Note on Elan P-Series Controllers

The Elan P-Series card readers have switched CardBus controllers several times over the years. While they have used Texas Instruments and TI compatible controllers, the changes in specifics sometimes cause issues. While not completely chronologically accurate, the following rough timeline should be helpful. Elan P-Series devices prior to 2002 used the TI PCI-1420 for their two slot readers and either the TI PCI-1410 or PCI1211 (depending on availability at production) on their one slot readers. For a stretch of several years (roughly 2002-2006) Elan used ENE Technology Inc. CardBus controllers in place of TI. The CB1420 for two slot readers and the CB1410 for one slot readers. A reliable, and widely support TI PCI-14xx clone series, ENE's controllers actually fixed many of the errata from the chips they cloned. This, however, caused problems for systems coded around the problems with the original TI PCI-14xx series. Around the beginning of 2006 Elan switched back to TI PCI-1420 for their two slot readers and either the TI PCI-1410 on their one slot readers. However, there still is a lot of ENE based P-Series readers in inventory, and certain models of the P-Series will not be replaced with the TI based controllers until the existing stock of ENE devices are sold.