I have used a pcmcia to usb 2.0 adapter to run a usb2 hub, 2 cameras, gpusb,fcusb. It was a little twitchy but worked well enough and was at usb2 speed.
Make sure you supply extenal power for the usb, as the pcmcia slot does not supply as much power as a usb port will, and I found that even running power from my usb1 port was insufficient. I had to use an external power supply.
Hope you aren't getting too soft with your remote observatory.
And be patient with setting it up.
Brett