HP DC7900 Card Reader Arrived

[PH]

This ...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/160958451614?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

... is the (still open) auction.

The device was designed by HP in Germany (a surprise) and was manufactured in China (not a surprise). The build quality is HP's usual high standard.

It covers every card type which I use, and it also has a USB 2.0 front panel jack, which only makes sense as the cable is the usual type with two separate USB 2.0 ports carried over the same cable. There is some logic on the internal card of the device as not all memory cards present themselves as standard devices, although some do.

It is a pop-in installation, although you will have to unsnap the front bezel of the case to clear the four supplied black screws which locks the device into place within the drive bay. No need to use any of the eight black screws which comes with the DC7900.

[PH]

The device has a cable which is ample enough to reach the dedicated header identified as "Media" on the mobo without being overly long.

I installed mine on my DC7900 CMT, but I am pretty sure it will work on DC7800s and DC7900 SFFs ... basically any hp/Compaq which uses the special screws and a slide-in device design and has a spare USB 2.0 header identified as "Media".

You need not power-off the machine to get the device to work. Once plugged into the "Media" header, the USB 2.0 connector is immediately available, as is the media device reader.

Plugging in a media device, in my case a Compact Flash from one of my SLR-type digicams, results in the Image Capture application being launched and a list of frames being displayed. The frames may be exported to, say, the Desktop, or another appropriate folder.

I particularly like this device, not only because it is very low-priced, but also because it covers all the media devices which I presently use, including some very old types which are now considered obsolete. Even the xD media devices which never caught on except with Olympus' sureshot-type digicams and the Fuji Finepix Pro-type SLR digicams (Pro 3 specifically; Pro 2 and Pro 1 use an obsolete media type; although all use Compact Flash as an option).

[Dark_Mac]

Just installed same item in my DC7900 SFF, arrived Thursday

not problems doing so, just pop out DVD drive pop in the reader
connect to "Media" header, pop in DVD and good to go. Confirm it
works under Win 7.

Love the price and fact I have an additional USB port on front of
system.

Dark_Mac

[mosslack]

I can remember buying these for like $5, now they are more expensive, but the HP is reasonable. Looks much like every other multi-media card readers I've bought. With nothing in the floppy bay, it would fit very nicely in my DC 7800. I may end up buying one.

From the main system of mosslack...

______________________________

Alt-OS <+> GG <+> TBIE <+> Hack List

[mosslack]

Even though I had one in my junk box, slightly different, I went ahead and bought one. I like to have an extra one available if possible. Does this use those odd screws to make it work?

[Dark_Mac]

On Jan 26, 2013, at 10:19 PM, mosslack wrote:
>
>
> Even though I had one in my junk box, slightly different, I went
> ahead and bought one. I like to have an extra one available if
> possible. Does this use those odd screws to make it work?
>

mosslack,

No it comes with them install already.

Dark_Mac

[mosslack]

Cool, thanks!

[Darvinko]

Peter, I'm somewhat surprised, if you received it today. I purchased mine only an hour before you, but received it in Virginia on Thursday, a surprise since the seller is in California. I see where Michael has his running in Mac, can either of you confirm operation in OSx, and if so, is it OOB? I've not gotten around to installing mine yet as several other projects have prevented me from doing so.

[Darvinko]

* I mean't to say I see where Michael has his running in Windows.

[mosslack]

I've never had any problems with USB connected card readers. Of course that is not a slam dunk that it will work, but I'm confident it will. 

[pete...@cruzio.com]

> Peter, I'm somewhat surprised, if you received it today. I purchased mine
> only an hour before you, but received it in Virginia on Thursday, a
> surprise since the seller is in California. I see where Michael has his
> running in Mac, can either of you confirm operation in OSx, and if so, is
> it OOB? I've not gotten around to installing mine yet as several other
> projects have prevented me from doing so.

Mailed on 1/21 .. received two or three days ago 1/24 or 1/25, so pretty
poor for USPS First Class, mailed from Barstow, which is in the "high
desert" of Southern California.

[pete...@cruzio.com]

> * I mean't to say I see where Michael has his running in Windows.

The device is treated as a generic USB 2.0 card reader.

The USB 2.0 front panel port is simply passed through from the "Media"
header to the front panel of the card reader.

The second USB 2.0 port on that header goes to some electronics on the
board which senses which kind of memory card is inserted and then
simulates a file system when one doesn't exist in the memory card
architecture.

