I am seriously considering purchase of an Olympus C3030. However, I am running Windows 95, my serial port and parallel ports are both already taken, and I understand that W95 USB is not compatible with most digi-cams.

Therefore, I am hoping that a FlashPath smartmedia floppy disk adapter will enable me to transfer my photos without worrying about cables, ports, etc. I would like to use the largest SmartMedia cards that the camera and adapter support.

I am interested in recommendations/experiences about different brands of SmartMedia and Flashpath adapters. and

-- marcia socolik (biggestal@onebox.com), June 29, 2000

Answers

Hi Marcia, My experience is limited but I use an Olympus D360L camera and a Olympus flashpath adapter. The booklet that came with my adapter says 32MB is the largest size card you can use. However, someone else may have a different idea. I use an 8MB memory card and I don't take a lot of pictures at a time so the adapter works great for me. Rector

-- Rector Griffith (rectorg@thevision.net), June 30, 2000.

I don't want to get your hopes up, but someone once wrote this board and said that there were USB files available for Win95 at Microsoft's site, as I recall. Why not do a search on "95 USB" and see what messages you find in the board or try Microsoft? Or better yet, simply upgrade to WIN98? It's really a snap on most systems. I like Win98 much better than 95 in terms of stability. It's still not bulletproof, but seems improved in many ways. Another issue is which version of Win95 you have. 95B & C are supposed to have USB capabilities.

By the way, if you just have a printer on your parallel port you can still get a parallel port based reader, most of them have a pass- through connector that lets you plug your printer cable in. You just can't use both devices at the same time, but you can easily read in your images and then print them without touching a cable. I have a Lexar digital film reader with a pass through and it works quite well. It transfers the contents of an 8MB smartmedia card in about 15 seconds! That wouldn't be bad at all for even a 64 MB card, about 2 minutes flat.

Good Luck!

-- Gerald M. Payne (gmp@francomm.com), July 01, 2000.

Thanks for the replys.

To respond to some of the issues that you raised... I checked with Olympus regarding use of USB with the C3030 - they said that the USB interface will not work with either W95 or the W98 upgrade I would have to do a complete install of W98 - with all the other upgrades that my PC needs (memory, hard drive, etc), I will stick with the Flashpath until I get a new computer (which is a couple of years away).

My parallel port already has a zip drive and scanner in addition to the printer, so I cannot add a card reader. My serial port is used for my external modem. That's why I figured that the Flashpath is my best (or only) option. If it's slow, I'll just start the download and go have dinner or something while I wait - speed is not the issue, since my options are so limited.

Olympus recommended that I stick with their brand for the smartmedia and adapter (which is exactly what I would expect them to say). Any experience (pro/con) with Olympus brand vs other?

Again - thanks for the replys!

-- marcia socolik (biggestal@onebox.com), July 02, 2000.

I have Oly 2000, use Flahspath, almost as slow as serial. Have Lexar reader, two units now failed, destroy files or fail in download, etc. First unit replaced by Lexar, second??? no response to email. Now trying Sandisk, so far, so good (USB) very quick, drag and drop. Good luck, believe Flashpaths are overpriced (same or more than separate readers). Try USB hub (about $30 at COMPUSA). Lexar was parallet, fast WHEN it worked.

-- Wayne Smith (waynsmith@hotmail.com), July 12, 2000.

We use the Olympus Camedia Flashpath floppy adapter - it works fine and dandy! - we use 8mb cards - it takes maybe 5 minutes to transfer a filled card.

-- Eileen Morrisot (meand2rays@juno.com), July 12, 2000.