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USB PC Card for the PDQ
Posted by: macjalm on 2013-10-30 08:53:17
I recently took my chances and bought a USB PC Card for my PDQ - AKE™ USB 2.0 CardBus BC168.



I read somewhere that it's compliant with the OHCI standard and that basically any OHCI-compatible PCMCIA USB adapter should work with Mac OS 9 (even 2.0 adapters, although transmission speed would be limited to 1.1 under OS 9). Unfortunately, my Mac does not recognise the adapter.

I've already tried several methods, including:

  • getting Apple's USB Card Support 1.4.1,
  • disabling a couple of USB-related extensions,
  • using Apple's USB DDK drivers (1.3.5f8, 1.4.1, 1.5.9f1).


None of these worked, though. I'm 100% sure that the card slot is working (I've used a WaveLAN card in it). When I plug an external USB HD, its LED lights up but nothing else happens. For what it's worth, my PDQ is the 233 MHz one and I'm running Mac OS 9.2.2.

Do you have any suggestions? And if not, could you share your experiences with other PCMCIA USB adapters that work under Mac OS 9?
Posted by: bibilit on 2013-10-31 01:01:31
I have got a working USB card.

This one

http://www.amazon.com/Macally-UH276-Cardbus-Adapter-Powerbook/dp/images/B0000511JG

Mine worked out of the box with the right driver (USB2EHCI_v3_1_5)
Posted by: macjalm on 2013-10-31 01:58:27
Yeah, I stumbled upon that one too but I wasn't able to find a store that still has it in stock. By the way, the drivers you have mentioned, USB2EHCI_v3_1_5, are OS X only.

Anyway, does anyone have the famous Mac OS USB DDK v1.3f9 driver? That's sort of my last hope.
Posted by: bibilit on 2013-10-31 08:59:52
By the way, the drivers you have mentioned, USB2EHCI_v3_1_5, are OS X only.
You are right, sorry, i forget to mention that my Wallstreet was running Mac Os 10.2.

I wasn't able to find a store that still has it in stock
I was sort of lucky, i get mine new for 5 € including P&P, and the seller had a handfull of those in stock (he was geating rid of it)...should have bought the full set :-/

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