> -----Original Message----- > From: flexradio-boun...@flex-radio.biz > [mailto:flexradio-boun...@flex-radio.biz] On Behalf Of W7CE > Sent: Friday, February 20, 2009 11:52 AM > To: FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz > Subject: Re: [Flexradio] First look at the FLEX-3000 production units > > Based on all the problems that seem to be associated with > Flex Radios and FireWire, whether the problem is Windows, > drivers, or whatever, it seems to me that Ethernet is a much > better choice. Ethernet chips are cheap, driver support is > standard on all computers/operating systems and it is likely > to be supported for a very long time. I was designing chips > for Toshiba 10+ years ago when the industry was trying to > drum up support for the FireWire standard and today its usage > is still fairly limited. I would not be surprised if > FireWire is a forgotten standard 10-20 years from now.
There's still a modicum of support for 1394b, at least in certain high end systems: for instance there's a Mil/Aero version of 1394 called AS5643 which is in the Joint Strike Fighter. In such applications it will last forever (hmm, how long have we been using MIL-STD-1553.. Since 1973, and we're still building NEW things that use it.) Those are hardly consumer applications, though. > Ethernet, on the other hand, will continue to progress, be > supported, and probably continue to maintain backward > compatibility with older versions. Certainly as far as IP packet handling goes. The PHY layers are not quite as interversion compatible (how much ThickNet have you seen recently, or even RG-58 10base2). 10/100/1000 are fairly interoperable (in that the GbE interface can understand and configure itself for 10BaseT). The faster Ethernets are totally noncompatible. However, it's still true that one can take a 15 year old 10BaseT device and plug it into a modern GigE device, and it will probably work. And the IP software stack presents the same interfaces to a software application. > My understanding (from Flex Radio Support) is that the Flex > Radio FireWire interface doesn't work well with the newer 800 > MB FireWire adapters/drivers. Fast Phy design is challenging. Maybe the equalizer can't deal with something? _______________________________________________ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kc.flex-radio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flex-radio.com/
