The ancient connectivity standard still has years of life ahead of it.
Firewire is getting a new lease on life and will have extended support up to 2029 on Linux operating systems. Phoronix reports that a Linux maintainer Takashi Sakamoto has volunteered to oversee the Firewire subsystem for Linux during this time, and will work on Firewire’s core functions and sound drivers for the remaining few that still use the connectivity standard.
Further, Takashi Sakamoto says that his work will help users transition from Firewire to more modern technology standards (like perhaps USB 2.0). Apparently, Firewire still has a dedicated fanbase that is big enough to warrant six more years of support. But we suspect this will be the final stretch for Firewire support, surrounding Linux operating systems. Once 2029 comes around, there’s a good chance Firewire will finally be dropped from the Linux kernel altogether.
I have a feeling its mostly due to some audio and video hardware that has some real longevity. I’ve got a VHS+minidv player that I am transferring old videos from using FireWire (well, for the minidv. VHS is s-video capture).
I’m just passing a FireWire PCI card through to a VM though. Though with how old the box is, it doesnt really need to be a VM. Thats a whole different discussion though.
I had some FireWire audio interfaces too, 8ch and 16ch, but I got rid of those a while back. I’m sure someone’s making use of it though! Probably the m-audio delta 1010 I sold too, I think they are still going for a few hundred each despite being so long in the tooth.
I have a feeling its mostly due to some audio and video hardware that has some real longevity. I’ve got a VHS+minidv player that I am transferring old videos from using FireWire (well, for the minidv. VHS is s-video capture).
Yeah, that’s a thought…though honestly, unless whatever someone is doing requires real-time processing and adding latency is a problem, they can probably pass it through some other old device that can speak both Firewire and something else.
Probably the m-audio delta 1010
That doesn’t have a Firewire interface, does it? I thought I had one of those.
checks
Oh, I’m thinking of the 1010LT, not the 1010. That lives on a PCI card.
That doesn’t have a Firewire interface, does it? I thought I had one of those.
checks
Oh, I’m thinking of the 1010LT, not the 1010. That lives on a PCI card.
No I’m talking about the PCI card, just commenting on the longevity of some devices. I know two people still using FireWire for their interfaces in spare kit (RME fire faces), which got me thinking of some of my old kit I’ve replaced like the delta1010.
Ah, gotcha. Just for the record — though it doesn’t really matter as regards your point, because I was incorrectly assuming that you were using it as an example of with something with Firewire onboard — there are apparently two different products:
The 1010 has a PCI card, but it talks to an external box:
The 1010LT has a PCI card alone, no external box, and then a ton of cables that fan out directly from the card:
Neither appears to have a Firewire interface. IIRC, the 1010LT was less expensive, was the one I was using.
I still have my FireWire card as I mentioned, but its only for that VHS + minidv deck (well and my old canon camcorder which does better with some of my minidvs. This process is going to take me years, I have so many to get through…)
If it’s Linux, sounds like it should just work out of box, at least for a while longer.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/linux-to-support-firewire-until-2029
I have a feeling its mostly due to some audio and video hardware that has some real longevity. I’ve got a VHS+minidv player that I am transferring old videos from using FireWire (well, for the minidv. VHS is s-video capture).
I’m just passing a FireWire PCI card through to a VM though. Though with how old the box is, it doesnt really need to be a VM. Thats a whole different discussion though.
I had some FireWire audio interfaces too, 8ch and 16ch, but I got rid of those a while back. I’m sure someone’s making use of it though! Probably the m-audio delta 1010 I sold too, I think they are still going for a few hundred each despite being so long in the tooth.
Yeah, that’s a thought…though honestly, unless whatever someone is doing requires real-time processing and adding latency is a problem, they can probably pass it through some other old device that can speak both Firewire and something else.
That doesn’t have a Firewire interface, does it? I thought I had one of those.
checks
Oh, I’m thinking of the 1010LT, not the 1010. That lives on a PCI card.
No I’m talking about the PCI card, just commenting on the longevity of some devices. I know two people still using FireWire for their interfaces in spare kit (RME fire faces), which got me thinking of some of my old kit I’ve replaced like the delta1010.
These days I’m mostly pushing dante around
Ah, gotcha. Just for the record — though it doesn’t really matter as regards your point, because I was incorrectly assuming that you were using it as an example of with something with Firewire onboard — there are apparently two different products:
The 1010 has a PCI card, but it talks to an external box:
The 1010LT has a PCI card alone, no external box, and then a ton of cables that fan out directly from the card:
Neither appears to have a Firewire interface. IIRC, the 1010LT was less expensive, was the one I was using.
PCI + BoB is what I had
I still have my FireWire card as I mentioned, but its only for that VHS + minidv deck (well and my old canon camcorder which does better with some of my minidvs. This process is going to take me years, I have so many to get through…)