What's firewire?

[Tse How]

I don't understand what exactly it is, other than a way for me to connect a digital camcorder to my computer in order to transfer data. Do most computers have a firewire port or something? Like, where is it on the computer? I just have a regular micron built 600 mghertz PIII system I bought 2.5 years ago. How do i know if it supports firewire or whatever. Sorry, I'm stupid about this thing. Thanks.

[Ladogaboy]

No, your computer doesn't have a firewire port.

All a firewire port is is a connection into your computer, like USB (which your computer does have)... it is mostly used for streaming data. Because it is much faster than USB, it is prefered when transfering files. I have seen some firewire cards that install in a pci slot that are very cheap. The newer Soundblaster cards have built in firewire as well.

The only problem I've heard of with having a card in your pci slot for transferring videos is that I hear that you pci bus can get crowded with data. But I've only heard that complaint from people who do professional video editing.