Apple was both best friend & worst enemy of FireWire in tumultuous deployment history
A standout tech of Jobs's new Apple after his return to the company was FireWire -- but Apple's moves both before and after his return acted as both salvations and damnation of the high-speed protocol.
A history written by Robert C. Moss for Ars Technica chronicles the FireWire technology from its infancy, through its confusing names across companies, to its ultimate state now as a niche connector still used in just a handful of industries.
The technology started in 1987, when a group of engineers including Michael Johas Teener at National Semiconductor needed to consolidate multiple high-speed connectivity standard proposals. Shortly thereafter, Teener joined Apple, and the company was looking for an ADB replacement that could carry audio as well.
At the time, the nascent spec that would become FireWire could move 12 Mbit/sec. Apple wanted 50, so Teener and David James -- who worked previously at National Semiconductor -- re-engineered the spec for high bitrate signals.
It was at this point that FireWire diverged from the effort that would become USB. The pair implemented isochronous transport, meaning that the chain could guarantee when the next packet of data would arrive from an external device. This technology made the protocol ideal for professional audio and video needs.
IBM then jumped in the fray, but wanted a replacement for SCSI, and 100 Mbit/second transfers. Teener and James then enlisted the help of STMicroelectronics to implement data-strobe encoding -- yet another technology to speed transfers.
A connector engineer at Apple suggested along the way for the final spec of FireWire 400 that it use a connector similar to the Nintendo Game Boy link cable. The Nintendo connector put the parts of the connection most likely to be damaged in the cable, and not in the host computer.
The 300-page specification was completed and ratified in 1995. It allowed for 400 Mbit/s -- hence the later name of FireWire 400 -- over cables up to 4.5 meters long, delivering 1.5A of current. As Apple fans are aware, the technology did away with arcane SCSI termination rules, and device address settings.
Other names for the technology were Texas Instruments' Lynx, plus Sony's i.Link and and DV-input. The name wasn't the only thing that Sony went its own way on -- the Sony FireWire four-pin connector was made without consulting the other FireWire contrubutors.
"One year the company was trying to out-compete the PC by undercutting the PC market because the board decided it was losing market share," said New Media Division Director of Macintosh OEM Products Eric Sirkin. "The next year after they got market share, they realized that there was no innovation. So they'd swing the other way."
Sirkin realized the value of the connector, and adopted it for his division for marketing to consumer electronics companies. He initially insitututed a $50,000 one-time licensing fee for use of the technology, regardless of how many devices a licensee developed.
Intel promised to bake support for FireWire directly into its chips for Windows PCs.
Then, Steve Jobs returned to Apple, and both heavily advanced the technology, and killed it before its time.
Intel withdrew its support for adopting FireWire, and shifted over to USB 2.0. A month later, Apple lowered the price to $0.25 per system, but Intel was still out.
Firewire over Ethernet proposed cabling
An effort to move the technology to Ethernet failed. Teener believes that it was sunk because the 1394 Trade Association didn't want to deal with Jobs's mercurial licensing efforts again.
This effectively ended wide support for FireWire on Windows computers.
Apple tried to keep it alive with inclusion in the iPod up to a year after the 30-pin connector was adopted, and the technology evolved into FireWire 800, then 1600, then 3200 -- all necessitating a different connector across generations.
The last FireWire 800 Mac shipped in 2012. Apple never adopted the faster standards.
FireWire basically went extinct after Jobs declared it dead in 2008. Apple started shipping computers with Thunderbolt in 2011 before it migrated to USB 3.0.
The lone notable consumer FireWire S1600 device was a Sony video camera. The IEEE 1394 group promised a single fiber mode transport in 2009, which died on the vine in 2013.
"I think the story really is that [FireWire] just reflected the Apple of that era," said Sirkin. "And here is a very innovative technology that it just refused to deploy in its computers. The only way Apple did was by finding another company, in this case Sony, who latched onto it. And then after Sony got excited about it, then Apple did."
A history written by Robert C. Moss for Ars Technica chronicles the FireWire technology from its infancy, through its confusing names across companies, to its ultimate state now as a niche connector still used in just a handful of industries.
The technology started in 1987, when a group of engineers including Michael Johas Teener at National Semiconductor needed to consolidate multiple high-speed connectivity standard proposals. Shortly thereafter, Teener joined Apple, and the company was looking for an ADB replacement that could carry audio as well.
At the time, the nascent spec that would become FireWire could move 12 Mbit/sec. Apple wanted 50, so Teener and David James -- who worked previously at National Semiconductor -- re-engineered the spec for high bitrate signals.
"I think the story really is that [FireWire] just reflected the Apple of that era," -- ex-Director of Macintosh OEM Products Eric Sirkin
It was at this point that FireWire diverged from the effort that would become USB. The pair implemented isochronous transport, meaning that the chain could guarantee when the next packet of data would arrive from an external device. This technology made the protocol ideal for professional audio and video needs.
IBM then jumped in the fray, but wanted a replacement for SCSI, and 100 Mbit/second transfers. Teener and James then enlisted the help of STMicroelectronics to implement data-strobe encoding -- yet another technology to speed transfers.
