#What is apple firewire do mac os x#
#What is apple firewire do mac os#
#What is apple firewire do driver#
#What is apple firewire do software#
#What is apple firewire do windows#

#What is apple firewire do mac os#

(FireWire can be either isochronous - the data is transferred at a specific rate at specific times, essential for DV and audio to prevent skipping вЂ“or asynchronous - data which is not transferred on a specific timetable.) However, Anderson said that Apple would probably move DV to the application space via the user client - noting that acquiring DV data is essentially a plug-in.ДЄfter carefully walking through all of the layers within Mac OS XвЂ™s FireWire implementation, Apple engineer Collin Pieper walked through a series of how-toвЂ™s that outlined what needs to be done to create drivers for a variety of common devices.

Apple claims that there is little or no performance penalty for writing to the FireWire Device Interface, and that it is far easier to debug.Д¬urrently, DV is handled within the kernel because Apple wanted to ensure that it was fast enough and that it could properly handle isochronous data transfers. Also called the User Client, this API (Application Programming Interface) allows application space drivers to work similarly to in-kernel drivers.

#What is apple firewire do software#

To facilitate developers writing software for their devices that does not reside in the kernel, Apple has created the FireWire Device Interface.

#What is apple firewire do driver#

These features can be added in at various levels of the OS from the kernel all the way up to the application.ДЄpple has worked hard to ensure that performance remains optimal regardless of whether driver software resides in the kernel or at a higher level of Mac OS X. This is the hard part of creating a FireWire hard disk, as all FireWire hard disks are ATA devices that use a FireWire bridge to translate the ATA signals into FireWire.Дevelopers also have the tools to create drivers with specific features. For example, AppleвЂ™s standard Mass Storage FireWire driver can handle almost all ATA to FireWire bridges available today. Apple maintains drivers for common devices like scanners, DV cameras, mass storage devices and the like. Many devices use standard FireWire drivers. In this case, the drivers communicate directly with the applications plug-in.

#What is apple firewire do mac os x#

But, it is also possible for devices like a FireWire scanner to skip around the whole Mac OS X software stack. The FireWire drivers physically control the device, but the data must move through the I/O Kit, the BSD KernelвЂ™s file system and so on up to your application. Some FireWire devices communicate through all the layers of the OS, and some can communicate directly with the top Carbon and Cocoa layers of Mac OS X.ДЇor example, a FireWire disk drive goes through the whole OS. The basic theory is that drivers control the physical hardware, and what the hardware does is controlled by higher-level services within Mac OS X. Included in these drivers are the FireWire drivers. He began by showing the layered software stack of Mac OS X describing where FireWire services are provided and how commands and data are moved up from the Mach kernel all the way through to the Carbon and Cocoa layers of Mac OS X.ДЄt the base of Mac OS X is the Mach Kernel, and within the kernel are the drivers for all the hardware of the Mac. Anderson also pointed out to developers that FireWire has shipped on Macs for years, and that 100 percent of Apple products will support FireWire.ДЄfter demonstrating TDM, Anderson briefly showed off iTunes, which works with FireWire CD burners, and iMovie, which takes advantage of FireWire DV cameras.ДЇinishing with iMovie, Anderson got down to the extremely technical nitty-gritty of how FireWire works in Mac OS X. He also described the layered design approach of Mac OS X, and briefly explained the OSвЂ™ NeXT, Mach and BSD underpinnings. He ran through the standard demonstration of the dock, icons and other features of Mac OS X that should, by now, be well understood by MacCentral readers. Anderson is a respected and active member of the 1394 Trade Association and has run a number of other well received general 1394 education sessions at the conference.ДЄnderson began the session by quickly showing off Mac OS X for the benefit of those who may not have seen it before. In addition to being a manager at Apple, Dr. Eric Anderson, Manager of FireWire Software at Apple, lead a team of Apple FireWire engineers through a presentation of all aspects of FireWire on Mac OS X.

#What is apple firewire do windows#

The two-hour session was well attended by both Mac FireWire developers and curious Windows FireWire developers. AppleвЂ™s largest session of the 1394 Developers Conference took place at MicrosoftвЂ™s facilities in Redmond, WA.