Apple Releases Preview of IP over FireWire 116
A user writes, "Apple has finally released IP over FireWire drivers for Mac OS X. It is now possible to connect two or more Macs together with FireWire cables and if needed, FireWire hubs."
IP over FireWire (Score:5, Funny)
cluster me crazy (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:cluster me crazy (Score:1)
Re:cluster me crazy (Score:1)
Re:cluster me crazy (Score:2)
Re:cluster me crazy (Score:5, Interesting)
Also, many Macs can't be upgraded to gigabit ethernet. iMacs, iBooks, older PowerBooks, and older PowerMac don't have gigabit ethernet, but many of them do have Firewire. So depending on what you have, building a Firewire network is much more attractive than trying to build a gigabit ethernet network.
Re:cluster me crazy (Score:1, Informative)
The advantage Firewire has is not in networking computers, but in networking peripherals. You can plug a Firewire printer(try finding one, though), a Firewire camera, a Firewire RAID, a Firewire-administrable server or appliance, and a Firewire Zip drive, then you can take that whole set of peripherals and plug the whole mess into a Firewire hub with a workgroup or two on it. All computers in those workgroups will be able to treat all of those peripherals as if they were plugged in locally.
You could print, capture pics, scan photos, save files, and login to and reconfigure a server through a serial connection(Firewire is just a really fast serial interface) all at the same time, and at the same time as all the other people in your workgroup are using the same peripherals. And no toggle switches required! Woohoo!
Add to this the convenience of file transfers at 4x the speed of 100Mbps Ethernet, without all the hassle of setting network options, and you have a Mac workgroup admin's wildest wet dream(except without the hot blonde chicks).
Re:cluster me crazy (Score:2)
Overall though I see this as part of Apple's strategy for true fast plug and play peripherals. Rendezvous is an other part of it. Actual real world applications aren't really available. So we'll see how it all pans out. Apple's had exciting technology before that rarely got used. (OpenDoc, QuickdrawGX, etc.) Given that the Mac is still a small market I'm not sure most peripheral makers will actually end up using all this stuff. Call me skeptical, but I think we need some nice 3rd party companies to offer this sort of thing.
Anyone remember those old laser printers that plugged into the SCSI port? Of course I never thought they worked that well, but I suspect this is setting up a networked version of that. However Apple really needs to offer the peripherals themselves if they want to kickstart the market. Unfortunately the afore mentioned problems of unimplemented cool technology applies to Apple as much as anyone. Take a look at Appleworks and how few OSX features it uses.
Re:cluster me crazy (Score:1)
Re:cluster me crazy (Score:2)
I don't think you're going to see large FW LANs
BUT then again, this is IP... just have one machinbe with two fw cards too bridge the subnets
Re:cluster me crazy (Score:1)
64 devices per controller (Score:1)
Re:cluster me crazy (Score:2)
Workgroups in the same room, clusters or labs? Groovy... but once you start talking about multiple rooms or more than 4 or 5 machines, I have the feeling that it's gonna be REALLY cost prohibitive.
That's just not what the tech is designed for, methinks. I'm thinking that clustering is really what this is all about.
And now I'm drooling over a few Xserves or desktops clustered via Firewire 2 as a rendering farm.
Re:cluster me crazy (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Windows... (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Windows... (Score:1)
Re:Windows... (Score:1)
I can confirm the following configuration:
New iMac 17" connecting to WinXP 100mb/FireWire Bridge w/ generic firewire (TI compat) card.
Seems pretty seemless to me.
Re:Windows... (Score:2)
Re:Windows... (Score:1)
Sometimes MS likes to "embrace and extend" protocols so it's close enough to the real thing, but only works on their own stuff.
Re:Windows... (Score:2)
Re:Windows... (Score:1)
That's the problem. the keyword there is should
Re:Windows... (Score:2)
Re:Hey, they're innovating again (Score:2)
Ethernet, serial cables, RS-232, SCSI..
Re:Hey, they're innovating again (Score:2, Informative)
Way to go with your innovate thinking. Apple is one of the major companies behind firewire, and they have been working on the standard for years. I seem to recall finding early references to firewire going back to 1995. So if Apple comes up with a standard, which Microsoft then implements before them, thats Microsoft innovating?
