1394 vs USB at Tom's

[Soccerman]

ahh here we go. something I've wanted to see for a while..

While IEEE1394 is much faster than USB and uses very little overhead it is slightly more expensive to implement. For this reason, cheap, low-speed devices such as keyboard, mice, and low resolution digital camera are best suited for USB, which devices demanding high-speed real-time service require 1394

even then, I don't think that USB is good for keyboards and mice, becuase the PS/2 port does JUST fine, and you don't have to worry about compatability with the OS, for eg, windows safe mode.

We Also tested the Firebox 400 with a 466 mhz Celeron Laptop using the Procomp 1394 SpeedGenie 400 host adaptor/repeater. Again, the card required no drivers on our Windows 2000 installation.

interesting.. no drivers are needed for Firewire cards, let alone the devices that plug into them!

check it out

want more information? 1394 is also called firewire (which is probably the name most associated with it) is going to be used as THE media for connecting audio equipment (like, your reciever, CD player, DVD player tape deck, etc), and is already used in some video equipment.

 

[Howard]

...and a WD hard drive.

 

[Mark R]

I just like the fact that IEEE-1394 is a true point-to-point protocol, so you don't need a computer to arbitrate the communications.

For example, you can connect a digital video camera directly to an IEEE-1394 hard drive, and the camera will spool the data directly to disk.

 

[Chuffmaster2k]

Anybody have a link to the specs for USB 2.0? I thought it was going to be about on par w/ 1394. I could be wrong though. It has been a while.

 

[jmcoreymv]

Soccerman: I agree with Tom on this one, you dont need a firewire port for a mouse or keyboard, however a usb port is better then a ps2 port in my opinions because it shares 1 irq and its hot swappable.

 

[NFS4]

<< Anybody have a link to the specs for USB 2.0? >>



http://www.usbworkshop.com/products/read.php3?id=3

 

[nuttervm]

USB 2 might be on par, but it will be a while before it's commercially available or has products that can use its potential. firewire is already here, and has products for it. i would totally go firewire anyday (if i had the spare $$$ floating around)

 

[Mday]

ps2 is ISA, usb is PCI. that's why we should have usb keyboards and mice

and useb 2.0 controller chips also have 1.1 controllers (plural) in them, which means bandwidth is not necessarily shared by devices. this leaves me with a =)

there are controller expansion cards that have both firewire and usb 1.1

unless my future mobo has it, i will wait until i can get a controller card with firewire and usb 2.0

why bicker when we can have both.

 

[SUOrangeman]

Anyone know if current USB hubs will be compatible with USB 2 host ports?

-SUO

 

[NFS4]

Yes, all USB 1.1 devices will work on USB 2.0 host ports (just not at the USB 2.0 spec of course).

And vice versa USB 2.0 devices will work on USB 1.1 hubs, etc. but they will be relegated to USB 1.1 speeds.

 

[Soccerman]

&quot;ps2 is ISA, usb is PCI.&quot;

HA! PS2 is fine. there's NO reason (except possibly IRQ sharing problems) to have it on USB. it just sucks more CPU time, and isn't any faster

it's not a matter of IRQ's anymore. USB is fine, IMHO, for joysticks, and little things like that, but anything requiring any sort of bandwidth, or anything that works natively EVERYWHERE (like PS2 ports) should STAY with what they are already at, becuase there is no advantage to &quot;upgrading&quot; to USB.

ok, I can understand getting rid of Parallel and Serial ports (hell I don't even WANT em). devices like Printers, Scanners ADSL modems, etc should go on Firewire.