The SD-type cards are "smart" in that they have sector scrubbing, and bad
sector sparing, which the Compact Flash doesn't.

I'm sure there are similar differences amongst all the supported card
types, and the device sorts those differences out.

What drew me to this particular device is it is designed for the DC7900,
it is relatively cheap, and it supports the rather many memory cards which
my digital devices support, including my GPS device.

[Christian Wacker]

On a software level, I have seen nearly every front-panel card reader to act
as the following:
First it is seen as a generic USB hub. This allows the four or more card
slots to be enumerated separately. Second, each slot has a different driver
chip to translate the protocols of the cards into something that the OS can
understand and have pushed through USB. (SD can be communicated either via
Serial, or parallel data access, neither of which are native to USB. The
same can be said for CF, which operates usually via an IDE style protocol,
which again is difficult for you to do without a translator for USB.)

I've yet to see a card reader that doesn't contain logic to let the OS see
the cards. It just depends on how good the logic is. My current reader
cannot handle SDHC cards, but the new one that I've yet to install in my
desktop has the logic to.
My hacked together server (old HP case with a Gateway board on it, as the HP
board has it's power regulators die) has a generic HP card reader that I
connected to the Gateway board. Standard USB internal header connection, and
Windows sees it just fine.

The "Smarter" All-in-one card readers have a separate logic for each card
type, allowing you to have multiple card types plugged in. Some cheaper
Chinese ones share the same logic for all cards, meaning that you cannot
just transfer data between cards, but instead need to copy to your machine
first.

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[pete...@cruzio.com]

> On a software level, I have seen nearly every front-panel card reader to

> act as the following ...

I couldn't have said it better.

Bottom line is each memory stick type has its own corporate family of
"adopters" and there is (usually) a non-disclosure agreement associated
with each.

When a vendor decides to make a super-multi-memory stick-reader, it has to
negotiate with each group in order to obtain the necessary specs and
documents.

There may be one interface chip per memory stick family, or there may be
one chip which integrates all supported families into one.

I didn't bother taking the HP device apart. I DID see the crystal, and
that told me that there was at least one CPU within the device.

Simply plugging the device into the "Media" header was enough to give the
device a "power-on reset", and thereafter, even in a system which had
already been booted and was at the OS X (ML) Desktop, each of the
functions of the reader was ready, willing and able to perform its
required and expected function.

I cannot fault the HP device ... it came ready to rock and roll, even
including the mounting screws, which actually form "rails" in its drive
mounting scheme.

It read the memory sticks which I tried, which was by no means and
exhaustive test.

As I said before, it supports all the memory sticks which I personally
use, and that is good enough for me.

[pete...@cruzio.com]

It is NOT seen as an Apple Inc card reader.

It IS seen as a Realtek USB2.0-CRW device, according to Hardware ... USB.

Vendor 0x0bda (Realtek), product 0x0184.

The hp/Compaq card reader interfaces with the software just fine.

Image Capture is the (Apple Inc) application which services it.

[Darvinko]

That was my question. I had a Latitude laptop with built in card reader, but because I could not change the labeling to Apple Inc., it would not interface with the software correctly.

[JR Holmes]

In that case, the Latitude laptop was using an interface other than USB between the card reader and the PC. The HP device being discussed (and described as being connected via a Media header on the motherboard) was actually connecting via a USB interface and that allowed it to work properly.

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[pete...@cruzio.com]

> In that case, the Latitude laptop was using an interface other than USB
> between the card reader and the PC. The HP device being discussed (and
> described as being connected via a Media header on the motherboard) was
> actually connecting via a USB interface and that allowed it to work
> properly.

Precisely my point.


The media reader on one of my Windows-type laptops also IS NOT USB, so it
also DOES NOT WORK.

It is an SD/SDHC reader, only, and apparently it is interfaced as PCI-e,
NOT as USB.

[Darvinko]

Thank You, as I have acknowledged, my previous Hackintosh experience has been done on laptops exclusively. They have generally had PCIe interfaces (In fact this one definitely did). Although I was aware this was a USB device (I brought the auction to the attention of the group). I have never had occasion to utilize a USB based card reader on any of these laptops, thus was unaware that the issue was with the type of card reader. I attempted to "rename" the reader as Apple to allow it to work (as others had indicated they were able to do), but my attempts (several of them) failed to meet with success. I was able to download photos from an SD card, but it was an arduous process, not worth following up on. I was, as a result, unaware that USB readers worked OOB in OSx. Having asked the question, I have been enlightened. Thank You all

[faithie999]

if you still have the hackintosh laptop with SD card reader around, JMB38X.kext will probably enable it.    i have an HP Probook 4530s with built-in card reader, and that's the kext that enables it on my machine.

ken

[Darvinko]

Thank You, Ken. I'll give it a shot and report the results.

