© 2001 Charles W. Moore
Keyspan FireWire
Card
- URL: http://www.keyspan.com
- Price: $99.00
- Requirements: MacOS 8.6 or later,
QuickTime Pro (required for use with Keyspan
DV Capture Utility for video editing), an available
Cardbus slot (aka 32 bit Type II PC Card slot
)
- Date of Review: March. 10, 2001
- Rating: (4.5 out of 5 stars)
MacAlly CardBus
to FireWire adapter FH-BUS2
- URL: http://www.macally.com
- Price: $99.00
- Requirements: MacOS 9.0 or later,
MacAlly FireWire PC CardBus driver (free download),
an available Cardbus slot (aka 32 bit Type II
PC Card slot)
- Date of Review: March 10, 2001
- Rating: (4 out of 5 stars)
MacAlly PCI to
FireWire 3 Port Adapter FH-CARD3
- URL: http://www.macally.com/
- Price: $99.00
- System requirements: MacOS 9
or later, a Mac with PCI slot
- Date of Review: March 10, 2001
- Rating: (5 out of 5 stars)
Feeling left out of
the transition from SCSI to FireWire because you
have a middle-aged Mac? There's no need to remain
on the sidelines, if your computer has an open
PCI slot or CardBus PC Card slot. Reasonably priced
adapters are available that will open up the world
of FireWire CD-R burners, hard drives, DV camcorders,
and other devices for you.
While SCSI has served
the Mac community well for more than 15 years
as a fast peripheral connectivity protocol, it
is a cranky and idiosyncratic interface that has
caused untold hours of hair-tearing frustration
for many users. It is not hot-pluggable, only
supports a handful of daisy-chained devices, and
requires big cables with bulky connectors, device
ID configuration, and termination. When it works,
SCSI works well, but that's a big "if."
FireWire promises
both speed and user-friendliness, is hot- pluggable,
can daisy-chain up to 63 devices -- far more than
99+ percent of users would ever imagine connecting.
It uses small cables with compact connectors,
and also supports bus powered devices, which SCSI
doesn't. I'm relatively new to FireWire myself,
but take it from me, it makes SCSI look medieval.
FireWire is also, interestingly, technology developed
by Apple that has been adopted by the PC side
as the IEEE 1394a specification. Oh, those zany
PC folks. "IEEE 1394a" just rolls mellifluously
off the tongue, doesn't it?
FireWire cable connectors
are either 4 pin or 6 pin. 6 pin connectors are
generally used on FireWire devices that draw power
from the FireWire bus thus theoretically eliminating
the need for external power supplies and power
cords to these devices. 6 pin devices are generally
hard drives, CD-R drives, analog to DV video converters,
and others. Although 6 pin devices can draw power
from the FireWire bus, some FireWire devices still
have external power supplies and power cords.
Which is good, because the bus powered Que! M2
external FireWire hard drive I tested with these
adapters would not power up through either of
the PC Cards. I had to use the external power
brick. (It powered up nicely with the MacAlly
PCI to FireWire adapter though -- see below).
Four-pin connectors
are generally used on FireWire devices that do
not draw power from the FireWire bus. These 4-pin
devices usually need external power supplies,
internal batteries, and/or power cords to these
devices. Four-pin devices are generally DV camcorders.
The subjects of this
review are three products that provide FireWire
support for the last generation of pre-FireWire
Macs. Two are CardBus PC cards: the Keyspan FireWire
Card and the MacAlly PC Card to FireWire adapter,
which support G3 Series PowerBooks.
CardBus is the most
recent PC Card standard that doubles the interface
between the PC Card slot and the PowerBook's motherboard
from 16-bit to 32-bit. This enables CardBus PC
Cards to offer much higher performance and more
respectable data transfer rates with attached
devices.
The PowerBook 3400
and 3500 (Original G3) can be upgraded to support
CardBus by a Mac Components Engineered. Go here
for details: http://www.powerbook1.com
The third product
is the MacAlly PCI to FireWire Card, which brings
FireWire support to desktop Macs with PCI slots.
