USB3 or eSata connection to firewire 800 possible?

[garethfrow]

Many laptop manufacturers these days aren't including firewire or PCMCIA ports. They are including USB3 and eSata though. I have a TC Electronic Konnekt 24 which connects using firewire 800. Can anyone advise how best to connect from either USB3 or eSata to firewire 800? Thanks

 

[jaygee]

The best way is not to even try. They are completely different protocols and the optimized drivers
that come with your interface would not work through a conversion device.

Sorry.

EDIT: Have you purchased a laptop already or are you just looking ?

 

[PRHunt]

Check the Hewlett Packard range. My HP work laptop (under 12 months old) has firewire.

Otherwise, look for something with an express card slot. Firewire adapters are certainly available for these.

Paul

 

[TimOBrien]

No, you cannot connect USB or eSata to a firewire port.

If your laptop has a PCMCIA or Expresscard slot you can get a firewire card for it.
Belkin and SIIG make known good ones with the necessary TexasInstruments chips.

(And as Intel's Thunderbolt becomes available on more systems,
its said that firewire will be able to run on it with a converter cable.)

 

[Steenamaroo]

its said that firewire will be able to run on it with a converter cable.)

Is that so?
I'l have to look into this. My new MBP came with thunderbolt and firewire 800, meaning that my existing display cables and firewire cables are now useless. Scumbags!


+1 for have you bought it already or are you just shopping?

 

[tyya]

nope,of course not.

 

[somegeezer]

Is that so?
I'l have to look into this. My new MBP came with thunderbolt and firewire 800, meaning that my existing display cables and firewire cables are now useless. Scumbags!


+1 for have you bought it already or are you just shopping?

You can just get a FW400 to 800 cable can you not? because 800 is meant to support 400. Though I know Presonus at least, don't like 800, according to a lot of reviews. Even worse when it comes to devices with both 400 and 800 separately. They like strictly 400 for some odd reason. But the cost of a cable isn't going to be much.

+2 to already buying. A lot of people seem to buy before they do research...

 

[Steenamaroo]

Oh yeah, you totally can.

It was just annoying to have a snake pit of cables and adapters, none of which fit apples plan for the world.

 

[somegeezer]

Oh yeah, you totally can.

It was just annoying to have a snake pit of cables and adapters, none of which fit apples plan for the world.

That's one of the unfortunate things you have to put up with when going with Apple. Fast changes in technology. Good to have things that run faster and work better. But it seems you need to upgrade more often if you really want to keep up.

 

[dgatwood]

Many laptop manufacturers these days aren't including firewire or PCMCIA ports. They are including USB3 and eSata though. I have a TC Electronic Konnekt 24 which connects using firewire 800. Can anyone advise how best to connect from either USB3 or eSata to firewire 800? Thanks

First, buy a SATA to parallel ATA bridge. Now you have a very primitive address bus. Buy a parallel PCI FireWire card. Wire the IDE_CS0 pin on the ATA side to the IDSEL signal, wire the data bus lines across, wire the IRQR ATA line to the INTA line on the PCI side, then wire the lower few bits of the address lines across, and tie the remaining address lines low. You'll also probably need to do something with GNT#, REQ#, and FRAME# on the PCI side, but I'm not quite sure what. Maybe wire them to IOW, IOR, and /ACTIVE or something.

Next, write a custom driver that sets IDE_CS0 high, programs the configuration space on the PCI device using the ATA address lines to address its registers like you would on a hard-mapped pseudo-PCI bus, then registers that bus appropriately with your operating system's kernel. Bonus points for adding a PCI-to-PCI transparent bridge in there so that you can connect multiple PCI devices (badly, with a shared IRQ). Oh, and you might need some sort of FPGA to munge the signals correctly, and if you don't have a FireWire card that supports legacy 5V signaling, this project could require some fun analog engineering as well.

Oh, wait, you meant how a normal person would do it. Buy a computer that has either FireWire or an appropriate slot.

 

[garethfrow]

Many thanks for the contributions.
I've decided to keep it simple, spend the money and buy a macbook pro with firewire.
It will be interesting to see how the sound card landscape changes with Thunderbolt around.

 

[dgatwood]

Many thanks for the contributions.
I've decided to keep it simple, spend the money and buy a macbook pro with firewire.
It will be interesting to see how the sound card landscape changes with Thunderbolt around.

A few pieces of ultra-high-end TB gear are either on the market or coming out soon. It'll probably trickle down into the ordinary high end in a few years.