[gwschreyer]

the rumor mill has it that Firewire MAY eventually be dropped by Apple (at least FW400). It looks like this is starting with the loss of FireWire in the iPod 5G and nano. While I would be sorry to see it go, I can also understand the issue. FireWire requires a dedicated chipset, USB does not. Therefore FireWire adds more cost. You do get what you pay for, FireWire works better than USB 2 but Apple apparently wants to be perceived as more cost effective. IMHO, it's an illusion because I think that FireWire is worth the money, but I don't write Apple's business models.

When (if) Macs come without FW400, what is one to do with the FW400 devices one already owns? All of this stuff can be replaced but some significant cost. I suppose that some items like disks can stay with the computers that they are attached to now, but cameras and other similar stuff would be harder to deal with.

Does anybody make a FireWire to USB 2 converter to allow systems without a FireWire port to use FireWire devices?

- gws

[tooki]

Uh, USB certainly does require a controller. Sometimes it's integrated, but it may not be.

Anyhow, a USB to FireWire converter could be made, but it'd be a driver nightmare, and would probably not work very well.

And it's a moot point: FireWire is integrated into most Intel chipsets. I can't imagine Apple not including it, considering that a) it's free, and b) iMovie needs it.

tooki

[gwschreyer]

USB would require line drivers and receivers in any case, but this stuff is really cheap. Sometimes the USB controller is implemented in software and runs on the main CPU instead of having the work offloaded to a dedicated controller.

Does Apple use a dedicated USB controller?

If FireWire is included in Intel chipsets, why doesn't the PC world use this stuff instead of dedicated FireWire cards?

- gws

[mduell]

Originally Posted by tooki

Uh, USB certainly does require a controller. Sometimes it's integrated, but it may not be.

Are there any modern Intel chipsets (8xx or 9xx series) that don't include USB in the southbridge? I can't find one.

Originally Posted by tooki

Anyhow, a USB to FireWire converter could be made, but it'd be a driver nightmare, and would probably not work very well.

Agreed.

Originally Posted by tooki

And it's a moot point: FireWire is integrated into most Intel chipsets. I can't imagine Apple not including it, considering that a) it's free, and b) iMovie needs it.

According to Intel's block diagrams, IEEE1394 support is not integrated into any modern Intel chipset; you'd need another chip on the mainboard to support it and that adds cost.

From the high end:

To the low end and everything in between, Firewire is no where to be found.

edit: Oops, violated forum rules on inline picture sizes.