Thanks Terry for a little market surveying! I don't think you will see 1394 disappearing in the 5-10 year horizon as its used more in professional circles than it ever was in consumer gear. Its hard to live in the pro audio world without using 1394 whereas I doubt many non-Flexers have a need for them outside of camcorders etc.
73 Neal Campbell Abroham Neal Software www.abrohamnealsoftware.com (540) 645 5394 NEW PHONE NUMBER Amateur Radio: K3NC Blog: http://www.abrohamnealsoftware.com/blog/ DXBase bug reports: email to [email protected] Abroham Neal forums: http:/www.abrohamnealsoftware.com/community/ On Sun, Sep 5, 2010 at 6:43 PM, wb4jfi <[email protected]> wrote: > I just happened to go in Best Buy and Costco here in Charleston, SC today, > looking at laptops. I found a large Sony (I7 CPU) for about $1200 at Costco > that has a Firewire port (the same model at Best Buy for $1350). At Best > Buy, there was a smaller Sony (with I5CPU I think) for about $800 that has a > Firewire port. No other laptops (other than Apples) had Firewire in either > store. I'm checking the Dell website next. I prefer Sony, Toshiba, or Dell > laptops, as I've had good success with (only) those three brands. > > A few laptops has ExpressCard slots, but not a lot of them did. They > almost all had HDMI ports. Everyone has several USB ports. > > It looks like IEEE 1394 is going away pretty quickly. I hope Flex has an > alternative plan in the works, with Firewire going bye-bye. It seems like > USB (booooo), or Enet (yeeaah) is the long-term solution. I'm planning for > any of my future designs to use Enet. > > I'm wondering about my Sony camcorders with Firewire... at least my newest > HD camera has USB instead of Firewire. But two older cameras have Firewire, > and I still use them at times.... Oh well. > Terry, WB4JFI > > > On 9/5/2010 5:48 PM, Neal Campbell wrote: > >> Sad to say but its not the case in the market most of our Flex users are >> in! >> >> As with most Flex users, the laptop market seems to exist in the 500-1000 >> USD price range. One way to reduce cost (or increase margin depending on >> your perspective) is to not include any extras like cardbus, 1394 ports, >> etc. I think the sub-1K market is aimed towards students so connectivity >> issues outside of wifi and wired lan and some USB stuff is not really in >> demand. Oddly enough though, they all include a HDMI jack (which I guess >> is >> for watching movies on the monitor in the dorm)! >> >> If you look (and I do almost daily) for a sub-800 dollar laptop with >> expresscard slots or firewire ports and fine one, please let me know! >> >> 73 >> Neal Campbell >> Abroham Neal Software >> www.abrohamnealsoftware.com >> (540) 645 5394 NEW PHONE NUMBER >> >> Amateur Radio: K3NC >> Blog: http://www.abrohamnealsoftware.com/blog/ >> DXBase bug reports: email to [email protected] >> Abroham Neal forums: http:/www.abrohamnealsoftware.com/community/ >> >> >> >> >> >> On Sun, Sep 5, 2010 at 5:04 PM, Alan NV8A<[email protected]> wrote: >> >> On 09/05/10 03:33 pm, Ted Leonard wrote: >>> >>> I am thinking of a new laptop for my Flex 1500 with the idea that the >>> >>>> 1500 may someday have a big brother Flex. >>>> What laptops have the necessary port to plug in a firewire adapter in >>>> case a big brother does arrive? >>>> >>>> I would expect that all reasonably recent laptops would have a CardBus >>> slot >>> into which a TI-chipset FireWire adapter (US$30 or so) could be plugged. >>> Some laptops may even come with FireWire built in, but it may not be up >>> to >>> the task of running a Flex. >>> >>> 73 >>> >>> Alan NV8A >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Flexedge mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexedge_flex-radio.biz >>> This is the FlexRadio Systems e-mail Reflector called FlexEdge. It is >>> used >>> for posting topics related to SDR software development and >>> experimentalist >>> who are using beta versions of the software. >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >> Flexedge mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexedge_flex-radio.biz >> This is the FlexRadio Systems e-mail Reflector called FlexEdge. It is >> used for posting topics related to SDR software development and >> experimentalist who are using beta versions of the software. >> >> >> > _______________________________________________ Flexedge mailing list [email protected] http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexedge_flex-radio.biz This is the FlexRadio Systems e-mail Reflector called FlexEdge. It is used for posting topics related to SDR software development and experimentalist who are using beta versions of the software.
