[LAU] firewire-thunderbolt adapter?

[David Kastrup]

david <gnome-4S9g3957RhF54TAoqtyWWQ at public.gmane.org> writes:

> On 10/08/2017 09:31 PM, David Kastrup wrote:
>> david
>> <gnome-4S9g3957RhF54TAoqtyWWQ-XMD5yJDbdMReXY1tMh2IBg at public.gmane.org>
>> writes:
>>
>>> I've been poking around on Amazon. The consensus of reviewers seems to
>>> that USB-C to Firewire adapters don't work and simply cannot
>>> work. Including a review by an electrical engineer.
>>>
>>> I found this USB<>ExpressCard adaptor:
>>>
>>> https://www.amazon.com/SIIG-USB-to-ExpressCard-JU-EP0012-S1/dp/B001KUOW9O/ref=sr_1_29?ie=UTF8&qid=1507524480&sr=8-29&keywords=firewire+to+usb+adapter
>>
>> Don't bother.  "Add support for USB-based ExpressCard devices to any USB
>> equipped computer" is actually a lot more explicit than many of those
>> cards bother telling, and it means that they work fine for WWAN cards
>> (UMTS Modem and such), Smartcard readers and reasonably cheap (all but
>> the fastest) flash device reader cards.  An Expresscard slot provides
>> both a PCIx lane and a USB connection.  This adapter will only provide
>> the USB connection.  That's not sufficient for a Firewire adapter.
>>
>>> IIRC, the original poster had a Firewire ExpressCard and was looking
>>> for a laptop with an ExpressCard port. Maybe this would work for them?
>>
>> Nope.
>
> Bummer. Guess I'll have to go through my accumulated emails for
> recommendations for a PCIx Firewire card for the desktop machine.

For desktop computers, there are also PCIx adapters for Expresscard
which by default only provide the PCIx lane (they have an internal USB
plug on board where you can connect a spare USB line from your mainboard
to make the Expresscard slot work for USB-based Expresscards as well).
They are comparatively cheap as they don't contain significant active
components (or they'd at least bother with a USB connection) and since
they are pass-through, they don't do hotplugging (on the PCIx lane).

The advantage, of course, being that if you have an Expresscard that you
trust with regard to its driver situation and so on, it will work in
your desktop computer as before.

If you are not particularly hot for an Expresscard solution, cheap
Firewire adapters for desktop PCIx are probably worth a try (I think
they were around $10 or less last time I looked).

-- 
David Kastrup