Please Note: This blog post is part of a series of five posts altogether.
The posts include: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.

Connecting laptops without a FireWire interface

If your laptop does not have a FireWire socket, you can use

• one IEEE 1394 PC card (CBI/1394o1)
• one 6-pin to 6-pin FireWire cable (CA-1394-66/3)
• one power supply (CA-1394-64/PJ/Mainy/EU for Europe and CA-1394-64/PJ/Mainy/US for US)

Please Note: This blog post is part of a series of five posts altogether.
The posts include: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.

Connecting laptops with a 6-pin FireWire interface

Laptop does not supply the FireWire socket with power

Find the following kits

• a FireWire hub (FireWire HUB/2)
• two 6-pin to 6-pin FireWire cables (CA-1394-66/3)
• a power supply (CA-1394-64/PJ/Mainy/EU for Europe and CA-1394-64/PJ/Mainy/US for US)

and connect them as the image illustrates below.

Laptop does supply the FireWire socket with power (usually not in battery mode)

Then you just need one 6-pin to 6-pin FireWire cable to directly connect the laptop and the camera.

Please Note: This blog post is part of a series of five posts altogether.
The posts include: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.

Connecting laptops with a 4-pin FireWire interface

Using Y-cable

Since 4-pin FireWire cable is unable to supply cameras with the power, you will need:

• a Y-cable (CA-1394-64/PJ/2) to connect the computer, camera and the power
• a power supply (CA-1394-64/PJ/Mainy/EU for Europe and CA-1394-64/PJ/Mainy/US for US)

to have the camera run on the laptop.

Supplying the cameras via a hub

Another way to have a FireWire camera working on such a laptop is via a FireWire hub. To do so, you need:

• a FireWire hub (FireWire HUB/2)
• a 6-pin to 6-pin FireWire cable (CA-1394-66/3) to connect the camera and the hub
• a 6-pin to 4-pin FireWire cable (CA-1394-64/3) to connect the laptop and the hub
• a power supply (CA-1394-64/PJ/Mainy/EU for Europe and CA-1394-64/PJ/Mainy/US for US)

And then round them up like the picture above.

Please Note: This blog post is part of a series of five posts altogether.
The posts include: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.

Connecting desktops with a FireWire interface

If the desktop comes with a 6-pin FireWire socket, simply connect your FireWire device and the socket with a 6-pin FireWire cable CA-1394-66/3.

Connecting desktops without a FireWire interface

If the desktop does not have a FireWire interface, you need to equip it by installing a PCI card, PCI/1394o1, in the computer. Then connect the FireWire device with the same cable mentioned above.

Please Note: This blog post is part of a series of five posts altogether.
The posts include: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.
The bus “FireWire”, or refered to as “1394″ in several countries, offers a multitude of connections and power supplies possibilities. This series of articles paper gives you an overview of these possibilities in the context of FireWire cameras, which do not come with a power supply.

Overview

There are two types of sockets for FireWire interfaces: 4-pin and 6-pin.

4-pin sockets connect the data signals only but do not connect the power supply of the bus.

6-pin sockets connect the data signals as well as the power supply of the bus.