Thunderbolt - Firewire converter
- Thread starter ccs569
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
A company called Sonnet is supposed to release such an adapter sometime this summer. They haven't said when or how much it will be yet.
Peteyy
macrumors newbie
A company called Sonnet are apparently making one: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1166766/
clyde2801
macrumors 601
Simple. It's easier to make money by licensing a part (or charging a company to put on a 'mac compatible' sticker on the part) than it is making the part.
Wait for our larcenous friends in the people's republic to get their hands on some of these peripherals, reverse engineer them, and put them on ebay.
accessoriesguy
macrumors 6502a
ouch that really sucks, isn't thunderbolt backwards compatible with mini-display port? can't you just get mini display port to fire-wire? (doubt it but what do i know?)
This is a very clever idea, has someone tried it yet?
Edit: Is there even a DP to FW adapter? DP is for Video information only, isnt it?
Last edited:
Yes, miniDisplayPort works fine in the Thunderbolt port.
No, I don't think anyone has ever done a mDP to Firewire adapter. VGA, DVI, HDMI, yes. Firewire? Don't think I've seen anything like that.
darngooddesign
macrumors Core
Ethernet cable, wireless network, or external drive.
petrucci666
macrumors 6502a
This.
I've never seen a a DP to FW adapter.
EthanMiller
macrumors member
Dream depends on whether or not it makes the transition to LightPeak (the original name for ThunderBolt). With LP, everything was designed to be done using fibre optics and lasers, so really long really fast cables could work. The only disadvantage is that the ports would be unpowered*.
* Theoretically, they could combine optical data and copper power in the same cable. I'm not familiar enough with the spec to know.
phairphan
macrumors 6502a
It's anyone's guess. TB currently supplies a max of 10 W, I think just shy of being able to power most 3.5" drives in an external enclosure. The future of TB lies in optical cabling for greater bandwidth. Obviously, this would remove power from the spec unless they come up with a hybrid optical/copper cabling scheme.
Edit: EthanMiller beat me to it.
Edit: EthanMiller beat me to it.
mDP uses a different cable than thunderbolt, although the connectors are compatible. TB cables have active chips in them to handle the communication timing. I doubt it would work, if such a cable existed, but who knows?
I haven't seen a mDP vs TB cable comparison yet, only a TB cable teardown, so I have no idea if the pinouts are compatible or exactly what role the chips in the cable do.
FYI, I contacted Sonnet through the marketing e-mail on one of their press releases, and while they didn't have an update on the availability of the Thunderbolt-to-Firewire adapter, they did say that they will be announcing another Thunderbolt device tomorrow that will ship by the end of October. They also claimed that other previously-announced devices will be shipping "soon."
archangelg
macrumors newbie
I dunno... ~$150 seems rather pricey... do others feel similarly or am I off?
It does, but if it comes with a cable of any kind, consider that Apple charges $50 for that. That said, it does address what had been a shortcoming of Apple's entire notebook line (apart from the 17" Pro), and it opens up the Thunderbolt port to existing adapters such as eSATA or USB 3.0.
57004
Cancelled
Cool, so the OP could use a FireWire expresscard in that! (although it would make it even more expensive). But at least the peripherals are actually starting to roll out now.
Hellhammer
Moderator emeritus
Thanks! Put together something on this: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4680/sonnet-announces-thunderbolt-to-expresscard34-adapter
Didn't see any other sites posting it yet which is always a good thing (thanks to you).
But you are looking at ~$250 with the card. I think that is a pretty small market, considering that you are limited to "only" 500MB/s. Definitely a good thing that TB devices are starting to show up though.
I'm really disappointed at this product. Not only does it require THREE separate parts to work (ExpressCard, the adapter itself and the Thunderbolt cable), you have to buy the TB cable from Apple. That means you're paying nearly $300 AND lugging around 3 components. Definitely not an elegant nor financially practical solution at all.
I'm looking forward to the day that we see a Thunderbolt to USB3.0 + FW800 hub for less than $200. That I'd buy in a heartbeat.
'Express Card' ??
-- will this thing let me plug in old PC-card firewire devices?
"CardBus" or "PC Card" or "PCMCIA Card" is what they were called.
I still have (from a Lombard G3) a
"NewerTechnology FireWire2Go Cardbus Card for Powerbook G3 Series"
and a "IOGear FireWire CardBus Adapter" (3 ports).
Will this "ExpressCard" slot accept and work with these?
-- will this thing let me plug in old PC-card firewire devices?
"CardBus" or "PC Card" or "PCMCIA Card" is what they were called.
I still have (from a Lombard G3) a
"NewerTechnology FireWire2Go Cardbus Card for Powerbook G3 Series"
and a "IOGear FireWire CardBus Adapter" (3 ports).
Will this "ExpressCard" slot accept and work with these?
