Found a flush fitting firewire 400 card ( non-IBM)! (*PIC*)

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#1 Post by **gator** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 11:56 pm

Is this the holy grail that I have been searching for? I think I have finally found a 19K5679/19K5686 equivalent flush fitting firewire card that is currently available for $25. I have looked and looked in ebay for the IBM card, and it is just too rare to come by. IBM parts still sells it for $130!

Apricorn Dual Ignitor 400

But from what I learnt poking around, I think these two cards even use the same TI chipset, infact apricorn might have made this card for IBM back then.

I am seriously considering purchasing this. I don't mind the dongle and I know that it is not fully powered ... I don't foresee using a non-powered external firewire enclosure anyway.

Any one using this card here?

#2 Post by **gator** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 11:00 am

I gave in and bought it ... this month's 'upgrade' fund is over

If anyone wants a review or pics let me know, I'll take some pics and post after it arrives.

#3 Post by **Harryc** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 11:52 am

Gator, thanks for the research and information. I am also interested in your results with this card. Does anyone know if External firewire drives are bootable with any Thinkpad's BIOS? Which ones?

#4 Post by **gator** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 12:55 am

The card arrived today, and it is exactly what I wanted. It is not 1394b, just 1394 spec ... has two proprietary adapters for 4-pin and 6-pin firewire (comes with 2 cables and a setup CD). I tested it today evening with the lab's external HDD that we use for backups and it is way faster than using USB2. I fits nearly flush in the PC card slot of my T60 (sticks out by 1mm) and fully flush in the 600X/T23. I had no problems installing it in the 600X (which is where it is going to reside for now) and it runs just great. Great buy for the money I spent on it.

If anyone wants pics let me know.

#5 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 5:39 am

Thanks Gator. Mine arrives Monday

wearetheborg · #6 Post by **wearetheborg** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 6:11 am

What is the advantage of a flush fitting firewire card ? If there is another PCMCIA card in the other slot, wont it anyway prevent cables from being connected to the flush card ?

Gator, yes some pics please

NIXin · #7 Post by **NIXin** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 8:17 pm

Yes, I would like the pics aswell!

Is it really a Texas Instruments chipset? If so, then I'm buying one for sure, since TI firewire's are concidered best for 1394 audio interfaces.

Many thanks!

RWDPLZ · #8 Post by **RWDPLZ** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 10:05 pm

I'd also like to see pics of the connector-side of the card.

Now if I could only find a flush-mount USB2.0 card...

#9 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 10:22 pm

RWDPLZ wrote:Now if I could only find a flush-mount USB2.0 card...

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=49370

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=49709

NIXin · #10 Post by **NIXin** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 7:46 am

I ordered one at shopblt.com

They ship internationally, if anyone is looking for it.

Moderator edit: Shortened URL to prevent horizontal scrolling

DAH · #11 Post by **DAH** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 8:11 am

Will this card run under Vista? Can Vista find drivers for it?

#12 Post by **gator** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:59 pm

DAH, I don't know if it will work with Vista.

Here are some pics. They aren't that great (blame my shaky hands!) but you'll get the idea:

wearetheborg · #13 Post by **wearetheborg** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 6:05 pm

Gator, does the dongle connector have the same width as the card ? Basically I want to know if there is another PCMCIA card connected, whether that will block the dongle from being connected to the firewire card.

#14 Post by **gator** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 6:19 pm

The dongle connector does NOT obstruct the other slot. That is the primary reason why I was looking for such a card in the first place!

wearetheborg · #15 Post by **wearetheborg** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 6:39 pm

Ahh great.
Anyone know if this works under linux ?

NIXin · #16 Post by **NIXin** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 8:47 am

Does it need additional drivers, or does it works out of the box in XP ? If it does, then it'll probably work in Vista too.
Could you also confirm, that it is based on a Texas Instruments chip?

Thanks !
Have a great day!

