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Introduction

Firewire is currently the hot ticket interface in the multimedia world and has been for some time. This isn’t surprising considering Firewire, which is also known as IEEE 1394, was developed by Apple – the kings of audio / video computing – and has a maximum data transfer throughput of 400Megabits/s or 50Mbytes/s. This is leagues faster than USB which maxes out at 12Mb/s or 1.5MB/s – no wonder why those USB webcams can be so jerky.

This is precisely the reason Firewire with the interface du jour for transferring video and other high bandwidth sources, even more so than SCSI. Although Firewire isn’t quite as fast as Ultra2/Wide SCSI (80MB/s), there are a number of usability factors that lean quite well on the side of Firewire. Most notable is the plain fact that Firewire is simpler to use, as the PCI cards are Plug and Play, require little effort to install and configure, and devices are hot pluggable (devices can be added or removed from the system without powering down). Unlike SCSI, connecting multiple devices is literally as easy as hooking up the cables – SCSI chains require a hefty amount knowledge and time and can often result in many headaches. As far as raw performance is concerned though, U2W SCSI is definitely the leader.

Another thing to keep in mind is that often Firewire devices limit the transfer speed before the maximum interface bandwidth comes into play. Firewire hard drives and CD-Rs, for example, are actually IDE devices that are adapted for the Firewire interface. Since SCSI-based drives generally perform much faster than IDE ones, this performance difference carries over to Firewire as well. Other factors such as large-file efficiency, make SCSI the choice for performance critical systems. In most other situations, though, Firewire is the apt solution (did I mention Firewire is cheaper?? :] ).

In a rather modest looking package, Aten brings their PCI-based Firewire expansion card to market. Now that I have made an abrupt, superficial judgment of this card, I think it is time to continue :] .

Specs

Interface	PCI
Ports	3 external / 0 internal
Platforms	Windows 98 / 2000
Other	Plug and Play, IEEE 1394 OHCI compliant

Box Contents

Manual
Firewire PCI Card

Like the package, the contents in the box are humble. Note that no installation CD is needed for Firewire cards as the drivers are incorporated in the operating system (although you may need your OS installation CD).

The manual is actually a fold-out pamphlet type deal and it covers the installation process quite well. While a little on the light side, I couldn’t imagine that much more information could be provided other than possibly installation diagrams.

One thing that may have been nice to see included is a software CD that some manufacturers provide. Depending on what the software is and how much overhead it adds to the cost of the unit, this could either make the box contents better or worse. It is very nice to receive a program (or programs) that you can really use though…

Unusual as it may seem with simple devices like this Firewire card, I must say I appreciate the scarcity in the package department. Why? Well, I much prefer to save a few dollars over having a glossy, pretty looking box that I am going to throw out minutes after opening it. I think Aten has the right idea here, as they keep things simple which inevitably keeps the cost of this card lower than “fancier” competitors.

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