A connector engineer at Apple suggested along the way for the final spec of FireWire 400 that it use a connector similar to the Nintendo Game Boy link cable. The Nintendo connector put the parts of the connection most likely to be damaged in the cable, and not in the host computer.
Submission and Ratification
The working technology was called ChefCat. Just before the Comdex show in 1993, the engineers working on the technology renamed it Firewire -- with the name changed by marketing to FireWire.The 300-page specification was completed and ratified in 1995. It allowed for 400 Mbit/s -- hence the later name of FireWire 400 -- over cables up to 4.5 meters long, delivering 1.5A of current. As Apple fans are aware, the technology did away with arcane SCSI termination rules, and device address settings.
Other names for the technology were Texas Instruments' Lynx, plus Sony's i.Link and and DV-input. The name wasn't the only thing that Sony went its own way on -- the Sony FireWire four-pin connector was made without consulting the other FireWire contrubutors.
Praise for the connector, and tumult at Apple
FireWire was heralded as a significant technology by pundits, and the industry. At one point, Apple cancelled the FireWire effort."One year the company was trying to out-compete the PC by undercutting the PC market because the board decided it was losing market share," said New Media Division Director of Macintosh OEM Products Eric Sirkin. "The next year after they got market share, they realized that there was no innovation. So they'd swing the other way."
Sirkin realized the value of the connector, and adopted it for his division for marketing to consumer electronics companies. He initially insitututed a $50,000 one-time licensing fee for use of the technology, regardless of how many devices a licensee developed.
Intel promised to bake support for FireWire directly into its chips for Windows PCs.
Then, Steve Jobs returned to Apple, and both heavily advanced the technology, and killed it before its time.
Best of times, worst of times
Under Jobs, Apple shipped the Blue and White G3 -- the first Apple product to get the connector without needing a PCI expansion card. At the same time, Jobs restructured the FireWire license to demand $1 per port in fees, So, above and beyond the already more expensive than USB technology to use FireWire, manufacturers had to dole out $2 per manufactured item.Intel withdrew its support for adopting FireWire, and shifted over to USB 2.0. A month later, Apple lowered the price to $0.25 per system, but Intel was still out.
Firewire over Ethernet proposed cabling
An effort to move the technology to Ethernet failed. Teener believes that it was sunk because the 1394 Trade Association didn't want to deal with Jobs's mercurial licensing efforts again.
This effectively ended wide support for FireWire on Windows computers.
Apple tried to keep it alive with inclusion in the iPod up to a year after the 30-pin connector was adopted, and the technology evolved into FireWire 800, then 1600, then 3200 -- all necessitating a different connector across generations.
The last FireWire 800 Mac shipped in 2012. Apple never adopted the faster standards.
What could have been
FireWire 800 devices persist in the audio industry to this day. So much so, that when Apple changed core audio routines in El Capitan in 2015, there was a hue and cry to fix the problem, post haste -- and Apple did.FireWire basically went extinct after Jobs declared it dead in 2008. Apple started shipping computers with Thunderbolt in 2011 before it migrated to USB 3.0.
The lone notable consumer FireWire S1600 device was a Sony video camera. The IEEE 1394 group promised a single fiber mode transport in 2009, which died on the vine in 2013.
"I think the story really is that [FireWire] just reflected the Apple of that era," said Sirkin. "And here is a very innovative technology that it just refused to deploy in its computers. The only way Apple did was by finding another company, in this case Sony, who latched onto it. And then after Sony got excited about it, then Apple did."
Comments
FireWire was amazing for many reasons, not least QoS. From the first Sawtooth Macs having internal FireWire ports through to iMacs that could act as FireWire repeaters - even when turned off FireWire should have blazed a trail of glory. It was so far ahead of anything else out there it could have laid the foundation for much of what we see today but years earlier.
It's sad that the main reason if failed was because of Apple itself.
I still remember considering a Sony Lissa after seeing one in an audio store.
2) I wouldn't call Thunderbolt an Apple "protocol du jour." It's a brilliant Intel protocol, that first used mini-Display Port—which was adopted as a VESA standard and which Apple licensed free of charge—because the USB-IF didn't want Intel using TB over USB-A. As I'm sure you know it's now used over USB-C which is a brilliant pairing.
I loved Firewire Target Mode on Macs for all sort of things. That always made die hard Windoze people facepalm a bit. Nothing like it in their world.
I remember all of this pretty well. When Steve came back, Apple was still a mess, though Amelio fixed a lot of problems. Steve was looking for income, so he changed the license. Of course that didn't work.
we kept reading about when to expect 1600, and drooled about 3200 and even higher. Sigh, never happened.
its only now, that USB 3 adopted some of the streaming standards from FireWire, that's it's become as effective, and at higher speeds too.
"A connector at Apple suggested along the way for the final spec of FireWire 400 that it use a connector similar to the Nintendo Game Boy link cable, that put the parts of the connection most likely to be damaged in the cable, and not in the host computer."
This makes it sound like that Apple migrated away from Thunderbolt to USB. But we know that's not the case. USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt now just share the same connection.
Still use drives with FW. Probably used 20-30 drives in my overall history. And beiieve me, back in the "old days" 2 hours vs 5 hours is a HUGE difference!
Nothing wrong with this really...