News Linux to Support Firewire Until 2029

[Admin]

Linux is now the final operating system to continue supporting Firewire. Maintainer Takashi Sakamoto has stepped in to support the ancient connectivity standard for the next 6 years.

Linux to Support Firewire Until 2029 : Read more

 

[edzieba]

It began development all the way back in 1986 by Apple as a serial bus solution for high-speed communications

Apple introduced its new Thunderbolt standard

RDF still in full effect: 'Firewire' (IEEE 1394) was developed by a bunch of different entities, Apple being only one of them. Sony (for example) were even shipping IEEE 1394 devices at a time when Apple had internally cancelled their own Firewire implementations before ever shipping a device!
As for Thunderbolt, that was a 100% Intel developed standard, stretching all the way back to the "Light Peak" optical interconnect development.

 

[ravewulf]

I remember getting (slightly) better performance with Firewire than with USB 2.0 for my Icy Dock external HDD enclosure back in the day. But then I moved to eSATA and eventually USB 3

 

[vern72]

This should have been the universal connector standard but because it used six wires instead of four, it lost out. Too bad.

 

[AloofBrit]

RDF still in full effect: 'Firewire' (IEEE 1394) was developed by a bunch of different entities, Apple being only one of them. Sony (for example) were even shipping IEEE 1394 devices at a time when Apple had internally cancelled their own Firewire implementations before ever shipping a device!
As for Thunderbolt, that was a 100% Intel developed standard, stretching all the way back to the "Light Peak" optical interconnect development.

Yup - there was a 4 pin "i.LINK" port on the original PS2 for connecting two consoles together

 

[USAFRet]

Firewire - USB
Betamax - VHS
HD/DVD - Bluray
Many others

Along the way, one of them dies out. It might have even been a 'better' one.
But, Oh well.

 

[AloofBrit]

I remember getting (slightly) better performance with Firewire than with USB 2.0 for my Icy Dock external HDD enclosure back in the day. But then I moved to eSATA and eventually USB 3

You're not wrong - it was generally accepted that for AV stuff, Firewire was superior https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_1394#Comparison_with_USB iirc it was also able to provide more power per port than USB, so you wouldn't need a separate power cable

The whole 'not invented here' thing kept it pretty niche, not helped by Cupertino trying to charge people for using the port https://www.cnet.com/culture/apple-licensing-firewire-for-a-fee/

The original iPod had a 6 pin FW 400 port

 

[Grobe]

Still have an old Firewire HDD enclosure, not used in years.

I remembered the firewire had two connectors, the smaller one was too weak compared to the stiffness of the cable.

Also, it had the thing about being able to daisy-chain other firewire units together.

 

[USAFRet]

Also, it had the thing about being able to daisy-chain other firewire units together.

Yep, that was a BIG bonus.

 

[Amdlova]

The connection for hot line maiami, way back core 2 Duo era... never have one single use for me... too expensively on the time. Today one use in mind is the Sony ps2 OPL... faster than usb 1.1 port

 

[ex_bubblehead]

My Epson Perfection 4870 scanner has both USB and Firewire connectivity. The Firewire is head & shoulders faster than USB (like twice to three times faster) in both Linux and Windows. Looks like I'll have to keep a system running an old kernel for scanning when the end finally comes.

 

[bit_user]

IIRC, the main use Firewire had for PC users was to connect your DV camcorder to your computer, in order to transfer your videos for editing.

In case you don't remember (or never knew), DV was a compact video tape format that was SD resolution, but digital. It used an intraframe JPEG-like compression format, which made it popular for editing (i.e. because intraframe compression meant you could do frame-accurate edits with no recompression). DV was eventually extended to a Pro variant that had better chroma resolution and a hi-def version, IIRC. The camcorders seemed to standardize on IEEE 1394 connectivity.

For anyone with some DV tapes kicking around, continued support for IEEE 1394 means you just need to find a working camcorder to transfer them to your PC. Of course, there are hazards involved in playing old tapes, depending on how they were stored. If they were exposed to high humidity, then your best chances are with a media restoration professional.

 

[GenericUser]

IIRC, the main use Firewire had for PC users was to connect your DV camcorder to your computer, in order to transfer your videos for editing.

Yeah that's pretty much all I'd ever personally seen it used for before- hooking up a video camera to a computer. I think I maybe saw a few HDD docks using firewire too, but I could be imagining that.

I didn't really see it used much for anything else and I'd assumed it died out because it was inferior to USB, but judging by some comments on this thread I guess that wasn't exactly the case.

 

[bit_user]

Yeah that's pretty much all I'd ever personally seen it used for before- hooking up a video camera to a computer. I think I maybe saw a few HDD docks using firewire too, but I could be imagining that.

There definitely were external HDDs and other peripherals that used it, but mostly things aimed at the Mac community.

I didn't really see it used much for anything else and I'd assumed it died out because it was inferior to USB, but judging by some comments on this thread I guess that wasn't exactly the case.

Comparing the royalties for implementing it, USB was definitely cheaper. Also, USB was a must-have, whereas most people could do fine without firewire. USB 2.0 closed the gap enough that it wasn't really worth bothering about firewire.