The Problem.

I bought a Toshiba Libretto 70CT, it came with loads of stuff, but lacked the original external floppy drive. I tried for a while to figure out a way of transferring files/data between my desktop and tiny sub-note Libretto.

I thought about attaching a pcmcia > usb adapter, but the older Librettos only have a 16 bit pcmcia slot, and all the ones i found were the newer 32 bit cardbus type. I then tried an old external CD drive that i had lying around, but it was (like most old externals) a parallel port type and required a driver before it would work, and with no way of getting the driver on the laptop, i dropped this idea.

My next thought was to use a wireless card, but again i needed a driver on the laptop before it would work. And also finding a 16 bit pcmcia wireless card was proving tough.

The Solution.

I saw a few auctions on ebay selling information on how to transfer data to an older Libretto without a Floppy/CD/USB drive. This got me thinking about how were doing this.

I stumbled upon the solution a bit by accident when searching for a 16 bit wireless card. I clicked on an auction selling a pcmcia>compact flash adapter where the seller stated that it was ideal for transferring data to older laptops without usb etc. Brilliant i thought, but is it an older 16 bit card? Yep, they all seem to be (they don't have the gold earth strip like the 32 bit cardbus type).

So then i duly ordered it (all of £2.90 inc postage) thinking i had nothing to lose. It arrived 2 days later, got an old compact flash card from a camera and stuck it in the Libretto. The laptop picked it up first time, installed all the drivers (It's windows 95!!) and there i was with a nice easy way to transfer all those free classic games to the Libretto. Just stick the CF card into my PC's reader, then add the files to the Libretto. 

This guide should work for all the older Librettos without USB drives (Like the 30CT 50CT 70CT etc) or even any old Laptop that lacks a USB port.

Hope this is helpful and saves someone having to pay for this info.