Firewire?

[Ben Dare2]

Can someone explain to me what this new connection--'firewire/1394'--is, and how does it work? Do you need a pci adapter for it? Does it work on usb, serial.........?

Thanks to all.......Ol'Ben

[NDC]

Look here:
http://www.csdmag.com/main/2001/01/0101stand.htm

[This message has been edited by NDC (edited 05-22-2001).]

[madfish]

why do we need this firewire stuff, is everything going to firewire? I thought usb was fast enough. is usb on the way out?

[Ben Dare2]

Hell, I'm about to buy an external cd-rw called 'que' or something--16x12x40x--they kept saying firewire, but it never dawned on me that firewire was the connection!!!

The burner is new...and we're talking under $100!!!(retail is 2 or 3 hundred) So, How much is a firewire pci card, and where do you get one of the little scoundrels??

Any one have one for about $3.33 or so:> ))

****, I'm getting too old for this...Ol'Ben

[NDC]

I thought usb was fast enough

USB transfer rate Vs. IEEE 1394 transfer rate is incomparable.

In the computer world, nothing's ever fast enough! http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[RandomGoon]

USB 2.0 (480Mb/s) will push the speed of USB above Firewire (IEEE 1394, 400Mb/s). I'll see if I can find the link that leads to where I saw said info.

Hah, found one of them: http://www4.tomshardware.com/consumer/00q3/000929/

And here's another from SysOpt itself: http://sysopt.earthweb.com/articles/comdex2000/index4.html

'Goon

Edited 'cause I keep finding links http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by RandomGoon (edited 05-22-2001).]

[madfish]

thanks goon..madfish

[RandomGoon]

You are welcome, madfish. Just for reference, the current speed of USB is about 12Mb/s. Practically stopped when compared to Firewire http://www.sysopt.com/forum/biggrin.gif

'Goon

[This message has been edited by RandomGoon (edited 05-22-2001).]

[Ben Dare2]

All I gotta do is figure how to get usb 2.0/ a firewire to usb adapter and I'm in business......
First things first>>buy burner--buy pci firewire card---find a buyer for the whole thing cause it's probably buggy as hell in a pc (instead of compaq or apple).

We'll see.......Ol'Ben

[samwichse]

Actually, an add in firewire card is not that expensive. On pricewatch, they are as low as 23$. USB 2 will be a hair faster, but newer technology and probably pretty buggy at first.

[techwriter]

Firewire is Apple's brand name for the IEEE standard 1394. Sony also has their brand name for it called iLink. Basically, it is a really high speed bus.

You can buy an add-in card that will fit into your PCI slot, which will provide you a IEEE 1394 port.

Good luck!

[Cruez]

I installed a firewire card in my PC over a year ago for my digital 8mm video camera..The only problem I had is when I was using Win98, upgraded to Win98 SE which has better 1394 support, No problems since..

[lazerbeam]

The most singular difference between FireWire (also known as IEEE 1394 or iLink) and USB is that it does not interleave control/hand shaking protocol data with the actual data stream like the USB standard. Thus there are significant differences in speed between the two (USB has to arbitrate time between data and bus protocol and FireWire doesn’t). Of course the actual protocol is different too, it is much more efficient with FireWire and bus control mechanisms are different as well. You will hear a lot of talk of USB2 standard and it will be faster than the current FireWire standard, but its standards are hardly set in concrete yet, and who knows when it will get implemented (if ever). Microsoft has dropped support for it in the Windows XP release for this very reason. Current USB works absolutely great for most things like mice, keyboards, still digital camera transfers, dial up modems, etc., but heaven help you if try to send large files to/from an external storage device. I have a two 30 GB external disk drives, one a USB and one a FireWire. Comparing the two is light comparing the speed of light (FW) to the speed of sound (USB). Oh, and next year there will be a new version of FW out that is even faster than the proposed USB version 2. I’m not anti USB, or pro FW.. They each have their place and usage niches. For high speed transfers, such a streaming video, the FW is the way to go. On other hand, USB is ideally suited for the devices I mentioned earlier. I was one of those guys that bought a cheapo, no brand name $24 Firewire card (using TI chipsets) to link my 8 MM camcorder to the computer. It was one of the best investments I ever made!