to charge
9 cell weighs 450gm, lasts for 7 hr and takes 6 hr to charge

[phasion]

very nice write-up

i'm tempted to get this offloading setup

so how does the battery upgrade work?

do you just buy a bigger cell and replace it?

[Tom 4]

Very Nice bit of trial and error Jason,

No doubt this set-up will suit many users, Pity Addonics and Other product suppliers don't do tests as yours to sell their products .. You'd think they would having so much to gain ? a strange world we live in.

Cheers
Tom K

[kabtv]

Can you play the P2 files with your system ?

[Jason Adams]

Can you play the P2 files with your system ?

Yes. The video performance was not flawless. But clips did play back.

[Jason Adams]

More tests.

I happy to report that using this in the field has performed flawlessly. This thing also saved my butt. I had to send my HPX off for service and I had p2 data on a card that I needed for an approaching deadline. After panicking because I had no camera to offload with I remembered my netbook adapter. Project saved. The addad value of not having to use your camera for offload is really incredible.

ON TO THE TESTS:

I wanted to post a speed compasrison of going to the internal HD and going to an external HD.

I had 7 gigs on a card. I downloaded once to the the internal Netbook HD and once to a buss powered USB Seagate Free Agent Go (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4361450&CatId=4225). (Its a small buss powered 5400 rpm drive)

P2 to USB HD - 5:45
p2 to NETBOOK HD - 3:06

Times are apoxamite. Timed with a stop watch.

So the added buss transfer load adds time as expected but it still very usable in my opinion.

[AmyO]

I'd take a minute per gig of data if I didn't have to use my camera as a card reader (your test shows less, I know). This is pushing me closer to the edge of picking up one of these little netbooks. Thanks for the research and write up Jason.

[morgt0]

Great Find Jason!! So are we saying that the Addonics adapter should work with any Expresscard slot on just about any laptop running Vista? I realize that you only tested this on the S10 but in theory...

[Jason Adams]

NOT VISTA. I have not tested Vista. I am not saying it will not work, but I have only tested XP pro and XP home.

I did not mention this in the write up but I also have this working on a Dell Inspiron laptop running XP Pro SP2

Theoretically this should work with OTHER LAPTOPS. The Netbook is a real advantage because of cost, size, and portability.

[morgt0]

Sorry - i misunderstood about vista. Thanks.

[doccutter]

I don't know if anyone is still checking this thread, but I bought exactly the above system, the addonics card and the lenovo s10e, but when I insert the addonics adaptor, the entire system freezes, and will not respond to any input. I have to hold down the power key to restart. If I try to start with the adaptor in place, the system will not boot. Any ideas? Thanks!

[morgt0]

I had the same problem. When I took the adapter out it would be fine. I finally got it working by taking out the card, shutting off the machine. Putting the P2 card and the Addonics adapter in together, powering up the machine and then installing the drivers as suggested above. I hvae not done extensive testing yet but all seems to work - have the glitch menitoned above with inserting a new P2 card - just have to do the Add Hardware step and all seems to work.

[doccutter]

Awesome, that was great advice, that fixed the freezing problem. However, now I have a problem where P2CMS says that it can't access the database, then when I try to read the card, it says that there might be a problem with virtual memory, then crashes. Any ideas about that? Thanks!

[morgt0]

Glad that worked.. Hmm..have not heard of your latest problem - I don't use P2cms - I just use the viewer for everything so not sure...You could try the Panasonic web site for support or maybe someone else here can shed some light...Good luck...

[Jason Adams]

Glad to hear others are having success with this. I also don't use P2cms. I just use viewer. Report back if you find a solution. Thanks guys.

[Nick Walters]

I thought I'd point out that the 750gb version of the Scorpio Blue laptop HD is out:
LINK (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136414&cm_re=scorpio_blue-_-22-136-414-_-Product)

The 1TB version should be around sometime soon(I hope)...that'd be THE offloading machine, lol.

A netbook/Addonics/1TB dumping station? it doesn't get much better then that.

[Mitchell Stookey]

I bought this exact computer model and addonics adapter but I can't seem to get the drivers to work. I followed the directions, plugged in the adapter (the computer recognized it and said it was ready to be used), installed the newest drivers, inserted the P2 card AND addonics adapter at the same time, and it recognized the USB mass storage device but not the P2 card. Following along with the videos from the addonics tutorial, if I try to manually install the drivers, Panasonic P2 card is not an option for the hardware. I've also tried booting up the computer with the adapter and P2 card already inserted. I've also tried uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers. Any thoughts on where I am going wrong?

