Hi,
Maybe this has been discussed before, but if so I couldn't find it.
It seems a small thing, but the Firewire Headers for connecting to the Front FW port on a case to teh Mobo are all screwed up.
The result is that it's very easy to fry the mobo FW chip, or a FW device, by a simple error.
There is no formal agreed standard for the Mobo headers, and that's part of the problem. USB, by contrast does have a standard, so the housings and headers always match up, and no error is possible.
Far worse, there does seem to be a de facto FW standard immerging, and it uses the same layout as USB. This means you can attach a FW case cable to a USB header on the Mobo (and vice verca), and that will almost always damage any device attached to it, or damage the Mobo, or both.
Some VIA mobos use the same cable housing (5 x 2) but with a different position for the key. Much better - but the rest of the world seems to have ignored this sensible idea.
In addition, I have discovered that almost all, if not all mobo manufacturers violate the FW cable standard. The de facto standard uses two +12v power connectors, using the wire that is meant be be Power 0v as a second Power +12v line, and using the TP shields as the Power 0v line.
Note: almost all the description of the FW cable I could find simply show the white and black cables as a Power pair, without specifying that one is +ve and one is 0v. This one, however:
www.jaycar.com.au/images_uploaded/firewire.pdf
specifically shows White as Power +ve and Black as Power ground. Is it correct?
When you oonsider how carefully the PC standards have been designed to ensure that you cannot plug things in wrong, this seems a glaring omission.
The exception that proves the rule.
Souldn't it be fixed?
Thoughts...
Peter
Maybe this has been discussed before, but if so I couldn't find it.
It seems a small thing, but the Firewire Headers for connecting to the Front FW port on a case to teh Mobo are all screwed up.
The result is that it's very easy to fry the mobo FW chip, or a FW device, by a simple error.
There is no formal agreed standard for the Mobo headers, and that's part of the problem. USB, by contrast does have a standard, so the housings and headers always match up, and no error is possible.
Far worse, there does seem to be a de facto FW standard immerging, and it uses the same layout as USB. This means you can attach a FW case cable to a USB header on the Mobo (and vice verca), and that will almost always damage any device attached to it, or damage the Mobo, or both.
Some VIA mobos use the same cable housing (5 x 2) but with a different position for the key. Much better - but the rest of the world seems to have ignored this sensible idea.
In addition, I have discovered that almost all, if not all mobo manufacturers violate the FW cable standard. The de facto standard uses two +12v power connectors, using the wire that is meant be be Power 0v as a second Power +12v line, and using the TP shields as the Power 0v line.
Note: almost all the description of the FW cable I could find simply show the white and black cables as a Power pair, without specifying that one is +ve and one is 0v. This one, however:
www.jaycar.com.au/images_uploaded/firewire.pdf
specifically shows White as Power +ve and Black as Power ground. Is it correct?
When you oonsider how carefully the PC standards have been designed to ensure that you cannot plug things in wrong, this seems a glaring omission.
The exception that proves the rule.
Souldn't it be fixed?
Thoughts...
Peter
Facebook
Twitter