Miniature Card or MiniCard is a flash

Flash memory

Flash memory is a non-volatile computer storage chip that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It was developed from EEPROM and must be erased in fairly large blocks before these can be rewritten with new data...

 or SRAM

Static random access memory

Static random-access memory is a type of semiconductor memory where the word static indicates that, unlike dynamic RAM , it does not need to be periodically refreshed, as SRAM uses bistable latching circuitry to store each bit...

 memory card

Memory card

A memory card or flash card is an electronic flash memory data storage device used for storing digital information. They are commonly used in many electronic devices, including digital cameras, mobile phones, laptop computers, MP3 players, and video game consoles...

 standard first promoted by Intel Corp. in 1995 and backed by Advanced Micro Devices

Advanced Micro Devices

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. or AMD is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Sunnyvale, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for commercial and consumer markets...

, Fujitsu

Fujitsu

is a Japanese multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is the world's third-largest IT services provider measured by revenues....

 and Sharp Electronics. Miniature Card Implementers Forum (MCIF) promoted this standard for consumer electronics: PDA/Palmtops, Digital Audio Recorders, digital cameras and smartphones. The Miniature Card is 37 × 45 × 3.5 mm thick and can have devices on both sides of the substrate. 60-pin connector was a memory-only subset of PCMCIA and featured 16-bit data and 24-bit address bus with 3.3 or 5-volt signalling. Miniature Card supports Attribute Information Structure (AIS) in the I²C

I²C

I²C is a multi-master serial single-ended computer bus invented by Philips that is used to attach low-speed peripherals to a motherboard, embedded system, cellphone, or other electronic device. Since the mid 1990s, several competitors I²C ("i-squared cee" or "i-two cee"; Inter-Integrated Circuit;...

 identification EEPROM

EEPROM

EEPROM stands for Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory and is a type of non-volatile memory used in computers and other electronic devices to store small amounts of data that must be saved when power is removed, e.g., calibration...

. The Miniature Card format competed with SmartMedia

SmartMedia

SmartMedia is a flash memory card standard owned by Toshiba, with capacities ranging from 2 MB to 128 MB. SmartMedia memory cards are no longer manufactured.- History :...

 and CompactFlash

CompactFlash

CompactFlash is a mass storage device format used in portable electronic devices. Most CompactFlash devices contain flash memory in a standardized enclosure. The format was first specified and produced by SanDisk in 1994...

 cards, also released during the mid-1990s. Although they were all significantly smaller than Type I PC Cards

PC card

In computing, PC Card is the form factor of a peripheral interface designed for laptop computers. The PC Card standard was defined and developed by the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association which itself was created by a number of computer industry companies in the United States...

, the CompactFlash and SmartMedia cards were more successful in the consumer electronics market.

Philips Velo

Philips Velo

The Philips Velo was a Handheld PC.The initial Velo 1 is mini-notebook-style device, running either on custom NiMH battery pack, or 2x AA batteries. It includes monochrome display with green backlight...

500 and CISCO 800 and 1700 used Miniature Card.

External links

• http://www.pcmcia.org/miniaturecard.htm Image and data about MiniCard from PCMCIA.org