by ZzyzxOh » Tue Jan 31, 2012 3:07 am
I would like to revive the thread aboiut replacing the AzureWave AW-NE762H with a small capacity PCI Express "Half-Mini Card" solid state storage device.
First, the phuysical problem is that the existing Wi-Fi card is oriented towards the near-edge of the board, leaving only space the size of the compact Wi-Fi card for a storage device. I've never seen a storage option meeting that form factor. So, any ideas on turning that slot around? Cutting a hoole in the existing case would push out the bottom of the case, and that doesn't have much clearance to add, so you're probably removing the case. I don't like that option, but maybe that's all there is. Ideally there's be some kind of flexible ribbon adapter to turn this around and give some placement options.
Second, the Wi-Fi is driven by the common RT-3090 drivers, and there has to be some common driver for the solid-state storage, right? I'm just not certain what that is. I noticed my normal supplier (newegg) is out of stock on every model of half-mini-storage, which usually means some major change is coming. (They list about 100 models of this storage and all are out of stock.) The stuff was being dumped by lots of sources on eBay in December 2011 and the prices were really low, making the conversion cost effective (in my opinion). So, drivers are an issue, but is that easily solved?
Some have talked about heat, but I have yet to see a solid-state unit in this form-factor use enough juice to produce heat. Maybe others have seen more of that, so I'd like to hear that. I would add that this is a pretty empty side of the board and if a ribbon adapter can move it away from the exposed AC-DC supply, I can't imagine heat would be any issue at all.
So, I see the above references to the dual-micor-SD adapter, which looks great, but the reply suggests it wouldn't work since that is a USB device and the socket in the Pogo isn't USB. I think I have that correct.
And, a word of caution: I see a lot of "Pro" units for sale without Wi-Fi right now, so make sure you are buying the one you think you are buying.