[Jason Adams]

It sounds like you did not install the drivers manually correctly. Call Addonics tech support they will help out.

[Mitchell Stookey]

I have been in contact with addonics support through email and their conclusion seemed to be that the adapter might just not work with my computer, but this thread proves that it can.

The problem with installing the drivers manually is I can't really get the chance to. The computer recognizes the usb mass storage device, but then does NOT say "Panasonic P2 card found" like in the addonics tutorial video. Then when I go to manually install, Panasonic P2 card is not an option for the hardware to install the drivers to. It is like the drivers don't install at all, yet I've uninstalled them and reinstalled them many times, exactly like in the video or the manual says to do. That's why I'm stumped. I guess I will call addonics and give that a try tomorrow.

[doccutter]

Try to retrace your steps exactly. I've done this, and I didn't get all the same prompts, but if you follow the instructions, it will work (if it's the right Lenovo, anyway). Good luck!

[cmus]

Does anybody know what the story is with the extra plastic piece that comes shipped with this addonics card? It looks like it should attach to the card somehow to make the form factor bigger for the 54mm card slot but I can not figure out how to secure it to the card.

[Jason Adams]

Does anybody know what the story is with the extra plastic piece that comes shipped with this addonics card? It looks like it should attach to the card somehow to make the form factor bigger for the 54mm card slot but I can not figure out how to secure it to the card.

I dont think it attaches to the card. I think it is to be left in the 54mm slot.

[Barry_Green]

Also, if someone wants to save a few bucks building this configuration, consider using the Rosewill adapter instead of the Addonics. Seems like it's probably the same thing, but a little less expensive (I got it at $25 with free shipping from Newegg, but it looks like they've raised the price up to $40).

[Jason Adams]

I upgraded the battery on my S10e and it will run the netbook for about 6 hours. only 60 bucks from BUY.com (http://www.buy.com/prod/laptop-battery-for-lenovo-ideapad-s9-s10-s10e-l08c3b21-9-cell/q/loc/101/211043680.html)

http://ak.buy.com/db_assets/prod_lrg_images/680/211043680.jpg

[Steve Smull]

This specific Lenovo S10e model seems to have been supplanted by models not sporting an Express Card slot. Any updates on similar, perhaps better solutions? Or should we be snapping these up before they are all gone because they have been proven performers for the specific task of P2 offloading. At the price, I'm not opposed to using proven older technology to get the job done rather than beta testing a potentially faster but unproven different model; i.e. taking a risk on something loaded with Windows 7 as opposed to reliable proven XP that works with existing drivers...

[theShark]

bestbuy has them on sale for $200
SKU: 9648687

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&_dynSessConf=-7555200848658786820&id=pcat17071&type=page&st=lenovo+ideapad&sc=Global&cp=1&nrp=15&sp=&qp=&list=n&iht=y&usc=All+Categories&ks=960

[ThomasS]

Has anyone tried this successfully with the S10e and the Duel adapter? Since I already own a Duel for my MBPro, the Lenovo would be an ideal backup and is lighter for field usage.

Greets from Berlin

[Barry_Green]

The Duel should certainly work; we've been recommending the Addonics or Rosewill because they're cheaper and simpler designs, but I can't think of why the Duel wouldn't work too.

[ThomasS]

I googled a bit yesterday and found an interesting forum: http://s10lenovo.com/
Someone reported his experience with the Duel adapter. Conclusion: You need very bad hacks (e.g. uninstalling PCI system drivers, losing native video drivers etc.) to bring it to work, so it's definitely unappropriate to work in the field.

[off1c3r]

I have the same laptop.. its a very powerful netbook.. I have my lenovo T60 as my mobile edit machine, but thats something I have to try with the S10!

[ThomasS]

Even though I was a bit sceptical, I purchased the S10 and the addonics adapter (that I needed to import from the UK - no addonics reseller here in Germany), followed the instruction and can only say-
Thank you!
It works like a charm.

Sidenote: I tested also the Duel and it screwed the netbook up completely so I had to reinstall Windows from scratch.

