PC Card Of The Year: Ositech Jack Of Diamonds
PC Laptop Computers Magazine
April 1995
Reviewed by Frank Preuss and Cliff Roth
Modem plus Networking -- Ositech's Jack of Diamonds PCMCIA card combines Ethernet LAN access with a 14,400-bps data/fax modem. Will
you want to play this Trumpcard?
If your laptop computing needs include connecting directly to an office LAN (Local Area Network) as well as modem telecommunications and portable faxing, Ositech's Trumpcard is perfect for you. Instead of requiring two separate accessories -- a fax/data modem and an Ethernet LAN adapter -- the Trumpcard does it all in a single elegant slide -- in solution.
Ositech is known for its line of custom network/fax/modem boards for Compaq notebook computers. The new Jack of
Diamonds Trumpcard can be used with any notebook or subnotebook computer with a PCMCIA Type II slot.
Besides saving money and slot space, the Trumpcard offers one other unique advantage over installation of separate modem and Ethernet hardware: You don't have to worry about conflicts between the two devices. In fact, you can leave the Trumpcard connected to both a phone line and an Ethernet LAN and simultaneously access both features.
Playing the Trumpcard
The Trumpcard measures 3.9" x 2.5" x 0.2" and weighs 2.2 ounces (plus 1.6 ounces for the Ethernet cable and 1.8 ounces for the phone cable). Both the modem and fax have a 14,400-bps maximum rate. Advanced modem protocols include v.32bis data, v.33 fax and MNP 10 for cellular phones. A $99 optional cable is available for many AT&T,
DiamondTel, Ericsson/GE, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, NEC, OKI, Motorola Microtac and Nokia cellular models.
The Trumpcard's telephone and Ethernet connections each use separate, slim 10-foot-long cables that plug into the card at one end and have male
plugs at the other. A female to female modular telephone connector is also provided.
QuickLinkII fax and telecommunications software for Windows is included. (No DOS versions are provided.)
The Ethernet cable is terminated by a standard RJ-45 connector (which looks like a big male phone plug). At the card end, the connectors go in easily, hold up reasonable well under stress and are secured with clips.
Our test laptop was a Sharp PC8650II with four megabytes of RAM and a 486DX/2 50mhz processor. Using Procomm communications software, we connected effortlessly to CompuServe at 14,400 bps and executed a log-on script. Connections to 2,400 and 9,600 BBSes and our 14,400-bps desktop host were also flawless. We tested the fax capabilities using WinFax Pro, selected the class two generic setup and sent faxes without any complications.
Setting up the network portion of the card was equally easy. The Trumpcard comes out of the box with a 10BaseT connection (an Ethernet cable that looks like a telephone cable with a bigger version of the standard modular telephone plus). Users of older Ethernet 10Base2 (thin coaxial cable) can purchase the Jack of Diamonds with a Media Access Module adapter for $599. (We tested the newer 10BaseT connector). Ositech's excellent Intelligent Media Detection feature automatically detects if a LAN cable is connected and its type and configures the card accordingly.
Popular network operating systems such as Novell, Microsoft LAN Manager, OS/2 Lan Server and Banyan Vines are supported. We tested the Novell drivers in conjunction with our office LAN and were able to connect to the network and log in to the server without any problems. Server applications and data were easily usable, just as on our desktop machine. We moved a 20-megabyte file across the network to and from a Novell 3.11 server with no problems and no noticeable speed difference compared to our networked desktop PC.
There's plenty of operating system compatibility too with drivers for DOS, Windows, Windows for Work-groups, Windows NT, OS/2 and
SCO/UNIX.
Special Features
We were able to access the network and fax/modem simultaneously with the included utility software -- Multi-function Manager.
The card's own power management system puts the fax/modem into a sleep state after a period of inactivity (the range is from zero to 255 seconds) that you can adjust in the setup software. It wakes up when the phone rings.
Since network cards need to be on continuously to maintain network connectivity, using such a sleep state while on the network isn't possible. If you're not using the network, disconnecting the cable or not loading the network drivers will leave that portion of the card entirely off (the same is true for the modem).
Network users should be aware that their notebook's sleep mode can turn power off to the card after a few minutes of inactivity and thus disconnect them. Disabling sleep mode while on the network should solve this problem.
An installation guide, modem user's guide and Ethernet user's guide are provided. They're adequate, but we were disappointed to find that we had to manually alter our computer's setup to use the card (we had to edit the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files to include network drivers) on the network. The included setup program doesn't automate this process
(Ositech says future versions will), and we think this makes installation too technical.
The Trumpcard uses Rockwell modem chips. Updatable firmware is available via an electronic BBS, FTP site and World Wide Web.
Ositech has excellent toll-free technical support and offers a five-year warranty. There's even a 30-day satisfaction guarantee.
Conclusion
Overall, we highly recommend Ositech's Jack of
Diamonds Trumpcard for any portable computer user requiring both Ethernet networking and data/fax modem capability. At $549 list, its price is reasonable (consider what these items would cost separately). Just as important, the Trumpcard will help maximize your notebook's PCMCIA slots and minimize your hassle.
