[linux-audio-user] Firewire devices and Linux

[Pieter Palmers]

Paul Davis wrote:
> On Fri, 2006-05-12 at 09:42 -0400, Paul Davis wrote:
> 
>>>I heard about FreeBoB, but it seems like it's an (very) early project,
>>>and that I shouldn't count on it.
>>>
>>>Are there any recording devices like the "Focusrite Saffire", the
>>>"Alesis iO-26", the "RME Fireface 400", the "M-Audio Firewire 410",
>>>etc, that are around 350$USD and that Linux supports?
>>
>>no.
> 
> 
> to be clear, they will work with freebob (except the RME fireface, which
> will never work on linux unless RME changes its mind about drivers for
> it).

To be really clear:
"... to be clear, they will work with [future versions of] freebob ..."

There are plans to include support for more firewire devices into 
freebob, but currently only the devices based on the BridgeCo DM1000 & 
DM1500 are supported. And not even all of these due to some excessive 
customisation of the reference firmware by some device manufacturers 
(most notably M-Audio for the 410 and the 1418).

Currently there are two other chipsets/solutions that are planned to be 
supported:
- Metric Halo devices (Mobile I/O 2882 & Mobile I/O ULN-2)
- Devices based on the DICE-II chipset, as far as the actual device 
manufactureres cooperate.

According to my information, almost all current firewire interfaces use 
either a BridgeCo chipset or a DICE-II chipset. Having support for these 
two majors, and adding some smaller full-custom devices (like the Metric 
Halo's) will have us covering a lot of devices.

In the case of full custom devices, like the Metric Halo or the RME 
Fireface, support will be completely dependant on the stance of the 
device manufacturer. So no RME support. Nor any MOTU support.

To summarize: if you want to buy a FW interface, go ahead and buy one of 
the supported ones. They do work on linux. Some more advanced features 
are missing, but that's only a matter of time.

Pieter