help required, again .

[beamish]

Can someone explain the differences/benefits of PCI 1395b and PCI Express1394b please

[Merlin66]

From:

IEEE 1394 interface - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 1394b is the fastest bi-directional version of Firewire.

The older 32bit PCMCIA cards are sort of "full" size to fit into the slot on the older laptops. The Express version is a cutdown version (the end that plugs into the laptop is "stepped") and found on newer laptops ie my ol' ACER has the 32bit bus and the newer Dell the Express set-up.

NOTE: None of the standard PCMCIA firewire cards will power the Imaging Source cameras. They DON"T supply enough voltage (usually less than 5V) - The DMK etc needs a minimum of 8V so a firewire PCMCIA with an extrnal power connection is required.

Ken

FireWire 800 (IEEE 1394b-2002)

A 9-circuit beta connector

IEEE 1394b-2002[23] introduced FireWire 800 (Apple's name for the 9-circuit "S800 bilingual" version of the IEEE 1394b standard) This specification and corresponding products allow a transfer rate of 786.432 Mbit/s full-duplex via a new encoding scheme termed beta mode. It is backwards compatible to the slower rates and 6-circuit alpha connectors of FireWire 400. However, while the IEEE 1394a and IEEE 1394b standards are compatible, FireWire 800's connector, referred to as a beta connector, is different from FireWire 400's alpha connectors, making legacy cables incompatible. A bilingual cable allows the connection of older devices to the newer port. In 2003, Apple was the first to introduce commercial products with the new connector.

The full IEEE 1394b specification supports data rates up to 3200 Mbit/s (i.e., 400 megabytes/s) over beta-mode or optical connections up to 100 metres (330 ft) in length. Standard Category 5e unshielded twisted pair supports 100 metres (330 ft) at S100. The original 1394 and 1394a standards used data/strobe (D/S) encoding (renamed to alpha mode) on the circuits, while 1394b adds a data encoding scheme called 8B10B referred to as beta mode.

[jgs001]

Karlo, PCI is the older Peripheral Connect Interface inside the guts of a desktop PC. PCI Express is the faster, newer version of the same, I don't know about what amount of power you can draw form those cards though...

[beamish]

Many thanks chaps for clearing that up- just tinkering in my mind re the Flea 3