I tested the two PC
cards in two different PowerBooks -- a WallStreet
233 MHz and a Lombard 333 MHz. The PCI adapter
was tested in a UMAX SuperMac S-900 6-slot tower
with a 200 MHz PPC 604e processor.
KeySpan FireWire Card
The Keyspan FireWire Cardbus Card package includes:
- The Keyspan FireWire Cardbus
Card
- A CardBus to 6-pin FireWire dongle
and 4-pin FireWire cord
- Mac compatible CD with software
and electronic user manual (html)
- QuickTime Pro Registration and
Information Sheet
The bundled CD contains
installers (live Internet connection required
for FireWire drivers) for: (1) Keyspan
Video Capture. The "Keyspan Video Capture" selection
only installs the Keyspan DV Capture Utility.
This program will not work if you have not already
installed the Apple FireWire Drivers and QuickTime
Pro. (2) Apple FireWire Drivers. The "Apple
FireWire Drivers" selection only installs the
Apple FireWire Drivers. (3) QuickTime Pro.
Since I have no digital camera or camcorder, and
already have a later version of QuickTime installed,
I ran only the FireWire support software installer
for Mac OS 9 to download the latest FireWire drivers
available from Apple's website, which turned out
to be version 2.5.
The FireWire PC card
itself connects to a rather fat dongle cord and
connector with a single, female port. As with
the new, single FireWire port in the new PowerBook
G4, one port is really no hardship with FireWire,
since the interface daisy-chains so nicely.
System requirements:
The Keyspan FireWire Cardbus PCI Card requires
the following:
- Mac OS 8.6 or later
- QuickTime Pro (required for use
with Keyspan DV Capture Utility for video editing)
- An available Cardbus slot (aka
32 bit Type II PC Card slot )
Features:
- Delivers up to 400 Mbps data
transfer rate
- Five year warranty
The Keyspan FireWire
Card worked well with both PowerBooks, including
the Lombard running Mac OS X. We tested it with
both the aforementioned Que! M2 hard drive, and
a QueFire! 16x10x40x CD-RW drive, and both devices
performed fine through the KeySpan card. The Keyspan
FireWire Card has a MSRP of $99, but I found it
at Web resellers as low as $78.25. For more information,
visit: http://www.keyspan.com
MacAlly PC Card to FireWire Adapter
While it does essentially
the same job as the KeySpan FireWire PC card,
there are some distinctions with the MacAlly CardBus
product. Most notable are that it requires a software
driver, and that the MacAlly has two dongle ports
compared with the Keyspan's one. That allows you
to connect two FireWire devices in tandem, say
a DV camcorder and a scanner, without daisy-chaining.
Like the Keyspan,
the MacAlly card comes with two cables: a short
dongle with a 6-pin female FireWire connector,
and a longer cord with a 4-pin connector.
As noted, in order
to support hot plug and play with this adapter,
you must download a driver from the MacAlly website.
This is a less elegant
solution than including the driver on a bundled
CD, or not needing a driver at all, but the advantage
is that you are assured of getting the latest
driver upgrade. The driver is small, and downloaded
in a few seconds, even on my slow, dial-up connection.
However, the need for a driver is a potential
problem with an eye to the OS X future. Hopefully,
MacAlly will offer a OS X driver after OS X is
introduced.
The MacAlly product
package is minimalist, and contains only the CardBus
adapter itself, the two cables, a tiny, 10-page
manual that is the soul of brevity.
Installation is simple:
- Install Apple"s FireWire
driver first if not already installed.
- Download and copy the file èMacally
FireWire Enablerî to the System folder"s
Extensions Folder.
- Restart the computer.
- Insert the CardBus to FireWire
adapter, you will see èMacally FWî icon pop
up on your desktop.
This product requires
a minimum of Mac OS 9.0, a and FireWire driver
version 2.3.3 or better. I tested this card with
mainly Mac OS 9.1, which comes with FireWire Enabler
2.7. The MacAlly PC Card to FireWire Adapter worked
equally as well as the Keyspan product once its
driver was installed, and functionally, I could
detect no discernable difference in performance
between the two products.
