yyzkevin

Aside from the mechanical aspects, I have continued to make progress with the software, making things faster and testing more systems (with outside help). I encountered some issues on older systems that I eventually confirmed were due to voltage levels. An early choice I made was to use bus switches, as I wanted to maintain individual control of direction on pins to keep some options open for playing with a few things like ZoomVideo or other possible functions I was not aware of but may encounter. I now know ZV is outside the scope of what this card can do, so that requirement is no longer needed.

I noticed the issue on the HP 200LX. As I started to get the code faster and optimized, I started to see bit errors periodically. I eventually confirmed that the RP2350 driving the GPIO at 3.3V through the bus switch was not enough for some of these older systems, in particular those with unbuffered sockets.

So I have now made the move to the more standard approach of using LVC16T bus transceivers. As I had already purchased the full qty needed of the other part, I will need to think of a future project to use those if I am unable to return them.

I have completed a lot of exciting work with the firmware and drivers and will share some demonstrations in the coming days as I wait for the hopefully final hardware with the updated bus interface.

The bad news here is that this is for sure going to add several weeks. I am very happy with all other functions of the card, so once I receive the new test boards, likely next week, I am confident I can test very quickly to confirm the bus interface is acting as expected, and I will move on to production quickly.

I am also confirmed for VCF Midwest in Chicago (September 12-13), and unlike all previous years I should have a finished product this time! For taxes and other reasons I will not be selling them in person but I will certainly have some cool stuff on display.

For PCMCIA however, the host machine could be many different architectures and an even wider range of operating systems. I previously demonstrated the onboard web-server that can be used, however not all platforms will support this and not everyone is even interested in networking.

A few things you may find yourself needing to change:

• Wi-Fi Settings
• Bluetooth Pairing (Gamepads and Mice)
• Card Mode (Network Adapter, SRAM, Etc)
• Audio DSP Parameters

These are the current methods for managing the card, all at varying stages:

• Webpage via Emulated NE2000
• AT commands via emulated COM/Serial Port
• MS-DOS utility
• External USB CDC Emulated Modem (And Web Browser)
• External USB Emulated Storage
• Config File

The above video shows off the concept of managing it via AT commands which is even more universal than NE2000.

Bluetooth Gamepads / Joysticks

Wireless / Formfactor

A flush antenna worked technically but created even bigger compliance complications, so the plan now is to use the pre-certified Raspberry Pi RM2 radio module instead.

Initially I was not using the Raspberry Pi RM2 module as it did not exist when I started this project, and once it was announced I found the width was not compatible. Since then I switched to the HRS I/O connector which is narrow and saved space, and I have switched from a “Push-Push” to “Push-Pull” SDCard socket to also save some width, allowing the RM2 module to JUST fit. Downside is we are back to having a 5.2mm (just under 1/4″) PCB trace antenna sticking out, but the plus side we will have even better wireless reception.

I am waiting on PCB’s and I should have prototype to confirm no unexpected issue within the next week. It uses the exact same CYW43439 radio so not expecting problems.

Compliance / Certifications

I have a booking with the laboratory to do a day of pre-compliance testing for FCC Part 15 and related, as well as further testing/review on exposure limits and additional SAR tests to be in compliance as a portable device.

Some people ask me why I am so worried about compliance testing, and there are two sides to it.

No question this is an extremely low volume product/project, and although I did mention this is intended for development purposes, standing on that argument for an exemption is not very strong at best.

More importantly, unlike a lot of hobby projects where it is a card stuck in an old computer you turn on in your basement, this is a PCMCIA card that will be in laptops/pda’s etc and many of them will find themselves in public locations where it is more important they do not cause any interference or exceed any RF exposure limits.

Current Timeline / Plan

I have already purchase all of the components required that are in short supply and/or discontinued, so the risk of any delay due to supply chain is very low.

The boards I will receive next week (February 9th) should be very close to the final design. I have all the parts needed to build the prototypes and provided there are no issues I will be sending them out to various people for testing/review.

I expect some minor changes (mechanical,compliance), and plan to make a small batch of cards integrating those changes at the end of the month once the PCB factories come back from Holiday and get through their backlogs. If there are no issues with end-users on those cards I will gear up make the large batch of remaining cards.

In the following list you can see some cards with the note “Outputs to PC Speaker). Soundcard List – GoogleSheet

The quality will vary between systems depending on how they implemented the internal audio. We will be able to use the EQ on the DSP to try and further optimize the output to get the best possible quality between systems.

I also would like to modify this 3d print so that it extends out further, and it could be used in the slot below (where available) to support the breakout board and prevent it bending down.

I still plan to make some specific use cables i.e. audio only, and you can still make your own cables very easy as the connectors are stocked everywhere.

Breakout Board V1

• 3.5mm amplified headphone output
• 3.5mm type-a midi output or audio line-in for mixing in dsp.
• USB-C connector (USB 1.1 from RP2354) for Programming or OTG cable with mouse or gamepad/joystick.
• 3pin JST-SH for SWD of RP2354
• 3pin JST-SH for UART0 or I2C1
• 4pin JST-SH for QWIIC (I2C0 + 3.3V)

The Issue

The PicoPCMCIA emulates an NE2000 network adapter, giving it near-universal support. Almost any device with a PCMCIA socket that supports networking already has NE2000 drivers available. The tradeoff is that the host sees it as a wired connection and has no awareness of Wi-Fi settings like SSID or key. To configure wireless, you must either use a custom utility on the target system or manually edit a configuration file on the SD card.

An excellent example of such a custom utility for a similiar scenerio (BlueSCSI DynaPort), is the “BlueSCSI Desk Accessory” written by Joshua Stein.

I hope to (or somebody will) adapt this to work with the PicoPCMCIA card for use with Macs, but that leaves many other platforms so for day 1 I needed a more universal solution beyond the DOS utility I will include.

The “Solution”

I’ve added a rudimentary onboard router to the PicoPCMCIA card.

On power-up, it automatically (if enabled) attempts to reconnect to the last used SSID. The host system (your PC/PDA) is always assigned a fixed IP address of 192.168.1.100, even if Wi-Fi has not yet connected. This is especially useful for operating systems without DHCP support, as the address can be statically configured.

A simple management interface is available at h t t p://192.168.1.1/wifi. It uses a very basic HTML page designed to work with virtually any web browser. From there you can view the connection status, see what networks are available and attempt to connect. As this is the Pico doing the connection this of course can be any 802.11/b/g/n 2.4GHz network WPA/WPA2/WPA3 regardless what your computer/os is aware of.

Once Wi-Fi is connected, the host has IP network access through NAT routing, and WAN status is displayed on the management page. NAT also allows simultaneous use of Wi-Fi by both the host and the Pico itself, enabling additional features such as time synchronization or outbound connections from the emulated modem.

One point I would like to address is a way for devices using very simple browsers to be able to navigate through potential captive portals on public wi-fi’s. This will require some offloading of SSL etc. For another day.

Current Interface

This is simple HTML and can be improved easily, this is the bare minimum to get things going.

I have been slow to update the website but progress has been ongoing on the Pico PCMCIA project and I am now very close to producing the card. Much more compatibility testing has been done (I have been posting videos on youtube), and additional features have been implemented such as the CD-ROM emulation.

I will be posting further updates this week and will soon be opening up a pre-order form, but in the mean time if you are interested in receiving one of these cards, please fill out the following form to show your interest:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1r-MzxJfKxwGb2maxOPMMbPFBHwphOFvUf5JFLzJSLbA

The following video is an informal introduction/recap to some of the capabilities: