what's up with firewire?

[zombine210]

srsly, none of my computers have firewire ports. are they really expensive to include on a mobo? are they proprietary and can't be used except for a few select hardware? whats up with that?
i was looking for a linux solution for some home video editing, but none of the software will use usb as input from camcorder.
that's another thing, why can't linux use usb?, windows has no problems with it.
/rant

 

[Slacker7]

You are asking the very question I have been asking throughout the day. I've been looking for camcorders that supply a firewire port but they are virtually phased out of the newer midrange offerings now that the MiniDV cassettes are being phased out (which still supply great fps capability). Unless I decide to spend thousands of $ I'll have to settle for USB porting.

The thing is firewire is superior to USB. Below is a firewire card that I installed on my XP Pro system and it is excellent. Windows immediately recognized it and there was no software to install.

I know you have Linux but perhaps there are drivers that will work or perhaps it will install as is.

Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...74&cm_re=firewire_card-_-15-150-074-_-Product it has a Texas Instrument chipset and I can tell you from my own experience it is better than the VIA that came with my motherboard.


As for motherboards there are still plenty that offer the IEEE 1394a firewire. Do a search on NewEgg and you'll find many of the newest boards have it installed.

One more thing. here is another link of the question I asked earlier over at NewEgg. The second response is excellent concering firewire. Link: http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/569634.aspx