[mosslack]

On Jan 28, 2013, at 9:40 PM, Darvinko wrote:

Thank You, Ken. I'll give it a shot and report the results.

Kevin, how far away are the header pins on the DC7900? I'm just wondering if they might be closer than they are on the DC7800. As that connector sounds like  a standard USB connector, I suppose any header could be used.

[Darvinko]

Doug, you would need about nine inches from the back of the card reader to the media header pins. The header pins are about 3.5 inches from the end of the PCIe x 16 slot, directly toward the front. Give me a couple of minutes to pop open my DC7800 to compare

[Darvinko]

Both the DC7900CMT and the DC7800CMT appear to be in the same area. If you were referring to the SFF, I can pop that open and take a look at that one too. 

[Darvinko]

On the DC7900SFF, the configuration is obviously different as the card reader occupies the area where a second hard drive would reside. That needs to be swung up to access the header pins which are adjacent to the fourth memory slot and next to the front USB header pins.

[mosslack]

Thanks, mine has been shipped, so I should know for sure before long.

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[pete...@cruzio.com]

The subject reader works pretty well. Certainly well worth the $10, for a
device which was designed for the host product (DC7900 CMT).

Alas, it DOES NOT WORK for SDHC cards which are inserted into a so-called
SDHC-Compact Flash adapter ... you MUST insert the card in the "native"
slot for that media type.

So far, I have successfully read Compact Flash, xD and SDHC cards.

For cards which were initialized for a still-type camera, Apple Inc's
Image Capture utility is automagically launched and individual or all
images contained thereupon may be transferred to a folder or to the
Desktop itself.

For cards which were initialized for a movie-type camera, the card appears
as a device on the desktop.

[mosslack]

On Jan 29, 2013, at 1:11 PM, pete...@cruzio.com wrote:

Alas, it DOES NOT WORK for SDHC cards which are inserted into a so-called
SDHC-Compact Flash adapter ... you MUST insert the card in the "native"
slot for that media type.

Okay, I just have to ask, why would a person want to use a Compact Flash adapter when the card reader has a dedicated SDHC slot?

[Christian Wacker]

My guess is that it is being used in a setting where removing it from the sd > CF dongle is not something that would be contemplated. I have one of those converters myself for use with some older Nikon cameras on campus. Makes reading the data on an iMac in the Yearbook room a lot easier, seeing as the iMac only has SD, and someone lost the USB cables for the Nikon cameras about 10 years ago.

 

From: hq...@googlegroups.com [mailto:hq...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of mosslack

Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2013 15:43
To: hq...@googlegroups.com

--

[pete...@cruzio.com]

> Okay, I just have to ask, why would a person want to use a Compact Flash
> adapter when the card reader has a dedicated SDHC slot?

Because all my SLR digicams accept Compact Flash, but not SD or SDHC cards.

The adapter was purchased with the intention of using the lower-cost
SD/SDHC media in the digicams, but the adapter didn't even work there, at
least not with SDHC media. I did not try it with SD media.

I am perfectly OK with inserting the SD/SDHC media in the SD/SDHC slot
within the media reader.

[mosslack]

Okay, I understand. It must be easier to just use the CF adapter than to remove the SDHC from the adapter. I have some adapters like that.

[pete...@cruzio.com]

>> I am perfectly OK with inserting the SD/SDHC media in the SD/SDHC slot
>> within the media reader.
>
> Okay, I understand. It must be easier to just use the CF adapter than to
> remove the SDHC from the adapter. I have some adapters like that.

At the time, it SEEMED like the best solution, as fast Compact Flash was
expensive, whereas fast SDHC was relatively cheap.

I strongly suspect I purchased an adapter which was CLAIMED to work with
SDHC, but really only worked with SD.

Also, I have some SDHC adapters which accept the micro SDHC cards, and
those seem to work well.

I was lucky enough to buy a large "lot" of micro SDHC cards on The Bay,
and they came with SDHC adapters. The price was so low I just couldn't
turn it down. Fortunately, every card was good (I tested them all).

