1394 (Firewire) Driver

arachnaut · 02 Sep 2017

If memory serves, Apple invented FireWire along with several other vendors and wanted to charge a licensing fee per port which largely made USB more popular.

A similar thing happened with Lightpeak, invented by Intel, but later picked up by Apple and called Thunderbolt.

I may have the politics all wrong, but finance and marketing has a lot to do with getting the technologies adopted - leadership and better design doesn't always win out in the end.

w1mnk · 28 Sep 2017

CountMike said:

It developed at same time as USB as they are closely related.

I guess the only option now for FireWire connectivity is a desktop with PCIe FW adapter? I have a PCMCIA FW adapter that I use with a software defined radio. The laptop crapped the bed and I've been looking for a solution. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

CountMike · 29 Sep 2017

Although I never had any Firwire adapters, I had some other cards made by Vantec and they were good: https://www.amazon.com/Vantec-3-Port.../dp/B004QY9IYA

fireberd · 29 Sep 2017

If you are going to buy a PCIe card, make sure it has the T.I. chipset. Many Firewire devices will only work or work properly if the Firewire port has the T.I. Chipset.

OzWizard · 29 Jul 2018

fireberd said:

Thanks for the links, but neither addresses my question on what driver I actually have. Could it be the "legacy" driver? or could it be some other Microsoft 1394 driver? I saw in the one link it had been renamed for Win 8.

I can't tell throughout this thread if your question has been answered, but yes, this is the (Legacy) driver. However, to install the 8.1 .msi in Windows 10, you need to find the .inf directly and right click and Install. The .msi will not correctly install in Windows 10. I found this: Windows 10 and IEEE 1394 FireWire Legacy Drivers (Unable to Install the 8.1 drivers)

It appears the driver comes from Win 7 SP 1. This driver works with my SIIG DP FireWire 800 3-Port (NN-E38012-S3) driving a Behringer FCA1616.