I can't make up my mind as to whether you are trolling, or just poorly informed.
Re:Hey, they're innovating again (Score:1)
apple wasn't one of the major companies behind firewire, they pretty much were the only company behind firewire, hence all the firewire trademark bitching that went on a while ago
usb was also "around" in 95, just not quite standardized, some motherboard's from that era had usb ports on them, just no wires connecting them to anything else since no one ever expected anyone to use it at the time
i think neither microsoft nor apple are really innovative anymore, if they ever were, firewire is pretty much just a subset of scsi, with a little bit of whipped cream thrown on top, so it's not as if they were innovating to come up with it in the first place, and it's quite superior to both usb and usb2, even though theoretically usb2 runs faster
win2k had alpha blending on the desktop before aqua ever came along, but so did many x window managers
apple's plug and pray? yeah if you plug it in it just works, or it doesn't, windows sometimes makes you go through a hassle of getting something to work, but hey it works, and working hardware is bad
look at my comments for the past couple weeks, trying to get rid of any positive karma i have by speaking the truth, too bad it isn't working and so many people aren't interested in the truth anyways
Re:Hey, they're innovating again (Score:1)
First off, it's a superset. SCSI has asynchronous mode, FireWire has that + isochronous mode. (Guaranteed bandwidth.) This allows totally new applications, such as digital cameras.
All nodes on firewire are potential hosts or peripherals, which again allows totally different applications, such as target-disk mode. (Hold Command Option and T with your iBook and another Mac can access it like an external disk. A PC could access it if it had MacDrive or something similar. Apple's got a tech note somewhere.)
Firewire is powered (allows new mobile applications) and is actually plug and play, so it's much easier for consumers.
All in all, these are substantial differences from SCSI. How's it a subset anyway? No annoying clickers for setting the IDs? No messing with termination?
Re:Hey, they're innovating again (Score:1, Informative)
A subset of the SCSI-3 standard, also known as IEEE 1394, Firewire is a new high speed data exchange protocol developed at Apple. Occasionally it is referred to as "serial SCSI" because it is a serial protocol and conforms to SCSI standards as well. It is now a common interface on new digital video equipment and is beginning to be used in audio as well. FireWire is fast: it starts at 100 Megabits per second and goes on up past 400 Mbs, easily handling the bandwidth required for a 30 frame-per-second 640x480 pixel datastream from a prosumer video camera. FireWire supports asynchronous (see WFTD archive asynchronous) transfers, as well as isochronous (see WFTD archive isochronous) transfers so that a stream of video from a video camera can co-exist on the same FireWire bus with another sending device, yet the bus will still carry the video images continuously without discontinuities. Another benefit of FireWire is that it is a hot swappable technology (see WFTD archive hot swap) and allows 63 devices on a buss with auto termination and identification
a subset would be missing some features, a superset would have all those features plus more, it's kind of a combination
ahh
http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid
this one gets modded up for interesting
Re:Hey, they're innovating again (Score:3, Informative)
They stated that in a fashion that is, at best, a bit confusing. This draft specification for the SCSI architectural model [t10.org] shows on page 10 a diagram showing that there are several interconnect layers for SCSI, including the classic parallel SCSI bus (SPI), and three count 'em three serial layers, namely Fibre Channel (FC-PH), FireWire ("IEEE 1394 High Performance Serial Bus"), and IBM SSA (SSA-PH), with each interconnect layer having a protocol used to implement SCSI on that layer.
Then there are the SCSI commands, which are mostly if not entirely independent of the interconnect layer and protocol. They can be sent over parallel SCSI, Fibre Channel+FCP, FireWire+SBP, SSA-PH+SSP, {pick your link layer}+IP+TCP+iSCSI, Ethernet+HyperSCSI [a-star.edu.sg], or the Serial ATA link layer+serial attached SCSI [serialattachedscsi.com], and, apparently USB+some way of sending SCSI commands over USB. (There certainly don't seem to be many bit-serial links over which you can send SCSI commands and replies.... :-))
FireWire isn't "SCSI", it's an interconnect over which you can send SCSI commands and replies. It's also an interconnect over which you can send stuff that has nothing to do with SCSI, e.g. IP datagrams (we ignore here the possiblity of IP datagrams containing TCP segments that make up iSCSI PDUs :-)), just as Fibre Channel is an interconnect over which you can send SCSI commands and replies, as well as stuff that has nothing to do with SCSI, e.g. IP datagrams, and just as USB is an interconnect over which you can send SCSI commands and replies, as well as stuff that has nothing to do with SCSI, including network packets.
