Firewire cards - connect 2 PCs?

[Jeremiah58]

I wonder if firewire cards are used only for the DV video transfer or it could be used to transfer general data from one PC to another?
I mean, is it possible to connect 2 PC's via firewire cards and transfer general data between them?
Thanks.

[LloydAZ]

Yes you can assign an IP address to a Firewire port and use it like a network card. Your Firewire card should show up in your network connections (in Windows XP Start->Control Panel->Network Connections).

I'm not sure if you can connect a cable directly between the two machines, or if you have to use a Firewire hub (or whatever it's called) between them. I've never set up a network this way, but I know it can be done.

[guns1inger]

You should be able to link the two directly using XP's built in firewire networking.

[edDV]

It works just like an Ethernet crossover cable.

In this mode the IEEE-1394 has sort of a split personality. It works as a network connection and DirectShow can connect to a DV device plugged into the other computer like a camcorder or ADVC like device.

[lacywest]

Any info about how it is done ... somewhere on the internet ... I may just be wanting to do this in a couple of weeks or month from now. I plan to have two computers going in my computer room .... and in my wife's computer room.

[Jeremiah58]

OK, I see the "1394 Connection" already in Control Pannel>Network Connections. No IP address assigned, though.

It works just like an Ethernet crossover cable.

Is there a possibility for a conflict between existing Ethernet/LAN connection?

In this mode the IEEE-1394 has sort of a split personality.

Split personality? This is good. Should I find a virtual shrink to solve it?

Has anyone connected PCs this way?
I haven't been able to find any useful reading on this.
Thank you.

[Jeremiah58]

I must have typed something wrong in Google - there are readings like:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307736/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/824400
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/expert/bridgman_02march25.mspx

[guns1inger]

I typed "firewire networking XP" into google and got this one first up

http://www.homenethelp.com/network/firewire.asp

then this

http://www.lifehacker.com/software/file-transfer/transfering-files-between-two-compute...ast-105906.php

etc

http://www.weethet.nl/english/network_firewire.php

[Jeremiah58]

guns1linger,
Thank you for those useful links.

[lacywest]

http://www.homenethelp.com/network/firewire.asp

I got busy at work ... I will add more links
---------------------------------------------------------------------

WeetHet - Network - Using FireWire to connect 2 PC's

http://www.weethet.nl/english/network_firewire.php

Man ... I thought I was the only person who didn't sleep.

I didn't add any info for over an hour and a bunch of links were added in the meantime.

I noticed this ... almost 2 hours later ... Gunslinger

And it is 5:30 AM ... in the morning.

[Jeremiah58]

Reading more on the topic. it seems that most people find it as easy as:

"Simply, connnect the two computers together with the FireWire cable, run the networking wizard and it is done. The speeds are very impressive and networking with games is much faster."

This was an interesting reading to me, related to firewire in general:

"FireWire is a high-speed, high-performance serial bus developed in the early 1990s and accepted by the IEEE as a standard in 1995 (IEEE 1394a). FireWire is self-configuring and can support upto 63 devices which may be connected with the power on (hot-pluggable).
Although developed by Apple, FireWire is promoted by a trade association which includes several large consumer electronics groups. FireWire is an Apple trademark which is freely licensed to other companies. Sony choose to use their own i.LINK trademark.
FireWire ports are fitted as standard on all modern Macs and most recent PCs where they are used to connect a wide range of peripherals, such as hard disks, scanners and webcams. Many of these take advantage of FireWire's built-in power supply to produce very compact designs. FireWire is preferred for external CD and DVD burners where its high bandwidth with preemptive allocation enables reliable burning at higher speeds than for USB.
FireWire is sometimes thought of as a video standard. It's not -- it's a serial bus standard that happens to be ideal for video. The IEEE 1394 specification has nothing to say about digital video or the control of DV camcorders. Those operations are enabled by some of the many protocols which FireWire supports.
FireWire 400 (IEEE 1394a).
The original FireWire has a theoretical maximum transfer speed of 400Mbps and distance limit of 4.5m. Two types of connectors are specified: four-pin unpowered and the full six-pin. The latter are electrically identical apart from the addition of two power supply pins capable of delivering 8 to 40 volts at up to 1.5 amps. Self-powered devices such as camcorders have 4-pin ports, while bus powered devices such as hard disks have 6-pin ports. Transitional cables and 4 to 6-pin adaptors are readily available."

[JohnnyMalaria]

The support for IEEE-1394 networking seems VERY OS dependent.

On my multiboot system, XP Pro SP2 will use the feature. XP x64 doesn't. Vista doesn't.
(It seems many of the differences between 32-bit XP and 32-bit Vista are also true for 32-bit XP and 64-bit XP).

At the other end is a laptop running XP Pro SP2.

That aside, another interesting feature is that if you have two PCs connected via a Firewire connection and you plug a camcorder into one of them, the other PC sees it and can use it.

I use the IEEE-1394 networking for speedy file transfer from my development box to the laptop (400Mbps). Otherwise, I have to go via my wireless 54Mbps net. It saves a lot of time!

[Jeremiah58]

I use the IEEE-1394 networking for speedy file transfer from my development box to the laptop (400Mbps).

