| Let's
take a closer look at a faster version of USB, dubbed Firewire
or IEEE-1394 .
Firewire will have all
the benefits of USB, including more bandwidth. The maximum bandwidth
of USB is 12Mbps (1.5MB/sec); Firewire's
initial speed will be 200Mbps (25MB/sec), which will be increased to
1Gbps in the future. But Firewire
will not replace USB; in fact, it is designed to be a supplement to
USB. Low speed devices (such as keyboard, mouse, joystick, etc) will
be connected to the USB port. While high speed, bandwidth-demanding
devices (such as digital camcorder, CD burner, etc) will be attached
to the Firewire bus.
And like USB, Firewire
hasn't really taken off yet. Currently, the only mainstream
manufacturer of Firewire
host controller is Adaptec.
The primary function of Firewire
today is digital video editing. Sony, Panasonic, and other camcorder
makers already have Firewire-enabled
camcorders available today. In addition, Firewire
may eventually replace IDE as the primary interface for
consumer-level hard disk drives. The current IDE interface is
limited to four devices on two channels (primary and secondary),
with a maximum cable length of about 12 inches per channel. Firewire
is limited to 64 devices with a cable length of 13.5 feet
between each devices.
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