Linux 6.5 Brings Improvements To Firewire Support

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Linux 6.5 Brings Improvements To Firewire Support

While it's likely been years since most of you touched any Firewire devices, for those still having any old DV cameras around or professional audio hardware with an IEEE-1394 interface, Linux 6.5 is bringing improvements to its Firewire subsystem that until recently has been rather dormant for years...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-6.5-Firewire

[tildearrow]

. The IEEE-1394 OCHI specification defines a means

I've always heard about OHCI, but never OCHI...

[GreenReaper]

My old Dell laptops from 2006/7 have the four-pin connector (initially Sony i.LINK, carries data only) which links up to my video camcorder - I should see if I can get video capture/extraction working on it in Linux. Might also be fun for networking as their Ethernet connections are only 10/100 and Wi-Fi is 802.11a/g (54Mbps) - it's technically the fastest port on there. Same for the Sony VIAO laptop from 2003, although that may be more of a lost cause at this point.

[timofonic]

Who uses Firewire? Retro/vintage what? It had a very short life span.

I don't get it.

Please, can anyone inform me?

[AKSF_Ackermann]

Who uses Firewire? Retro/vintage what? It had a very short life span.

I don't get it.

Please, can anyone inform me?

If you had a MiniDV camcoder back in the day, firewire is the best way to capture that video and get it from tape. There is also a lot of old audio interfaces that use it, but its mostly a Mac phenomenon.

[mrg666]

Who uses Firewire? Retro/vintage what? It had a very short life span.

I don't get it.

Please, can anyone inform me?

You are right that it is not a popular interface anymore. I just disabled in the configuration, my custom kernel does not support FireWire. But Linux kernel is used for such a wide variety of devices and purposes, and there are so many features, protocols, drivers. FireWire is still supported. You can just ignore if you don't use.

[GreenReaper]

If you have an older but still digital videocamera based on tape storage you might use it as it was the typical transport for the DV series of video formats. It was available since the mid-90s and included on most Macs from 1999 through 2011. It had a decade or so of usage which is a fairly long time in tech, even though it is now essentially obsolete.

I understand it is also used by some audio equipment, and fast storage devices (especially those designed for Mac use, but also more generally before USB 3.0 became a common standard - USB 2.0 was technically of comparable speed but due to its architecture was in practice often not as fast).

[Ray Ingles]

If you had a MiniDV camcoder back in the day, firewire is the best way to capture that video and get it from tape. There is also a lot of old audio interfaces that use it, but its mostly a Mac phenomenon.

I've got a DV camcorder and, in addition to reading old DV recordings, I've also used it as a VHS-to-DV converter. Hook up via Firewire and you get a nice clean DV signal.

Also, those miniDV tapes can backup somewhere north of 10GB of data: https://www.linux.com/news/using-cam...es-back-files/

[stargeizer]

Ahhh. What pleasants memories bring firewire...

I used on my old notebook with cameras and several external drives i had back then (Firewire allowed daisy chaining, so one port can connect seamlessly with my old 16-drives nas), and also was pretty convenient when you wanted to copy/move info from one machine to another, just connect a firewire cable, setup the transmission and voila, work done.

Personally i always considered USB as "bullshit", mostly due to it's client-server philosophy, but well, in the end the pendrives popularity killed the IMHO better technology.

Just a tantrum from an old grunpy geezer.

[TheLexMachine]

Who uses Firewire? Retro/vintage what? It had a very short life span.

I don't get it.

Please, can anyone inform me?

Mostly audio these days. It was mostly tied to Macs and did not gain traction on PC, outside of pre-USB 2.0 media and storage stuff. It is still used in limited fashion by video pros, to transfer old DV tapes for modern archiving.