[geeks] Advice on USB/Firewire PCI card

[velociraptor]

On 10/11/05, Ido Dubrawsky <idubraws at dubrawsky.org> wrote:
> I'm the last leg of putting together this FrankenMac to run Tiger.  I plan
to
> use a USB keyboard instead of ADB.  From what I understand Tiger requires a
> firewire interface (preferably built-in on the motherboard...but as I
under-
> stand it doesn't HAVE to be on the motherboard).  So I'm looking at getting
> either a Sonnet Tango card or a Macally USB/firewire card and I want to
know
> what are some of the opinions on either one.  The Macally is cheaper than
the
> Sonnet but I understand that the Tango card has better support...or am I
wrong?

Haven't used either, but am perfectly happy with the USB2 MacAlly
card I picked up.  I opted for an ADS 1294b (64-bit) card to replace
the dead on-board ports on the used Quicksilver I have, as a hedge
against later 1394b devices.

I've had no issue with either after about 2 weeks of fairly intense
use.  I've beat up on them pretty hard, as I was getting lockups
with an Adaptec 1394a and no-name USB2 card I had in there,
though that may have been a bad PCI slot (I need to do more
testing).

I think the more important question is which chipset the Sonnet and
the MacAlly are using in your case, as that seems to be the more
important question for FW in Macs.

Well, that and cables.  Apparently the prime reason for port failure
on FW cards and motherboards is bad cables when you are using
powered FW devices (zap).

=Nadine=