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FAQ

Q.  What is the difference between the flush adapter and the long adapter?

A.  When you put a compactflash card into the flush adapter, none of the card sticks out -- it is flush with the top of the housing. This allows the adapter to be used with tight fitting cases, or with the plastic protector that comes with your Visor.  When using the long adapter, 3.3 mm (1/8 inch) of the card sticks out above the top of the adapter.  This actually makes it easier to change compactflash cards, since you do not need to remove the module from the Visor, if you prefer.  However, it interferes with tight cases, and does not allow the plastic protector to snap firmly onto the back of the Visor.

Q.  I'm confused.  Which adapter do I need -- Type I or Type II?

A.  If you now have, or plan to get, a large-capacity compactflash card (128MB or larger), you would probably want the Type II adapter. Many large capacity cards are Type II cards -- that is, they are 5.0 mm thick, instead of 3.3 mm thick. The Type II adapter will accept the thicker cards. It can also accept Type I cards.  If you have an IBM Microdrive (tm) and wish to use it for short copy operations with the MatchBookDrive adapter, you will need to use the Type II housing.
      The Type I adapter provides a little tighter fit for those who do not plan to use Type II cards. Most people only need a Type I adapter.  If you don't know which one you need, chances are 99% that a Type I adapter will be all you need.  If you buy a Type I adapter and later decide you need a Type II adapter, email us at matchbookproducts@yahoo.com and we can sell you a Type II housing, with instructions on how to change your housing yourself, for a very modest price.

Q.  Will the MatchBookDrive work with the IBM Microdrive(tm)?

A.  The MatchBookDrive adapter has been tested with a 340MB microdrive and has been found to work for short copy operations.  However, the Springboard(tm) slot cannot give the sustained power output needed to carry out large copy operations.  Because the microdrive is a true hard drive (yes, there is actually a tiny spinning platter inside that matchbook-sized case) it requires more power than a true compactflash card, and is likely to create a much greater drain on your batteries.

Q.  Can I read documents or e-books directly off the CompactFlash card?

A.  Kopsis Inc. has released a version of the FAFileMover software which includes a CSpotRun plugin, that will allow CSpotRun to read documents directly off the CompactFlash card.  I have personally read Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, a 500K document, from the CF card in my adapter, even though I only had 90K of RAM available in my Visor! They have also released a beta version of VFSHelper, which allows VFS-enabled applications to  read directly from the compactflash.

Q.  How Do I use CSpotRun to read documents or e-books on my compactflash card?

A.  Launch FAFileMover, and navigate to the document or e-book on your CF card you want to read.  Tap on the document, and a dialog box will appear giving you two choices: Cancel or CSpotRun.  Tap on CSpotRun, wait 3 or 4 seconds, and your document or e-book will appear in RAM. Please note that this will only work for documents that are in a format readable by CSpotRun (often called doc files).

Q. Will the MatchBookDrive work with non-memory CompactFlash cards (modems, ethernet, etc.)? 

A. The MatchBookDrive has been designed to work with memory cards only, using the FAFileMover drivers.  The research and development budget that would be required to develop an adapter that would work with other types of CompactFlash cards, if that is even possible, would be well beyond the present resources of MatchBook Products.

Q. Wouldn't the type II Matchbook be better than the type I simply because in can take either? Is there any advantage to the type I? 

A. The Type I adapter provides a tighter fit for a Type I CompactFlash card. 32MB, 64MB, 96MB and even some 128MB CF cards come in Type I format. Manufacturers have announced they will soon be making 256 and 512 MB CF cards in Type I format.  Since some people have cases for the Visors that use the snap cover, and they do not anticipate getting a card larger than 128MB, they prefer the tighter fitting opening. Using the Type II adapter with the snap cover may require the use of two hands to put the snap cover on the back of the Visor, whereas it can be done with one hand if the Type I adapter is used.

Q. Is the CF memory still a common memory format? Isn't SmartMedia becoming the rage? 

A. I have not done any surveys or studies, but my impression is that both formats are popular. The advantage of CF over SmartMedia is durability. A CF card will take a 20 gravity fall without damage, but a SmartMedia card is much more fragile. If it gets bent, it becomes unusable, along with the data on it. Also, the largest possible SmartMedia card is 128MB, whereas 256MB CF cards are currently on the market and 512MB cards have been announced.  I have not seen a significant difference in price between the two formats. I have seen some suggestions that data transfer rates to/from CF are significantly faster than to/from Smartmedia (in the order of 3 to 4 times faster) although I have not seen any solid benchmarking tests on this.

Q. Can you ship Overnight? If so how much? 

A. Because we are a family operation and I have a day job, overnight shipping is an "exception" process and has turned out to be slower than simply using first class mail, so we do not offer overnight shipping.

Comment: I'm currently deciding between the memplug, matchbook, and the standard 16meg Flash. I'll be making my decision soon. 

Hint: If you do not anticipate needing more than 16MB external storage, if you only plan to store documents or databases that you will read (and never make any changes to, such as bookmarks or annotations) on your memory module, and if you do not care about cost, the standard 16MB Flash card is a great option. The Visor sees it as though it were internal ROM, so it will probably always have a speed advantage over CF. We now have VFS support for CF cards in beta, and it will be released commercially soon.  This will allow applications that incorporate VFS support to read and write files on the CF card, but they will probably be a little slower than the 16MB flash module at reading, since they have to go through the CF controller to get to the memory. From a cost standpoint, however, there is no comparison. A MatchBookDrive with a 32MB CF card from us could cost you as little as $38, versus $139 for the 16MB flash module, so with CF you are getting twice the memory for much less money. 

Q. What is the difference between the Memplug CompactFlash adapter and the MatchBookDrive adapter with FAFileMover?

A.  If I understand correctly, the Memplug CompactFlash adapter will not work with any Visor models but the Prism, Platinum and Edge.  The MatchBookDrive will work with all Visor models.  Although the Memplug comes with some built-in applications, VFS support in FAFileMover will soon allow a very wide range of applications to use the MatchBookDrive adapter, as more and more developers add VFS support to their software.

 [Last updated August 8, 2001]