Re:Oh, come on (Score:2, Insightful)
Someone could correct me and I'd be more the wiser.
Apple since it has Firewire built-into OS X wasn't about to do IP over Firewire until they sorted out all the "critical needs" first for Mac Users. Adding a kernel extension tells me its been in the testing stage for quite some time but relinquished as unimportant until now when Apple's Digital Lifestyle devices become more of a reality to market.
Steve likes to have all his ducks-in-a-row before dazzling the crowds.
Re:Oh, come on (Score:2, Insightful)
e.g. you'll be able to control your tv via firewire, or you'll be able to record TV on your mac.
Re:Linking more than 2 computers (Score:1, Informative)
FireWire Target Disk Mode (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:FireWire Target Disk Mode (Score:4, Insightful)
AFP (Apple Filing Protocol, what the marketing people call "AppleShare") works great over TCP.
Given Jaguar's support for Rendevous and AFP over TCP, what does AppleTalk get you? AppleTalk's only place in today's world is for compatibility with legacy machines, but that doesn't apply here, as Apple only supplies this software for Jaguar.
Re:FireWire Target Disk Mode (Score:2)
Re:FireWire Target Disk Mode (Score:3, Insightful)
When you connect two machines together with FireWire and have IP over FireWire enabled, they will assign themselves link-local IP addresses, exchange name information via multicast DNS, and advertise their services (such as file or printer sharing) to each other.
The machines will automatically appear in the Finder's "Connect to Server" window, the same way they would if they were running AppleTalk. Shared printers will automatically appear in the Print Center and in print dialogs.
AppleTalk is not any easier than that!
Re:FireWire Target Disk Mode (Score:2)
Re:FireWire Target Disk Mode (Score:2)
Rendezvous [apple.com] should handle most of what Phase I AppleTalk provided.
Re:FireWire Target Disk Mode (Score:2)
It's at least another option (Score:5, Interesting)
So IP over FireWire adds to the diversity. Today, you don't even need a crossover cable with the Gigabit Ethernet ports on most Macs. Just use a regular CAT5 to connect them.
Having this option, from my techie POV, allows me to connect to another Mac should the user's Ethernet port go cranky. I'd have to think a little more for additional applications, but perhaps a cheap, high speed FireWire LAN for gaming or small home networks would be useful. I would think you can share a cable modem connection in this manner, too. I better RTFdocs.
Crossover cable (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Crossover cable (Score:3, Informative)
This link from Apple's support page tells which Macs do and do not need a crossover cable today. [apple.com]
Re:Crossover cable (Score:2)
Re:Crossover cable (Score:2)
Re:Crossover cable (Score:2)
Re:Crossover cable (Score:2)
Modern macs just don't care
Re:Crossover cable (Score:2)
First of all, only select few Cable/DSL modems require a crossover cable to connect to anything. Most just require a patch cable like a normal ethernet device. It has nothing to do with whether or not the device has its own IP, but rather how the physical port is wired.
Second, I didn't have the manual, I was at my friends house, so I couldn't RTFM.
Third, it wasn't the requirement of a crossover that confused me, it was the fact that the DSL modem was working perfectly with a regular patch cable hooked to the computer that threw me. Since I hadn't known about this Auto-MDI-X stuff that Apple is doing, I thought that there is no way it could require a crossover, since it obviously required a patch.
On XP it works nicely. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:On XP it works nicely. (Score:1, Insightful)
This is the same chip that the ethernet port hangs off as well. This allows high bandwith access to memory, and this is especially good on the new DDR RAM based computers, which can serve up a lot of data very quickly.
Re:On XP it works nicely. (Score:2)
I bet that your laptop's HD is also one of the limiting factors. Even if it is ATA/66 or ATA/100, the sustained read/write rate is not going to be full, and you'll be limited there as well.