#17 Post by **Harryc** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 8:54 am

NIXin wrote:Does it need additional drivers, or does it works out of the box in XP ? If it does, then it'll probably work in Vista too.
Could you also confirm, that it is based on a Texas Instruments chip?

Thanks !
Have a great day!

I just got mine. Wow is it fast. I forgot what Firewire was like since I sold my Mac. Ok, it does not need drivers out of the box, it just works in XP. In device manager it is listed as a " Texas Instruments OCHI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller."

#18 Post by **gator** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 4:40 pm

NIXin, it indeed is based on a TI chip AFAIK.

#19 Post by **rkawakami** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 5:21 pm

Okay, since you guys were great guinea pigs, I broke down and ordered one too

. I've only transferred one video clip off my DV camcorder (using my Gateway 450SX4 which has a FireWire port) but this might prompt me to start off-loading some more videos onto a T23 and put my DVD burner to use. Since I did not beat the 2pm PT deadline for shipping, we'll see how long it takes for my card to arrive.

#20 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 5:45 pm

I was in Circuit City (Dickson City, PA) today and happened to see a flush-mounted Firewire card there for around $35.-
If I had seen this post, I would have noted the details. I think it was made by ADS.

#21 Post by **Harryc** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 5:55 pm

I wish there was a way to boot from Firewire on a Thinkpad

#22 Post by **gator** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:00 pm

Ray ... you won'e be disappointed. I just tried moving data from a digicam (with the 4-pin firewire) to test how fast it was, and it is waaaaaaay better than USB2. It is a good deal for the price IMHO.

NIXin · #23 Post by **NIXin** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 1:30 pm

Harryc wrote:I wish there was a way to boot from Firewire on a Thinkpad

I wish there was a way to boot from eSATA ExpressCard...

and firewire boot would be nice too...

kimo · #24 Post by **kimo** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 3:32 pm

hey all,

i just purchased an IBM card for $34.

http://www.showtimecomputer.com/public_ ... _i768.html

i'll report back if it is what it is when i get it.

Alexander Heß · #25 Post by **Alexander Heß** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 3:17 pm

wearetheborg wrote:Ahh great.
Anyone know if this works under linux ?

I second that question!

@gator:

Could you download a linux live-cd like Ubuntu and check if the card works?

#26 Post by **gator** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 4:53 pm

Alexander Heß wrote: Could you download a linux live-cd like Ubuntu and check if the card works?

I have debian 4 installed on my 600X, I will check and tell if the card works on it later tonight.

#27 Post by **rkawakami** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 1:58 am

FedEx Ground package arrived from Apricorn this afternoon. Only three days after placing the order. Shipped from the home of (ex)-Gateway, now Acer, in Poway, SoCal to NorCal. Had a heck of a time trying to remove the inner cardboard box without ripping the outer cover. Everything seems to be there; adapter inside the usual flip-to-open PCMCIA case, the Mac install CD (with some Windows video software) and two dongles. Guess it's time to dig out the camcorder and see how easy/fast transfers are...

#28 Post by **gator** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 6:32 pm

This Card works in debian 4!

kimo · #29 Post by **kimo** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 10:16 am

so i got the card in today. looks like the one gator has except it has an ibm label on it.

it came with two cables. i confess i didn't do a thorough research and realized that i can't connect my ipod via firewire. i use a 3rd generation ipod and it doesn't work well with a usb cable. sigh.

NIXin · #30 Post by **NIXin** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 7:30 am

OK, I got the card two days ago. I payed 23USD for the card and 25$ for shipping and 6$ for handling (not funny). But you can't get this or any simmilar card in the entire Europe.
Anyway, card works great, and is more stable then the one integrated in the T61 (using a RICOH chipset, this one is from Texas Instruments).
I recorded a small video presenting the card, it's on youtube here.

I also took some pictures:
http://85.17.168.129/~nixin/public/DualIgniter400/

Found a flush fitting firewire 400 card ( non-IBM)! (PIC)

Found a flush fitting firewire 400 card ( non-IBM)! (PIC)

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