Another ebay adapter :P

[funkywizard]

to me, these seem like the lucent PCI cards that *should* work, but I felt I ought to ask here, if you have any particular idea if something sounds fishy, or if they are / aren't supported. Or, you could always just go in ahead of me and buy it before i get a chance:P

Either way, here's the info. Since there aren't any pictures I was hoping someone has experience with this sort of card.

ebay link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3037429003

labeled as "Lucent PCI to PCMCIA carrier cards "

description as follows:

"You are bidding on one each Lucent PCI to PCMCIA adapters. These can be used to put a standard pc card into in a pci card slot of a desktop computer. Common use is for wireless networking. Takes standard 16bit pc cards.

Six cards available. Buy quantity.

Cards come with no drivers, manuals, or boxes. However the cards were used once and put back into anti-static bags. No drivers are needed with Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, and Windows 2000/XP. We will warranty the cards for 30 days after purchase if they fail to work. We will return your purchase price minus shipping.

Additional model numbers: SCM Microsystems GMBH, PCIC2CPR10. Lucent technologies 014884, model PCIPC"

[David L. Vrablic]

When is a bargin not a bargin?
You have hit kind of a sore spot of mine, so I thought you might want to be fore-warned of the answers you will get.
.
I too have been looking for bargans in PCI adapters.
As they makeup about 25% of my total CPE cost.
Bargans are what sometimes give us a little extra cash to work with.
BUT head aches we don't need.

Back when ELAN cards were hard to get and very costly and before VNC sold hardware, I bought:
about 2 doz P011 Card drives.
About a dozen of the Orinoco cards that you have asked about
Also another version of Orinoco that has a step in the top rear edge of the card.
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I plug them into a STAR-OS box and they are recognized.
I plug a Lucent or Prism card into them and it is reconized.
I pass traffic and they seem to work.
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I ask about them on the forum and I am told they are "cheap junk" and where never right from the beginning.
---------------------------------
Some mention was made that there is no regulator.
If it is marked 3.3V I don't use 3 V cards anyway so that is just something else to make heat.
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I know some of them cost over $100 each when new so I don't think we are talking price here but performance.
I can't afford to have troubles so I will stick with the vendors recomendations.
-----------------------
So here is the quote, and read all the enteries on this topic.
I'll just leave my suspect cards in a box for now.
:(
As I used to tell my kids "When in doubt, Leave it out"

Quote from Lonnie:
We will not go out of our way to support the clearout cards that you find on eBay and other places for $5. These cards are a flash in the pan and are being dumped because they are not designed properly.

For sure we will support what we sell, and we have no problem supporting other "GOOD" cards. These you will know by the fact that they have support without having to tweak the PCMCIA drivers to compensate. They just work.

The Elan P111 are excellent, as are the Ricoh based cards we sell. We would sell the Elan but the wholesale price is almost as much as can sell the Ricohs for.

So, if you find some cards for $5 that work perfectly - ecellent purchase and I hope you enjoy it. If they do not work, then remember that fact when you bid on the next "bargain" cards.

[georgew]

This may all be true... but here is my two cents worth...

The real lucent adapters work great for me. I was buying them off of ebay for about $20. They all are identical to each other, and they work like a champ for me.

I have not purchased any lately.... because I bought a whole case of P111's for $7 each, so I won't need any more pcmcia cards for a while.... if ever since I'm starting to think I will be going with the minipci stuff in the future.

[funkywizard]

thanks for the advice. If I could see the cards to see if they had the notch or not I'd probably get at least one. Since I can't even be sure they're the real cards (no pics) I'll just let it be.

I got a wavelan ISA adapter though that works just great, and they all seem to be the same deal, and easily visually identifyable if the seller messes up how they name it, so I'll definitely get more of those when I get a chance.