Parachute PC Card Adapter Gets a New Lease on Life

Posted By: Ed Tuesday, March 27, 2001 8:20:08 AM

QRS has been granted a license to manufacture and distribute the UniLinear Parachute, a clip-on sled that lets handhelds made by Palm use a Type II PC Card or a Compact Flash card.

QRS Founder and CEO Spencer Lien said, "We expect to have the Parachute III on the market shortly and will release the Parachute V, for the Palm V series, by the third quarter of this year. " UniLinear lists a price of $150 but QRS hasn't announced what their version will cost.

Mr Lien said, "We see a tremendous opportunity to market Parachute devices to the existing Palm customer base. With an estimated 10 to 12 million Palm III and Palm V series handhelds in use, we believe millions of users will enjoy expanding the Palm devices by increasing memory storage, sending and receiving email, and connecting wirelessly to their corporate network -- without having to purchase a new handheld computer."

Long-time Palm users might feel justified in feeling a bit of scepticism about this announcement. The Parachute has been "coming soon" for at least a year.

The Parachute accept virtually any PC Card that communicates via standard serial protocols, such as most modems and many wireless Internet PC Cards. Most other PC Cards will be compatible with the Parachute upon the development of a software interface driver using its SDK (Software Developer's Kit), which is also available.

The agreement between QRS and UniLinear calls for the creation of a new corporation to manufacture and distribute the Parachute. Both companies will receive equity in the new enterprise and seek additional venture capital funding to commercialize the technology worldwide.

QRS Diagnostic designs and manufactures the only PC Card medical device product line. They expect the Parachute/Palm drivers to be available for all its PC Card devices when they launch the next series of cards in the third quarter of this year.

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hahaha

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/27/2001 9:18:44 AM #

I believe it has been well over 2 years since Unilinear has been
touting their Parachute, and 2 years ago, I would have been all
over it. They're fighting a losing battle. With the m50x series just
over the horizon (I hope), and new Palms with the new universal
connector coming out, building a PCMCIA sleeve for one of the
oldest members of the Palm family with a non-standard connector
seems like a bad idea.

Their timetables are pathetic. By the time the m505 is scheduled to
be replaced, we can probably expect an announcement that
they're thinking of making one for the m505. Sorry guys... at this
point it would be a miracle if we saw a Parachute for the Palm III
in 2001 at all.

RE: hahaha

fleegle @ 3/27/2001 10:13:12 AM #

But you are forgetting the extremely large installed base of Palm IIIs and Vs. These people aren't going to just throw away their IIIs and Vs to buy the M50xs. They may sell them to others but these PDAs will still be around. So whoever owns a III or V can now have CF/PC card capabilities. That's a good thing.

I'm glad some companies are still making accessories for the III and V form factor. It makes them less obsolete. :)

RE: No hahaha

Ed @ 3/27/2001 10:39:25 AM #

I have hope that the Parachute will see the light of day because Unilinear has hooked up with a company with a solid reputation for bringing products to market.

Also, I think they are targeting this towards businesses rather than individuals. QRS seems to see the Palm as a nice handheld to run their medical-related PC cards. I'd be willing to bet that many companies are more interested in using proven technology than in the keeping on the cutting edge.

Which isn't to say that individuals won't get some use out of it. I'm interested because I have a PC modem and an Ethernet adapter and it would be nice if I didn't have to buy these again for my Palm.

I know they probably considered this and discarded the idea as unworkable but I wish Handspring had used a PC Card slot rather than designing their own. Oh well, that's water under the bridge.

---
Plenipotentiary
Palm Infocenter

RE: hahaha

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/27/2001 11:17:46 AM #

QUOTE:
I know they probably considered this and discarded the idea as unworkable but I wish Handspring had used a PC Card slot rather than designing their own. Oh well, that's water under the bridge
END QUOTE

There is a CF adaptor module that works pretty well.

U-G-L-Y

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/27/2001 12:51:26 PM #

Nobody's even mentioned how ugly this thing is! It looks like a brick! Who wants to tote around a PDA 3X as thick just to plug in a card? PU.

RE: hahaha

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/17/2002 9:14:22 PM #

AGREEEEE!!!! This is simply a waste of web space! Get a grip on reality boys! Your product should have been out long ago, not just nice pics and useless talk. Again I say, GET A GRIP! and find a new hobby!!!!!

Ross

The III-series lives!

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/27/2001 1:17:04 PM #

I own a IIIxe and am not in any rush to move up to the m5xx series anytime soon. I'm just glad that someone's decided to market products to a user like me. Automakers have known for years that just because a model is discontinued doesn't mean parts & service should be abandoned, too. While PalmOS units are obviously not cars, and therefore not nearly as expensive, the philosophy still applies. Remember, the "universal connector" is designed to unify FUTURE Palm models. The older models may not be produced for much longer, but Palm simply cannot justify abandoning all accessories & support. Here's hoping this is the start(or continuation?) of a trend.

RE: The III-series lives!

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/27/2001 1:29:56 PM #

Actually, $82 for a refurbished III, $149 for the Parachute, and you get a machine for les than 250 bucks that takes PC Cards, including modems, GPS modules, ethernet cards, USB port cards, slim SCSI, etc, etc.

That's not such a bad deal.

RE: The III-series lives!

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/28/2001 5:19:44 AM #

I just *bought* a IIIxe. People who have III kit (like me) probably don't want to go spending money *again* on devices they already own just cause Palm decided to change the connector. My plan is to stick with a IIIxe and plain old III for a couple of years now.

Possibilities

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/27/2001 7:31:31 PM #

Ok, so I could play mp3's on a cf card on my palm?! :)

RE: Possibilities

I.M. Anonymous @ 7/29/2001 11:06:48 PM #

Twat...!!!

Here we go again

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/28/2001 8:58:33 AM #

Having been waitng for a least a year or more for this device i decided to get a Visor the form factor was there and it was more expandable then the Parachute

Is the IIIc included?

I.M. Anonymous @ 7/21/2001 8:31:09 PM #

Been in the website of Unilinear and noted that there website did not mention that it is for the IIIc, only the III, IIIx, xe models.
How about the IIIc?

RE: Is the IIIc included?

I.M. Anonymous @ 7/21/2001 9:00:18 PM #

The IIIc isn't the same size as the rest of the III series; it's a bit longer. Palm shouldn't even have called it that. It has led to much confusion. Sorry, the IIIc won't be able to use the parachute.

RE: Is the IIIc included?

I.M. Anonymous @ 7/28/2002 7:42:06 PM #

Well it would be nice if you actually Inquired from UniLinear to see what the differances were. Also, If you simply did some research as I did and asked them you would know theat the IIIc is rechargable and the Battery pack makes the back a bit bigger and the Voltage requirement to charge it a bit more. The IIIc is the same as far as the Serial and OS requirements go but a bit different for the physical. If the Parachute for the Other Palms actually made it to market, they would have made the modifications for the IIIc they told me.

Think it over..

I.M. Anonymous @ 7/31/2001 11:53:55 PM #

It has taken a long time (I've been monitering their site for a looong time) but I believe it will be worth it. I've always been a 3Com/Palm user and probably will never try a Handspring or possibly even a Sony. The PPC/WinCE world has had these things for a long time.. and PalmOS (being a much more stable OS IMHO) needs this to compete. If you think it's slow realize 'hey, no one else is even trying' and this is new ground for PalmOS. Better than nothing and should be well worth the wait.