Affordable P2 Slot Reader for Macs

AS a MAC user I for one am going out to get a PC! I know I have broken my secret oath but I am really fed up with MAC and their policies. It really feels like they don't want their product to work with this camera and its workflow. I see PCs out their that are cheap and from what I have read and heard they love the whole P2 panasonic workflow. I love FCP but if I can do the same with another PC based program then hell yeah why not. This is where the sad violin music swells and fade to black.

On a lighter note just got myself an M2 adapter with a Marshall monitor.
 
I'm kind of surprised at your comments about the elimination of PC Cardbus slots on the Mac.

It also is happening on the PC. I just went through BB and CC and found no PC laptops with Cardbus slots.

I know you can find them, but Cardbus slots are going the way of dinosaurs and cheap gas alot faster.

Apple isn't the only one that's done this.
 
It's disappearing on Windows laptops, to be sure, but going through Best Buy, Circuit City, Office Depot, etc., I still find at least several models at each location. And doggone it if Sony isn't still equipping VAIOs with them.
 
OK, I've finally found the deal I was waiting for on ebay and bit the bullet - bought a ThinkPad T42, which has 2 Cardbus slots and Gigabit ethernet. The T40, a bit slower, has the same, and auctions tend to start around $0.99 and end at around $280. If you're patient, you can beat that price...

Anyway, it should be here soon, and I'll report back.

In the meantime, I'm looking into the ThinkPad Dock II, which goes for about $30 bucks on eBay these days. It has 2 cardbus slots. What I'm not clear on is whether or not these are mirrors of the two on the ThinkPad, or additional. The official product literature is unclear, but does state in some places "Two additional PCMCIA card slots and one half-size PCI slot (for desktop cards) round out the versatile configuration options supported by the ThinkPad Dock II." Since on some portsd they clearly state "pass-through", and others they call "additional", I'm wondering... does anyone know for sure if it will indeed mount 4 cards at once, thus providing a super-duper-cheap 4-slot P2 reader?
 
Well, shiver me timbers but it looks like you may indeed have found the ultimate super-duper-cheap 4-slot P2 reader. With that ThinkPad Dock II, it does indeed appear to be two additional PC Card slots. I downloaded the user's guide and nothing in it mentioned anything about pass-thru. I have an Advanced UltraDock (or something like that) and all the ports on it are in addition to any ports that the laptop itself has (meaning, that every slot and jack and port on the laptop still works, and the other ports are in addition to the existing ones). Hmm, except I suspect that the video out jack wouldn't work (meaning, I doubt I could support three monitors at once, but maybe?)

In any case, I'd think it's worth the gamble to get the dock, especially if you can get it for $30.
 
The computer hasn't arrived yet... but the moderator of the "thinkpads.com" forum says all four should work... he's used as many as 3 at a time.

Mind you, the ThinkPad Dock II works with MANY thinkpad models, most of which are pretty cheap these days! I imagine that one could easily have a setup with 3 PCMCIA slots and one ExpressCard slot, etc, if the laptop has a different configuration...
 
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I am looking at one of the netbooks that has an ExpressCard/34 slot and runs under $400.00. Not yet released. If everything is implemented as I expect, I'll have EX/34 capabilities with ethernet, Windows XP, 2.5 pounds for under $400. more later.

and Barry: "shiver me timbers?"

Is it still raining?
 
OK... got the refurbished IBM ThinkPad T42 in the mail today...

First question answered (just 'cause no one else has positively affirmed this before): there's no problem with sharing 2 cards (in the 2 cardbus slots) withe the Mac (strange, though, that you have to install the P2 drivers twice - once for each slot! - I'd forgotten how hardware-tied Windows can be - at least i didn't have to hand-tune the IRQs!).

Copying a full 16 GB P2 card to the mac, I seemed to be getting about 1.6 GB/min (about 26 MB/sec) - slower than some of you have reported. The destination drive is not the bottleneck... I'm not that up on Windows file sharing these days - I just used SMB to the T42's IP, and set the T42 to share the two cards. Is there a faster protocol, or other way to speed this up?

I'm thinking about trying the ThinkPad Dock... but I only have 2 16GB cards and one 4GB, so it's not really a priority at the moment... hmmm...

But anyway, the T42 turns out to be a great, cost-effective (<$250 if you're careful) 2-slot card reader. The T40 and other machines should be even cheaper and just as good. With the dock, if i or anyone else gets around to trying it, should be a great deal for a 4-slot reader!

-Barry
 
Windows gurus... is there any way to avoid having to set up sharing for each card each time I start up the laptop?
 
I just bought a ThnkPad Dock II on eBay for $0.99... should know soon if really works to provide a cheap 4-card reader (under $300)... (well, I can only test "3-card reader" unless someone wants to give or lend me a P2 card...
 
hi ullanta
i'm eagerly awaitng the results of your test. i almost pulled the trigger on a T42 purchase on ebay. i have another couple cards if you want help testing.
jg
 
I agree! But, I have problems with PC hard drives not ready on a mac and mac hard drives not readying on a PC. I have spoke with numerous computer techs and they didn't have any answers. Do you have any ideas on how to solve this problem?
 
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So my question about this whole P2 reader on Mac fiasco is this....

Has anyone tried dumping one of those Amtron readers (http://www.amtron.com/reader/p2card_reader.htm) into a regular 5.25" external USB or Firewire case? (it would have to be one meant for a CD or DVDROM so that the faceplate could come off). The PCI card that comes with the AMtron is just an IDE card is it not? So any external IDE CD/HD case should do?

Total cost would be about $150 and drivers shouldn't be an issue.

Anyone tried? Am I way off? I'm new to the game here as far as P2s are concerned so feel free to slap me. :)

I've ordered one now and will try to remember to report back if it works.
 
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I have one installed in my desktop (to a PCI slot), and it works. But it probably would not work with a Firewire or USB adapter -- the P2 drivers probably would not recognize it as a CardBus reader.

But indeed, report back, because in this case, it would be good to be wrong.

Keep in mind that you'll have to update the configuration of your P2 drivers for it to work with a P2 card.
 
David S. said:
FW wouldn't meet the 32-bit spec, I believe.

That being said, I hope I'm wrong

Let us know.
Click to expand...

No Go unfortunately.

The only reason I can see for it not working is that the Card reader itself is customized somehow. The Reader does not have a seperate power supply connector (like a floppy disk or HDD style molex power receptable) so while the drive has standard ATA receptacles on it, I believe the reader itself has been designed to receive power through the ATA cable.

That is not a standard configuration. Not sure if it's due to some spec for PCMCIA cards, but clearly Amtron is using the PCI interface card as both a data and power interface and sending both through the ATA Cable to the card reader.

Regular USB/Firewire cases will not have that capability so it's a No Go.

My plan B is to install the card and reader into one of our spare G4 towers here and just use it as a capture station then upload the files into a massive networked hard drive through GBit Ethernet.

Oh well... was worth a shot...
 
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