With regard to my
inability to get the FireWire PC Card to power
the little Que! M2 drive, the MacAlly website
notes that: "[The] Macally CardBus to FireWire
adapter is designed to support all self-powered
devices. [An] optional FireWire repeater is required
for bus-powered devices. Please contact us for
more information about FireWire repeaters."
System requirements:
- Operating System Support :Mac
OS 9.0 or later
- Downloadable MacAlly FireWire
driver
Features:
- Transfer rates: 100, 200, and
400 MB/sec.
- 3 years warranty.
FireWire PC Card Adapters Summary
As noted, both cards
do their job, and both have the same suggested
retail price. Consequently, I am obliged to give
the Keyspan product the nod on the basis of its
bundled QuickTime Pro registration (a $29.95 value),
the fact that it requires no driver for normal
peripheral connections, and that its required
drivers for video capture are included on the
product CD. I'm rating it 4.5 stars out of five,
the half-point deduction due to my lack of success
in getting it to bus power the Que! M2 Drive.
The MacAlly product
has the advantage of the two dongle ports, but
there is the driver download hassle, and there
is no bundled software. I'm giving it 4 stars
out of 5. The MacAlly PC Card to FireWire Adapter
has a MSRP of $99.
For more information,
visit: http://www.macally.com
Macally PCI FireWire
Adapter 2+1
MacAlly's PCI to FireWire
adapter is even more minimalist than their PC
card adapter. The package includes the device,
an internal FireWire cord for the card's internal
port, and another tiny manual.
However that was all
I needed. I simply unpacked the card, stuck it
into one of the six PCI slots in my UMAX S-900
(a five-minute job), booted up the UMAX, and it
worked. No software to install; no drivers to
download (I'm running Mac OS 9.1), no hassle.
It just worked. I love plug and play!
The MacAlly's PCI
to FireWire adapter powered up the Que! M2 hard
drive through the FireWire bus with no problem,
and nicely supported the Que! Fire16x10x40x CD-RW
drive I tested with it as well.
I should note that
some suggest that even if your FireWire adapter
card supports bus-powered devices, that can put
a strain on the motherboard, so it is preferable
to use an external power supply for all FireWire
devices connected to a PCI FireWire card. This
will ensure that the devices have enough power
to work reliably, and forestall any problems.
The Macally PCI FireWire
3 Port Adapter provides two external and one internal
FireWire ports. However, while preparing this
review I checked the MacAlly web page, and it
appears that this product has been superseded
by the MacAlly PCI to FireWire and USB Adapter
which provides both FireWire and USB ports on
one PCI card, including three 6-pin 1394a ports
(two external and one internal) and two external
USB Type A ports. Ae will look at these as soon
as we get units for review.
There doesn't seem
to be any downside to this. The Macally PCI FireWire
3 Port Adapter was selling last fall for $179.
The new MacAlly PCI to FireWire and USB Adapter
has a MSRP of $99, and adds the USB support without
taking anything away. I already have a MacAlly
PCI to USB adapter card in the S-900, reviewed
here on Applelust last October, and it works great
too. Having the functionality of both cards combined
in one product is a value solution. The new card
also wants USB driver 1.3.5 or later.
System requirements
for both cards include:
- Mac OS 9.0 and FireWire 2.3.3
or later
- Any Macintosh with an available
PCI 2.1 slot.
I have no hesitation
in giving this product a full five stars out of
five.
For more information,
visit: http://www.macally.com
These products were
respectively tested on a Macintosh PowerBook G3
Series 33 MHz/192MB/Mac OS 9.1/Mac OS X; a Macintosh
PowerBook G3 Series/233 MHz/2G/192MB MacOS 9.0/MacOS
9.1; and a UMAX SuperMac S-900 200 MHz//120MB
MacOS 9.1
Email Charles
W. Moore
More Reviews
at Applelust.com
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