Friday, October 22, 2010

Sandisk MicroMate

Sandisk MicroMate is a lovely little thing I may never have found out about if I hadn't gotten one once in a bundle with a memory card. It's simply an SD-card reader with no cable, the USB plug is right on it. Which means it's not much bigger than an SD card. Cheap and handy for getting your pictures or data into your computer. You just take the SD card out of the camera and stick it in the MicroMate (it has a slot at the bottom), then plug the micro-mate in the computer’s USB port.
(With an empty SD card in it, this thing can also be used like a "thumb drive", to transfer information between computer, or to put confidential data on away from the computer, etc.)
Given a free USB port, you may even just let it sit in the machine (if it's not moved around much), no unsightly cables to lie around on the table top. 

(The blue part is just packaging of course.)

(By the way, I didn't mean to feature Sandisk as if it's special, I don't think it is. It's just that I did not see similar products from anybody else.)

14 comments:

Alex said...

Why not just use the computers SD slot? Or the monitors? I have not had to use an external reader for a good number of years, not even on the OLPC XO.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

If they have them, sure, go wild. None of my computers or monitors have SD slots.

Alex said...

Is that a Mac thing, you're such a technophile I would have just assumed.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

I honestly don't know the stats. Maybe the newest displays have them.

I know that the new 13-inch Airbook has it, but the 11-inch one does not, for space reasons.

Alex said...

Ah, I'm in a position where I've been going for built in rather than add on functionality, that way you have it with you when you need it. The monitors, Dell U2410F's are just department policy.

One day I'll not need the PC side of things, or the serial port, and get a sexy slim Mac.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

You still use a *serial port* these days? What doesn't use USB?

Alex said...

Debug port - RS232 is only 2 wires, and you can use an off body TTL/CMOS to EIA-232 level shifter. A cheap way of getting visibility into your system, other than JTAG/BDM. Last JTAG brick I got 3 years ago (McGraigor Wiggler) still used parallel port and cost just shy of $1k.

We have a temperature chamber, the version we have is the RS232 interface, the next one up is ethernet, no USB option.

Test equipment such as power supplies, voltmeters (bench DMM), signal generators, oscilloscopes often only have GP1B, but some have RS232 as an option, if you have the good stuff it has Ethernet and maybe USB.

All the stuff that costs about $2,000 - $40,000 that you only get once every 10-15 years.

DMX-512 is RS-485 based, you can get USB interfaces onto the bus, but that isn't always the best solution, especially if you are a DMX host.

And in the "real world" (factory automation) RS-485 and RS232 are being replaced by Ethernet and CAN.

TC [Girl] said...

Shit! Whom betwixt the 2 of you is the real "technophile"?! lol! I'll remember to ask YOU, Alex, when it comes to "the PC side of things!" LOL! :-D

Alex said...

Erm, I make video cameras for a day job

TC [Girl] said...

As long as you enjoy it; good for you! Just nice that you also have a lot of knowledge in this other arena. :-)

kentg said...

I have found and used serial and parallel converters to USB and find they work fine for my needs.

Alex said...

I agree there are a plethora of USB to // and serial out there. Actually I've had trouble finding USB to parallel, they all seem to be USB to printer.

And once in a while they fail, or you loose the CD (they all had different drivers), or you just don't want another 3' of cable twixt two boxes, or you want to reduce the number of unknowns in the equation.

And now I think about it, it's my dock not my ThinkPad that has the serial port.

kentg said...

Alex, here are links to parallel/USB

http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~heha/bastelecke/Rund%20um%20den%20PC/USB2LPT/ul-12.htm.en

http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~heha/bastelecke/Rund%20um%20den%20PC/USB2LPT/index.html.en#driver

Alex said...

Thanks, will look into it.