I found something mildly interesting (if only because I don’t know what it is) on my PowerBook G4. The first thing I noticed was a little ‘periscope’ thing sticking out of the left side of the computer. Looked at from the side, it’s D-shaped. It sticks out about 1cm. It’s a push-in/push-out button. Next to it is a slot with a spring-loaded cover. The slot is maybe 50mm across. It’s ovoid, having an oval end on the left. The other end of the oval is the D-shaped button.
The left side of the computer has the following, from left to right: Power jack, phone jack, USB port, speaker jack, earphone jack… and this slot.
So what’s the slot for?
(I tried looking at Apple’s site, but I can never find anything there. There’s a ‘tour’ of the PowerBook, but it’s QuickTime and i’m on a dial-up. Don’t know where my manual is.)
PCMCIA. Sounds vaguely familiar. IIRC my six-year-old PC laptop’s modem is on a PCMCIA card. But it’s been a while. What would this port be used for nowadays?
You use it for things that you would use expansion cards for on a desktop. Additional USB/Firewire ports, SCSI interfaces, extra network card, equipment interfaces of various types, etc.
People still use them for modems. But now they are wireless modems. You can buy modems and service from Verizon and the like. These companies are rolling out some pretty high speed networks these days.
For using PC cards? Just because someone’s bought a new laptop, it doesn’t mean they’re also planning on jettisoning all of their old peripherals. I also have heard people suggest using PC card wi-fi adaptors in preference to USB ones, because they’re less susceptible to physical knocks while in use.