But PCI is undoubtedly an issue as well. I know that the new PowerMacs have the "Xserve architecture" with the Firewire, USB, etc busses on a controller (Agere ASIC I believe) that is attached to the Northbridge...so Firewire probably WILL be faster in some cases on one of them. Someone else posted that other Macs have it direct on the Northbridge...though I cannot confirm or deny that...Firewire is always on the mobo though.
1600 Mbit Firewire (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:1600 Mbit Firewire (Score:2)
I buy ethernet by the 100m roll... and 50 crimps at a time...
the price of an ethernet cable (after my time, damnit) is literally a few dollars.
I've always ended up paying 10x that for FW cables
And long ones are even more expensive
second NIC card (Score:2, Interesting)
Any iPod-based Applications? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Any iPod-based Applications? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Any iPod-based Applications? (Score:2)
That might work, but would mean that you'd have to have a lot working in between. (i.e. you couldn't be behind a general NAT server, the ports can't be hidden by a firewall, etc.) There are other issues as well.
Don't get me wrong, it is doable. But it seems that for a general solution for the general public there are too many things that could go wrong. Try explaining to the non-technical Mac user why their ISP is blocking this feature.
Further, who really needs that sort of thing? It sounds to me like a nice 3rd party opportunity. But even there you'd still need the software on the Mac hosting your iPod's connection to the net. I suspect though that all you'd need to do is snag that iPod software for Linux (opensource) and then add a bit of a socking talking (easy and you could crib it from an FTP server if you must).
So the project isn't that hard. I'm just not sure but what it is a solution in search of a problem though. After all don't you typically need to sync only when you've changed what music is in iTunes? And if you've done that, aren't you already in front of your computer? So why the need for an IP connection between the iPod and your computer?
Re:Any iPod-based Applications? (Score:2)
Re:Any iPod-based Applications? (Score:1)
Re:Any iPod-based Applications? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Any iPod-based Applications? (Score:1)
Repeat after me: (Score:4, Funny)
Why do I see the little daisy chain boxes showing up in schools again?
(But you see Mr. School administrator with shrinking funds, you don't need to buy a hub or switch, we've got that covered.)
Re:Repeat after me: (Score:2)
--Mike
Re:Repeat after me: (Score:2)
Re:Repeat after me: (Score:2)
Re:Repeat after me: (Score:2)
hehe, just just PhoneNet for LocalTalk cabling
6-pin cable, dollar a foot (Score:2)
A local electronic parts shop, specializing in connectors and cabling, is selling 6-pin firewire cables for US$1 a foot. Since the computers would be daisy chained that's typically what, $5-10 per computer on average?
Re:Repeat after me: (Score:2)
Forgot where though...
Re:Repeat after me: (Score:2, Funny)
we used to go down to the pc labs and invit all those poor netbeui users to come upstairs and watch us route.
Ok, IP over FW but... (Score:2, Interesting)
Any ideas?
Re:Ok, IP over FW but... (Score:2)
Re:Ok, IP over FW but... (Score:1)
If that's correct, then it's really quite immaterial what medium each segment of the network uses. You could replace one of the firewire cables with IR, or ethernet, or 'Wet-piece-of-string'(TM) and nothing would fundamentally change. Each time a packet needed to get to a non-adjacent computer, it would be routed by each intermediate machine. I believe that's how networking was first done before ethernet allowed connecting more than two computers to the same bit of copper.
The good thing is that the actual medium for the signal is abstracted away and applications only need to know about IP packets. So you just need a network stack that can route packets between different network interfaces, which is pretty-much bog standard and the way IP is supposed to work anyway.
Re:Ok, IP over FW but... (Score:2)
That's not how it works. All the machines in a FireWire chain are essentially sharing a single broadcast medium, like Ethernet.
Re:Ok, IP over FW but... (Score:2)
Imagine a ... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Imagine a ... (Score:1)
It deleted my network settings (Score:2)
I've filed a bug report with Apple. Hopefully it was just some oddity with my machine.
Re:It deleted my network settings (Score:1)
Re:It deleted my network settings (Score:2)
i had 10 of them too..
Re:It deleted my network settings (Score:1)
Deleted my machine name in the Sharing Preferences Pane too.
Hmm.
Re:It deleted my network settings (Score:4, Informative)
cd
mv preferences.xml-old preferences.xml
Performing worse than 100Mbps (Score:2)
Wouldn't this be sweet for clustering? (Score:2)
I mean jeez what better way to set up a beowul....
