firewire/laptop issues

[spy said one]

The situation at hand is this: i have a presonus firepod (firewire interface), and my current computer is a laptop without a firewire port. ideally, i'd like to build a computer specifically for recording projects, but my current computer is otherwise well equipped for recording, and my funds are limited, so i was wondering what options i might have for making do.

i found a firewire card that supposedly is compatible with my computer. does anyone have any experience with firewire cards?

also, it looks like my model of computer normally comes equipped with a mini firewire port, but mine instead features a piece of plastic, which looks like a cover plate for where the port would be.

 

[JohnnyFlash]

PCMCIA cards are universal among notebooks, that'll work just fine.

The reason you have plastic over the port is because you prolly have a different submodel which doesn't have that interface.

 

[dgatwood]

PCMCIA cards are universal among notebooks, that'll work just fine.

No, not anymore. A lot of current laptops use the much more modern ExpressCard standard (PCIe-based) instead of PCMCIA (PCI-based). Be sure to get CardBus if your computer has a CardBus slot, ExpressCard if it uses an ExpressCard slot.

TI chipset. Only TI chipset. And no USB/FireWire combo cards.

 

[LemonTree]

Pluscom pcmcia card
2 port firewire ieee 1394
chipset: via vt6306

this cost me a fiver ($10) it was recomended by yamaha and works solidly with my new yamaha N12 digital mixer and cubase 4

Alex

as dgatwood says, stay away from the usb/firewire combo cards, they are a pain in the ass

 

[dgatwood]

Pluscom pcmcia card
2 port firewire ieee 1394
chipset: via vt6306

The VIA cards should be decent, though I'd still favor TI over those. The VT6306 is not OHCI 1.1 compliant; it's old OHCI 1.0 silicon. IIRC, that limits which FireWire audio devices will work because you have to work around limitations in the DMA support that has an impact on isoch I/O (e.g. audio). Maybe all the audio drivers have workarounds, but I wouldn't take the risk of non-1.1 silicon if I were buying a card.

That said, the three you really want to avoid are Ricoh, early NEC, and TI Lynx (pre-OHCI) chipset. Those aren't OHCI at all and are likely to be train wrecks.

 

[spy said one]

thanks for the help, guys! i searched sparepartswarehouse dot com (it came up on google when i searched "firewire card for lenovo thinkpad t61") for a compatible card and the only one to come up was this combo card:

IOGEAR - GUF202 - USB 2.0 / Firewire CardBus Combo
Technical Details

* Brand Name: Iogear
* Model: GUF202
* Item Package Quantity: 1
* Hardware Platform: PC, Mac
* networking_feature: USB / FireWire adapter Unknown modifier
* form_factor: Plug-in module Unknown modifier
* Network Interface Description: CardBus
* Connectivity Technology: Wired
* Data Link Protocol: IEEE 1394 (FireWire), Hi-Speed USB
* Network Data Transfer Rate: 480 Megabits Per Second
* Minimum system requirements: Apple MacOS 8.6 or later, Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition / Windows ME, Apple MacOS X 10.0.3 or later, Microsoft Windows 2000 / XP
* Warranty: 3 years warranty

what exactly are the problems with combo cards? also, is there a better way to determine what is compatible with my computer?

 

[TimOBrien]

You do NOT want to use a combo USB/Firewire card.
Many have reported problems using combo cards... as in glitches, pops, clicks and just plain NOT WORKING PROPERLY.

Always stick with Texas Instruments chipset for best compatibility with firewire interfaces.

Belkin and SIIG use TI chips but you should still check the manufacturers info page or email them >just to make sure<.

 

[dgatwood]

That laptop has both CardBus and ExpressCard. Buy whichever is cheaper. Make sure it has a TI chipset, and again, no combo cards. Basically, the fundamental problem is that you're sharing an IRQ between USB and FireWire busses and the USB drivers in Windows blow goats.

Edit: I'm not saying the Mac OS X drivers will work any better on this or anything. I've never been crazy enough to try one. At least in theory, this is probably caused by doing too much work at interrupt time in the USB side of the driver and taking too long to let the FireWire driver check to see if it needs to handle the interrupt as well, but there may be other fundamental issues with bus bandwidth of CardBus. I sort of doubt it, but it is remotely possible that it isn't entirely the fault of the Windows USB drivers. Likely, no, possible, yes.