At first, I tried the micro SDHC cards in an SDHC adapter, and that in the
Compact Flash adapter. This didn't work at all.

The SDHC cards are all "C4", but my Cinema Mode camcorder wants "C6" for
Cinema Mode (24 fps, simulated using interlacing and 60 fps).

[mosslack]

On Jan 26, 2013, at 11:19 PM, mosslack wrote:

Even though I had one in my junk box, slightly different, I went ahead and bought one. I like to have an extra one available if possible. Does this use those odd screws to make it work?

Mine arrived today. Got the update that it had been shipped on the 28th, so 2-3 days from CA isn't bad. Now to install it. I forgot I have a second hard drive occupying that space at the present time so I will have to figure out what to do about that. Probably just put ML and Windows 7 on the same drive. That has been working fairly well as of late.

[pete...@cruzio.com]

>> Even though I had one in my junk box, slightly different, I went ahead
>> and bought one. I like to have an extra one available if possible. Does
>> this use those odd screws to make it work?
>
>
> Mine arrived today. Got the update that it had been shipped on the 28th,
> so 2-3 days from CA isn't bad. Now to install it. I forgot I have a second
> hard drive occupying that space at the present time so I will have to
> figure out what to do about that. Probably just put ML and Windows 7 on
> the same drive. That has been working fairly well as of late.

The device is supplied with four black screws.

On a SFF, the second hard drive is under the optical drive.

Hard drives take silver screws (#6-32 UNC).

Optical and media devices take black screws (M3.0-0.5).

There are extra screws behind the removable front bezel.

[mosslack]

It has been installed. I removed the hard drive which was there, happened to be the ML drive, so no way to test that at the moment. The USB header pins are located right next to the floppy drive data cable connector so it was very close.

Under WIndows 7, I first tried a USB flash drive, which worked fine and then I inserted an 8 Gb SDHC micro card into the designated slot on the card reader and it told me that I needed to format the drive before it could be used. As this card is my EBD from the Asus 1201n netbook, it was obviously formatted for Mac and therefore unreadable on a Windows system. So I dug around in my bowl of flash media devices and found a 4Gb SDHC card, inserted that and it contained music, which is currently playing. I also used the SD adapter which comes with most SDHC cards and that works as well. 

Next I found a 4 Gb Transcend CF card in the same bowl, inserted that into the Compact Flash slot and it too works fine. I'm very happy with this purchase as it adds even more functionality to my HP DC 7800. Now all I need to do with get ML and Windows on the same drive and I will be all set!

[mosslack]

Here is what it looks like installed in my DC 7800:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-nE6U1IUPG0MkhVVEJvRHV4SW8/edit

I'm currently reinstalling Windows 7 on the 2nd non-EFI partition of a 160 Gb hard drive. Once done I will clone either my Lion or ML install from the other hard drive to the first non-EFI partition of the 160 Gb drive. 

I'm not sure how others feel about this, but I believe Lion is a little snappier than ML. Especially on an older system like this. I sense a slight delay in things when using ML, maybe it's just in my head.

From the main system of mosslack...

______________________________

[pete...@cruzio.com]

> Here is what it looks like installed in my DC 7800:
>
> https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-nE6U1IUPG0MkhVVEJvRHV4SW8/edit

Nice!

It is a very well-made device. Sure, Realtek designed it (the chip set and
the "proof of concept" model, but the actual implementation for an
hp/Compaq was all HPs.

[Christian Wacker]

This one looks like the $1.99 card readers that were being pawned off at
bensoutlet.com a month or so ago. I picked one up to finally get my desktop
up to date, and to remove some of the useless junk from my current media bay
(fan controllers, headphone stuff etc)

-----Original Message-----
From: hq...@googlegroups.com [mailto:hq...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of
pete...@cruzio.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 19:31
To: hq...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [HQ-A] HP DC7900 Card Reader Arrived

[phubai]

On Saturday, January 26, 2013 9:51:55 PM UTC-5, PH wrote:

This ...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/160958451614?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

... is the (still open) auction.

The device was designed by HP in Germany (a surprise) and was manufactured in China (not a surprise). The build quality is HP's usual high standard....

Thanks Peter...I've just returned from an extended family visit, saw this, and ordered one tonight. I find myself using the DC7900 more every day and this will be appreciated.