This
comes from Basler, who suggest it’s time to ditch Firewire/1394 for
USB 3.0. A White
Paper
on their website sets out their reasoning, some of which makes sense
and some of which I would question.
Four
arguments are presented: 1394 hardware will disappear, Windows 8
doesn’t support it, the bandwidth is insufficient, and it will save
you money.
The
first two of these I agree with completely. Indeed, it’s been
several years since I developed anything with Firewire, preferring to
use GigE instead. So yes, new systems should not be developed with
this outdated interface. But if the system is in-service and working
well, why would you change?
The
bandwidth argument makes no sense, and how will replacing cameras
that still work save money?
Bottom
line: if you’re developing applications with Firewire interfaces
you’re building-in obsolescence. But if your old Firewire systems
still perform the way you need, stay with them.
I
suppose I should add one caveat: smart engineers will be looking
ahead at how they would replace the old systems when they do fail.
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