DEXIS Digital X-ray System Requirements and Elan PSeries PCMCIA PC Card Readers FAQ and Information

DEXIS PCMCIA PC Card Product Deployment

See What happened to Elan Digital Systems Ltd's website? for an update on the disposition of Elan. We do have remaining stock of P313 and P311 readers as of 2013.

Discuss or Comment DEXIS primary digital X-ray devices use a Type II (ie. 5mm thick) 16-bit PCMCIA PC Card as the interface to host computer systems. The card uses proprietary I/O to communicate with its software. For notebooks with PCMCIA PC Card slots, this isn't a problem. For desktop systems, DEXIS only recommends and supports Elan PC Card readers.

The 2008 DEXIS System Requirements document, under the PC Card Reader heading, lists the following readers:

  • Elan P423 [PCM-CR-PC2IF2-(B/W)] internal with full height PCI Card - this item is sold out
  • Elan P424 [PCM-CR-PC2EF] external with full height PCI Card - this items was discontinued by Elan
  • Elan P314 [PCM-CR-PC1ELF] external with low profile PCI Card - this items was discontinued by Elan

Other PCMCIA PC Card Reader options

DEXIS only lists 3 of Elan's PCMCIA PC Card readers on their 2008 list. Since all Elan readers use the same circuitry and PCI to PCMCIA PC CardBus bridgechips, many customers have experienced successful deployment of other Elan PC Card readers on their DEXIS installations without any problems. Check with DEXIS for their policy on supporting these readers.

Other Elan PCI to PCMCIA PC Card Readers

  • Elan P111 [PCM-CR-PC1IC2] - this items was discontinued by Elan
  • Elan P222 [PCM-CR-PC2IC2] - this items was discontinued by Elan
  • Elan P416 [PCM-CR-PC2IFR] - this items was discontinued by Elan

Other Elan Low Profile (MD1) PCI to PCMCIA PC Card Readers

Additionally, alternate PC Card readers do work with DEXIS installations, but are unsupported by DEXIS. Synchrotech has several large DEXIS integrators utilizing our PCMCIA PC Card readers based on the RICOH chipset. However, we only recommend this for end users with enough technical knowledge to support themselves, as neither DEXIS nor Synchrotech will do so. In other words such installations are known to work, but unsupported. Please see the PCI to PC Card overview section of our site for our whole range of available PCMCIA PC Card Readers.

DEXIS X-Ray Sensor PC Cards on USB or other buses?

Perhaps the most frequently asked question in regards to DEXIS' PC Card based sensors is "is there a USB based reader for them." Simplest answer is no, but it may be helpful to explain why. There's no such thing as a generic PCMCIA PC Card reader based on USB. There's several reasons for this, but the primary ones include:

  • PCMCIA PC Card's dependency on system level bus capabilities like DMA are not available on USB
  • USB up until the release of SuperSpeed USB 3.0 wasn't fast enough to emulate the entire PC Card standard

As a consequence of the above all USB based card readers are application specific — one trick ponies, so to speak. In the absence of generic support, specific application support readers can often be developed for PC Cards if a developer has access to all of the card's protocols. In the case of DEXIS, only DEXIS has access to their proprietary protocols. Since they already offer a USB based device, they have no compelling reason to develop their own USB PC Card Reader or provide their protocols to a third party.

Synchrotech understands that it is no small matter for dental offices to replace DEXIS equipment they have already spent considerable capital on. Our best advice for dental offices already invested in PC Card based sensors is to use older PCs with PC Card readers or laptops with PC Card slots as stations to interface the sensors and network those machines to modern computers for viewing the x-rays.

Troubleshooting Elan PSeries PCMCIA PC Card Readers

When using any of the PSeries readers listed by DEXIS, call DEXIS Telephone Support first at 1-888-883-3947 option 4. Additionally, the following are documents and links that are helpful in troubleshooting issues with Elan PCMCIA PC Card readers. The Elan PSeries and interrupt steering issues are a long-standing problem and must be dealt with as documented. In brief, the cards slots must occupy IRQ 11 or lower, and cannot be shared with any other device on the system.

Download Drivers (pseries50708cd.zip)
PSeries Driver 5.07.08 release, see both sets of release notes below, subject to Elan's license conditions
Synchrotech Elan Series Readers * Date 2005.10.05 * 5.1MB
W3 Document PSeries Driver CD release notes
This information is a must read for all Elan installations!
W3 Document PCMCIA IRQ Routing on Windows XP
Microsoft support document explaining interrupt issues and work around methods.
W3 Document PCI to PC Card (16) Card Readers Installation Addendum
W3 Document PCI to PC Card (16) Card Readers Installation troubleshooting
W3 Document PCI to PC Card(Bus) Bridge Chips in Select Card Readers

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