Re: fwohci users, anyone ?

["John D. Baker" <jdbaker%consolidated.net@localhost>]

On Wed, 21 Oct 2020 13:29:22 -0000 (UTC),  mlelstv%serpens.de@localhost
(Michael van Elst) wrote:

> Is anyone using firewire hardware ? In particular for mass storage ?

I use it on occasion and when I do it's with mass storage (hard disk,
CD/DVD-RW drive).  Mostly on i386, some amd64, and occasionally on macppc
(how ironic!).

I think the last time I needed to use this setup was under NetBSD-7.

In the i386 case, an IBM Thinkpad A31p which has fwohci built in and an
IBM ThinkCenter with a FireWire card installed.  In each case, the
machine's interal disk is just barely big enough for the OS and a few
select packages, so I used the firewire disk for source trees, build
space and the like.  Also had the DVD-RW drive daisy chained from the
hard disk on each (internal optical drive CD-RW only).  Never had a
problem with it.

I assume the sparc host is PCI based (an SBUS 1394 card would be neat).
I have some Ultra 5s I could put a FireWire card in but they are in
not-easily-accessible storage.  (Nevermind scratching out workspace to
set one up.)

I can dig out my firewire enclosures and try them on netbsd-9/amd64,
-current/amd64, and -current/macppc.  Possibly also netbsd-9/i386 and
-current/i386 as they require less digging and scratching to set up
and test.

I've heard of some 1394 peripheral interface ICs being finicky...

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