Number 206 - July 2000

USB and FireWire
from Ask Gina by Gina Smith, April 9, 2000 ACCESS magazine
Q. What's the difference between USB and Firewire, or are they the same thing?     Sam Wasserstein, New York City     A. They are not the same thing, although both are super-fast connectors for attaching devices to your computer. They make adding printers, cameras and external drives easy because you can just plug them in without complicated configuration. Another advantage is that USB and Firewire peripherals can be daisy-chained--plugged in to one another--so you can add several devices using just one port.     One major difference between USB (universal serial bus) and FireWire is the type of devices to which they should attach.	USB ports are best for connecting peripherals such as scanners, input devices and storage devices to your computer. Most new computers have at least one USB port.     Fire Wire is Apple's name for the port also known as IEEE 1394--Fire Wire sounds better. It's best suited for attaching video and audio devices such as cameras, televisions and digital tape recorders to your computer. FireWire transfers data much faster than a USB connection--400Mbps, compared with 12Mbps with a USB port.     FireWire and USB don't compete. In fact, most computers in the future will probably come with both ports built in. If you can't wait, expect to spend about $50 to add a USB port card with two USB connectors to your computer. Add-in Fire Wire/IEEE cards typically cost $100 or more.
Number 206 - July 2000