Thank you - finally someone says that uses this connection.
Please say is it an easy task to connect, configure and use it and do you have any troubles, any tips?

[JohnnyMalaria]

It was easy to configure.

My recommendation is that on both PCs you manually set the IP address rather than have Windows automatically assign it. That way you can be sure that both PCs are on the same subnet.

For example, my wireless net uses addresses in the 192.168.1.x range with 192.168.1.1 being a PC that assigns addresses automatically to other PCs.

For the Firewire net, I manually assign IP addresses in the 192.168.100.x range.

Then, if I want to connect to the laptop, I use its IP address rather than the computer name. If I use the computer name, it may end up using the wireless net which is slower.

[Jeremiah58]

Thank you JohnnyMalaria, for the details.
I shall try this connection when I find a time.

[lacywest]

What about the connection wire / cable ... what does both ends look like ... the cables I've used look different on both ends.

Is there a cable that has the same end on both ends.

[JohnnyMalaria]

What about the connection wire / cable ... what does both ends look like ... the cables I've used look different on both ends.

Is there a cable that has the same end on both ends.

Yes. Firewire cables come in three variants - 6pin-to-6pin, 6pin-to-4pin and 4pin-to-4pin.

The larger 6pin connectors are usually found on desktop PCs and external hard drives etc. The 4pin connectors are usually found on camcorders and laptop PCs. Some laptop adapter cards for Firewire have 6pin and some have a mixture.

You either buy a suitable cable or you can get adapters to convert 4pin to 6pin and vice versa.

[lacywest]

My computer ... my mobo [see my specs] has firewire built in ... the large one.

Shaped like a U ... with 3 contacts on each side ... 6 total.

I've got a firewire card in one of my other PC towers not being used. So I get the wire with both ends looking like the U shape and I'm ready to Firewire two computers together ... YES ... NO

[JohnnyMalaria]

That should do it!

If both PCs are running XP, you'll see a new network connection show up on each.

[Faithful Follower]

The transfer rate between my XP and ME machinese was about 35 minutes per gig. Until I finally upgraded the ME to XPpro, the transfer rate is now little over 2 minutes per gig. I use 6 pins to 6 pins cable.

The setup of firewire networking is very basic and simple. Follow windows instructions and everything will work. But you'll have to wait a minute or so when the computers are first connected, until the ip's are found, you can't start anything. After enabled the 1394 connections, right click the network icon on the task bar, choose 'Status' and under the support tab, see if the ip address is actually there.

Also to make sure any internet security softwares are configured to allow the new network connection.

[ofbarea]

Folks,

Originally MS supported 400Mbps for networking, but at some point in time (some Service patch did this), the transfer speed was dropped to 100Mbps. It do not know if this has been fixed yet or not.

It is important to note that MS drivers only suppory TCP/IP. If you need other protocols like IPX/SPX you will need to rely on third party software. I have used both MS implementation and FireNet. Both worked, but I think FireNet was a bit faster.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Originally MS supported 400Mbps for networking, but at some point in time (some Service patch did this), the transfer speed was dropped to 100Mbps.

Interesting. I get 400Mbps on my XP SP2 machines. Do you have anything else connected? Typically, camcorders will often force the interface to run at 100Mbps.

[ofbarea]

This was the bug:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/885222

Performance of 1394 devices may decrease after you install Windows XP Service Pack 2

...

SYMPTOMS
After you update your computer to Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), the performance of your 1394a or 1394b FireWire devices may be greatly decreased. A digital camera that uses S400 speed is an example of such a device.

CAUSE
This problem occurs if you connect a 1394a or 1394b FireWire device to a 1394b port. This problem occurs because Windows XP SP2 changes 1394b ports to S100 speed when you upgrade.

...

I was badly affected by this one

[edDV]

Interesting that 1394 networking support has been dropped for Vista. They still support it for devices, just not networking except for third party solutions.

[ofbarea]

The reason

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/bus/1394/IP_1394.mspx

Microsoft has not identified any customer dependency on this capability.

[Jeremiah58]

Well, I have tried this firewire network. Couldn't be easier.
I have connected a laptop (XP Sp2) with a desktop (XP Sp1) via a firewire cable (4 to 6 pin type). These 2 computers have already been connected together via WLAN on home network.
Everything is automatic - I haven't done any configuration. The IP addresses are asigned automatically for this firewire network. The only thing I had to do was to allow the new network when ZoneAlarm popped out asking me what to do with this new network - I allowed it to a trusted zone.
So, I just opened "My Network Places" and all shared folders on both computers were visible and available for sharing between the two.
I tested the speed by transferring a video file, in fact a VIDEO_TS folder of 4 GB. It was transfered for about 3 minutes from the laptop to the desktop PC.
The IP address for the laptop was not assigned at first, but I just rebooted the laptop while connected via firewire cable and the new IP address was assigned after the reboot.
Piece of cake, no troubles and very useful for a fast transfer of large files.
Thanks to all previous posters who shared their knowledge about this network connection.

[Capmaster]

The firewire is extremely easy to use. Just beware that if you have a wireless connection set up, the firewire connection will override it and you won't be able to connect via wireless until you disconnect the FW, unless you go in and manually play around with it ...a PITA :P