Do any Firewire-USB Adapters Work with Flex-3000 ?

Bill

I have a Dell Inspiron 17 R SE notebook computer. With all its high-end options, it does not have a firewire port. Is there any firewire-usb adapter that will work with the Flex-3000?

K9DUR

No. