Thoughts on Firewire

[stack]

So I am looking at buying an external drive system that has both USB 2.0 and Firewire connections. I have never owned a device with Firewire capabilities; computers I have purchased have had connections, but I never have used any devices.

As I was discussing my excitement for new territory in firewire with someone I know, I mentioned that this device will be another backup means for some of the stuff we do and that I will probably attach it directly to the system in question. This got his attention. He was very concerned about attaching a firewire device to a "production" system and was very expressive in that firewire and Linux had lots of problems. When I pressed for more reason his responce was "Well I haven't done anything in a couple of months but..."

Well, as we all know, a couple of months can be HUGE in the open source world so I pretty much stopped listening there. I hit up Google to find anything and I didn't find much. An occasional problem, but actual bug reports were pretty low (or years old).

If I am not mistaken, I believe that firewire was invented just a couple of years after Linus made his post to the world about Linux. So firewire is something that has been around since the mid-ninties, almost as old as Linux, and there are problems? Hrm...I doubt it.

Nevertheless, since my experience with Firewire is "I know it exists and not much else" I figured I would ask. Are there problems with it? Is it as plug and play as USB2.0 is? Is there anything I need to be worried about? Should I just stick with USB2.0?

Speaking of USB2.0 v Firewire...what does everyone think about the new standards for them? Think they will be around for long before e-sata beats them down? Anyone using e-sata? (wish I had the money for it, it looks /sweet/ !)

Anything on Firewire is welcome!
Thanks, and Have Fun!
~S~

[stack]

So I have been doing some research and I came across this site:
http://kernelnewbies.org/
It has got a ton of resources on what is going on in the kernel. Really good stuff. I am actually surprised that I have never heard of it before.

While browsing that site I found:
http://marc.info/?l=linux1394-user&m=120920062724776

So firewire is doing well and it is actively being worked on and improved. That's a good thing.

So anyway, I have decided to go the firewire route and I will let you know how it goes.

[tenmei]

stack, I for one appreciate your firewire info, though I've never used it myself. I saw news that USB 3.0 is getting closer, and maybe next year that will be a reality.