[Zblock]

Thanks, I just performed this for the Rosewill adapter and it's WORKING!!!! Yes. Thanks again.

[Jason Adams]

Thanks for the High Fives I am happy other users have been able to get this working.

[doccutter]

Hey folks,

Has anyone tried this with 32 or 64 gig cards? I'm thinking of picking up a new card, but the addonics site claims that some are reporting incompatibility with E series cards. Thanks!

[cmus]

I use it with 32 gig cards all the time. Never had a problem. Using it primarily with a HP dv7t laptop on Win 7 pro - 64 bit.

[VideMedia]

anyone using with windows 7?

[Jason Adams]

anyone using with windows 7? Yes works on WIN 7. I updated the OP with WIN 7 instructions.

[kyleb]

4. it says you need to manually install the drivers for the p2 card. when that window pops up with all the driver options, which driver do i choose, aj-pcd20 p2 drive usb driver ?

[dlee_ultra]

Does this work w/ the old P2 cards when the HVX200 first came out? I have an 8gb one and I get a code 10 error: "The device cannot start (Code10)."

And are the latest drivers still compatible w/ these old P2s?

[dlee_ultra]

I found my problem. I was rebooting between installing the drivers for the "P2 Card" and "P2Card Series SCSI Disk Device" (ie. see vid 2). I needed to reboot only once, AFTER installing for BOTH "devices."

So it looks like it works for the old P2 cards.

[dlee_ultra]

Another note. The "P2 Refresh" workaround to reconnect the adapter+P2 did not work for me. But I did notice when the adapter+P2 are initially connected, a "Safely Remove Hardware" icon in the toolbar appears. So when I click on this and then remove the adapter+P2, I can later reconnect w/ no problem.

I'm using Windows XP SP2 and HP Pavilion dv9000 laptop.

[Cole]

addonics does have good support. They remote controlled my desktop to do this. If you can not get it give them a call.

+1 on this. I bought a used HVX200 in the DVXUser market place from a very generous Jason Ramsey. Along with several "throw in" items was the addonics express card adapter. I have been trying for weeks to get it to work and eventually contacted their customer support. After some back and forth they remotely accessed my laptop and had me up and running in no time.

Huge relief. Thanks for the thread.

Cole

[MarcRoberts]

I am having a hard time finding the lenovo s10e. Anyone bought one recently or know of a similar model that works? I think the newer s10e models do no have the expresscard slot.

[Jason Adams]

The s10es had a very short manufacturer life. I have only ever found 2 netbooks with Express Card the lenovo and an HP that slips my mind right now. Point is neither are still manufactured. You would probably have to check out the used market. A quick Ebay search showed a bunch for sale.

[MarcRoberts]

The s10e's I am seeing on ebay, its hard to tell if its the model with the express card slot or not. Does the original s10e have a small silver circle on the sides where the screen and body meet?

[JWinter]

just to add


this "scan fix" helped me greatly in my dual boot mac pro


on win side i have win xp w/addonics and on mac i have the dual = both work great

[groveChuck]

4. it says you need to manually install the drivers for the p2 card. when that window pops up with all the driver options, which driver do i choose, aj-pcd20 p2 drive usb driver ?

So what's the answer to this- which driver for which device? AJ-PCD35 (P2 drive) PCIe driver?

Everything is a P2 deck, cam, store or drive that must be connected.

I tried the Rosewill adapter, couldn't get it to work. Don't know if it was a driver issue, or a 32GB E-series card issue, or a Win 7 issue.

I may try this Amtron adapter, other users have had success with it.

http://www.amtron.com/expresscard/exp34cba.htm#CardBus_card_driver_installation

[Barry_Green]

Don't use any of those drivers, you need the cardbus driver. Look on the addonics site for some videos that show how to install the drivers.

[groveChuck]

So the Addonics videos would apply to installing drivers for other card readers also, right?
Thanks Barry!

[Barry_Green]

So the Addonics videos would apply to installing drivers for other card readers also, right?
Thanks Barry!

They're what I used when I installed my rosewill adapter.

[NewUserHVX200]

What are people using these days as a minimum spec notebook/laptop in the field to offload P2 card data into?

But, give smooth playback of all frame rates.

Please let me know what you guys are using. Links to specific articles and shops appreciated.

Thanks,
Wade