Published September 29, 1999
FireWire is so hot, it’s cool! Its blistering speed can do the real work needed for live-audio and video recordings using a computer.
Behind your VCR, television, and computer are a gaggle of all those cables and connectors. The newer devices will be FireWire-capable so that a single thin, flexible cable with durable connectors, links them together and to the peripherals of computers.
At each ends of that ordinary-looking cable, with different looking plugs, is the electronics to pass those bits of data extraordinarily fast. Before FireWire, computer accessories could not be interconnected elegantly.
The many and varied connector jacks on the back of a computer today are needed because of device differences. Serial, parallel, data bus ports each handle the informational flow by an uncommon set of rules. With FireWire firmware, connecting hard drives, advanced printers, and scanners is a snap. The instructions read: “Step 1: Plug it in. Done.” That’s it!
FireWire was conceived by Apple Computer Inc. to be used by any computer or consumer electronics. It has been adopted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers as the industry standard serial data bus, given the identification IEEE 1394. It is a scaleable, flexible, easy to use, low-cost interface that will integrate consumer electronics with personal computers.
Digital camcorders, audio systems and video disks plug directly into your computer using FireWire. It eliminates the analog-to-digital conversion. Signal integrity is uncompromised.
Another name for FireWire is the High Performance Serial Bus. It satisfies all the needs of the rapidly growing computer industry, developed to fill the gaps and push the envelope of future uses. Apple’s design was first intended for easy transfer of full motion video, available and affordable for the consumer. It does that and more.
For example, a chain of FireWire devices can coexist between two computers, defying the master/slave model for EIDE drives or the device identification number of the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI): No numbers to set, jumpers to insert or terminators (resistors) to install.
Multimedia and color image printing bureaus, a significant branch of business computing, needed a reliable interface. FireWire will eventually be seen in both professional and consumer markets.
Apple is collaborating with Sony on a home automation project. Major manufacturers are already adopting the FireWire technology. Six electronics firms from Europe, Japan and the U.S., have agreed to create a patent pool to promote industry-wide use of the FireWire standard. These companies are Apple, Compaq, Matsushita, Philips Electronics NV, Sony, and Toshiba. Sony and Matushita already use the FireWire interface in their digital camcorders.
A most important feature to multimedia developers is FireWire’s isochronous data channels for guaranteed bandwidth for live video and audio streams. FireWire also includes audiovisual controls (AVC) of camcorders and VCR’s.
Data transfer speed is measured by the number of bits per second. A common dialup Internet modem, computationally considered very slow, is typically 28,800 or 33,600, maybe 50,000 bits per second.
Notice the numbers increase: An Ethernet network 10-Base-T is rated at 10 million bits per second (Mbps). The newly popular Universal Serial Bus (USB) is 12 Mbps. Ultra SCSI is 40 Mbps, and SCSI-2 is 80 Mbps.
FireWire is 500% faster yet, or 400 million bits in a single second, more than enough for full motion video and audio. Although Ultra-Wide SCSI is almost as fast, and Ultra-2 SCSI is slightly faster, FireWire has many practicable advantages.
To move a scanner or attach another hard drive to a computer necessitated shutting-down the system and then restarting after the bulky plugs and latches are secured. Now it’s hot-swap: just plug or unplug FireWire while the computer continues to operate, and it recognizes and mounts the devices without data loss or interruption. Nothing else is needed; it just works. Up to 63 of these can be connected to the chain (peer-to-peer communication).
FireWire exemplifies the three criteria that consumers want: reliability, convenience, and simplicity. The FireWire standard reduces the cost of manufacturing peripherals.
Plan to spend about $300 for a PCI card, from Apple or Adaptec, to enjoy the advantages of FireWire and to purchase new devices with this capability included.
For the moment—these changes are happening rapidly—the fastest way to connect hard drives is using UltraWide SCSI for 630 Mbps. If buying new digital camcorders or similar equipment for video editing, then consider the FireWire option.
A similar port, but sixteen times slower, is the Universal Serial Bus (USB). It’s another common data string for modems, keyboards, mouse, drawing tablets, ink-jet printers and a sundry list of other simple devices. Up to 127 of these can be connected in line, one to the other.
FireWire is complimentary to USB, not intended to replace it. Their uses overlap slightly. Intel expects FireWire to be the high-speed connectivity standard and Universal Serial Bus to be the low-speed standard.