F I R E W I R E: What is it ?
- Thread starter Jim S
- Start date
It is....
In short, it is a somewhat new standard for transfering data. It is somewhat slower than IDE but much faster than USB. It is more common in the MAC world, but you can now buy a Firewire PCI card to plug into PCs. That lets you hook up external Firewire devices (like hard drives) to your system.
In short, it is a somewhat new standard for transfering data. It is somewhat slower than IDE but much faster than USB. It is more common in the MAC world, but you can now buy a Firewire PCI card to plug into PCs. That lets you hook up external Firewire devices (like hard drives) to your system.
AlChuck
Well-known member
more
The "official" name is IEEE 1394, but I guess "Firewire" is not trademarked by anybody so it's becoming the everyday name. It's a lot like USB in that it can be hot-swapped. The most common application for them right now is to be able to hook up digital camcorders to a PC and transfer the already-digitized video signal to the PC via some capturing software, as well as send out edited video files back out to the camcorder. It's also a good way to transfer data to external hard drives like RWhite says. Bet we'll start seeing Firewire equivalents of all those USB recording devices like the Event EZBus and its ilk appearing over the next year. It's great because USB systems like this are pretty much limited to two tracks of audio. Firewire (or the enhanced USB which is on the drawing boards too) will allow much more data to be pumped through.
The "official" name is IEEE 1394, but I guess "Firewire" is not trademarked by anybody so it's becoming the everyday name. It's a lot like USB in that it can be hot-swapped. The most common application for them right now is to be able to hook up digital camcorders to a PC and transfer the already-digitized video signal to the PC via some capturing software, as well as send out edited video files back out to the camcorder. It's also a good way to transfer data to external hard drives like RWhite says. Bet we'll start seeing Firewire equivalents of all those USB recording devices like the Event EZBus and its ilk appearing over the next year. It's great because USB systems like this are pretty much limited to two tracks of audio. Firewire (or the enhanced USB which is on the drawing boards too) will allow much more data to be pumped through.
Some Firewire/IEEE 1394/iLink information:
http://www.1394ta.org/
http://developer.apple.com/hardware/FireWire/More_about_Firewire.html
http://www.vxm.com/21R.35.html
http://www.silha.com/1394/1394what.html
http://www.1394ta.org/
http://developer.apple.com/hardware/FireWire/More_about_Firewire.html
http://www.vxm.com/21R.35.html
http://www.silha.com/1394/1394what.html
trashcan-man
New member
In its 'worst' form, firewire will transmit 400 mbits/sec.
There are versions (maybe in development) up to 1200 mbits/sec.
The great thing about firewire is its real-time aspect.
A device on the bus says 'I need X mbits/sec'. The device is either granted the amount, or refused based on the amount of bandwidth left. A time slot is allocated for the device if the grant is successful to guarantee that bandwidth.
So a stereo channel 24/96 synth could could say:
"I need 24x96000x2 bits per second."
Another 8 channel device can say:
"I need 24x96000x8 bits per second."
And so on.
The device gets the bandwidth regardless if it uses it. The slot is still allocated which guarantees the transmission when it is needed.
The beauty here is that no collisions occur unlike the case with ethernet.
With 400 Mbit/sec the (theoretical) limit for 24/96 channels is somewhere around 173!
Now are you excited.
There are versions (maybe in development) up to 1200 mbits/sec.
The great thing about firewire is its real-time aspect.
A device on the bus says 'I need X mbits/sec'. The device is either granted the amount, or refused based on the amount of bandwidth left. A time slot is allocated for the device if the grant is successful to guarantee that bandwidth.
So a stereo channel 24/96 synth could could say:
"I need 24x96000x2 bits per second."
Another 8 channel device can say:
"I need 24x96000x8 bits per second."
And so on.
The device gets the bandwidth regardless if it uses it. The slot is still allocated which guarantees the transmission when it is needed.
The beauty here is that no collisions occur unlike the case with ethernet.
With 400 Mbit/sec the (theoretical) limit for 24/96 channels is somewhere around 173!
Now are you excited.
Scheisskopf99
New member
Internet for red ants!!