Re:Wouldn't this be sweet for clustering? (Score:2)
Dave
Four Little Words... (Score:1)
Just wait.
Re:Four Little Words... (Score:1)
what I had submitted (Score:2)
Here is a slightly bulked up version of my submission for this story:
Ok first, the official name used to be IEEE-1394, but not surprisingly, eventually they decided to just go with FireWire (which was previously an Apple-only name for the technology). Current version is 1394a which tops out at 400 Mbps, next is 1394b which starts at 800 Mbps.
Apple has been a strong proponent and developer of the technology. Sony also (they like to call it i.Link) Mostly it is used to connect to DV cams, but you can also use it for other peripherals that need high speed. I use it for my external hard drive and an external CD burner. But of course, you could also in theory use it for networking. Hence, IP-over-FireWire (as compared to say, the current IP-over-Ethernet). The standard specifying this is RFC 2734 [ietf.org]. (To be very technical, this only specifies the IPv4 implementation.)
Microsoft supports 1394 [microsoft.com] and in particular had an IP1394 stack for a while, in ME [microsoft.com] and now in XP [microsoft.com]. The Linux 1394 [linux1394.org] project has been working on it, but it had a lot of trouble getting off the ground. And now (finally) IP1394 is available from Apple.
It will be interesting to see if the Apple implementation interoperates with the Microsoft one.
My Master's project [cs.dal.ca] is on this topic. My school page is sadly out-of-date, I need to update it ASAP.
My take.... (Score:3, Informative)
UniBrain. Unibrain's solution, by the way, provides for more than just
I.P.
having Firewire networking built into OS X. More choices are good. I'm
wondering if this indicates a move towards next generation 800mbps
Firewire, by Apple, as well.
On my Mac, Firewire networking software provides two more ports similar
to built-in ethernet, and treats them the same in the network panel in
OS X. They show up as two additional ethernet adapters. What I'm really
looking for is the same capability under Linux, so I can connect two
computers using firewire networking...OS X and Mandrake Linux 9.0. So
far, only custom Linux kernals built for clustering offer this ability.
[
http://kenlinux.no-ip.org/gallery/vi
01&id=net01 ]
Theoretically, I can dual mode the two firewire channels in my
computers to run at 800Mbps (channel bonding). Of course, gigabit
ethernet would provide increased speed, but it would also involve
buying more hardware, at least in my case. Like we say "...run what ya
'brung..." If your hardware provides gigabit ethernet, use it
Distance between nodes is a problem for Firewire networking. Maximum
distance is about 15 feet without repeaters, etc. At this time,
Firewire hubs cost approx. the same as ethernet hubs. Note I don't
think that all Firewire hubs offer similar capability/compatibility.
Test before you buy.
Don't forget Apple's Firewire target disc mode if you simply want to
pass files between two computers in a hurry.
Here is a quick little generic Firewire networking guide:
[ http://www.homenethelp.com/network/firewire.asp ]
Unibrain:
[ http://www.unibrain.com/products/ieee-1394/firene
(If you don't qualify as an Apple Developer, but you still wish to take
a look at OS X Firewire networking, Unibrain has a timed demo available
for testing)
Also note that firewire networking is currently a part of Windows XP.
OS X is playing ketchup.
Re:My take.... (Score:2)
Do you know if Unibrain is ever going to release an RFC 2734 compliant FireNet?
Re:My take.... (Score:2)
Re:My take.... (Score:2)
Re:My take.... (Score:2)
Some Macs do come with gigabit (Score:2)
How big are the frames? (Score:2)
Our Company Motto (Score:2, Funny)
IP On Everything
Did my PowerBook just become a mobile firewall? (Score:3, Funny)
By connecting my ethernet card to my cable modem, and my firewire port to my server, my laptop now becomes a FireWireWall
Smile, it tastes good
Cable length? (Score:1)
But hey, at least my friend and I can LAN our iBooks for some good ole MOH:AA or Civ 3 on a plane flight to England!
Re:Now if my DSL could only go faster than 128k up (Score:1, Offtopic)
whimpering cry for help has been heard. A little
blue fairy told me to instruct you:
Write a letter to your state PUC and tell them you're
moving to Korea.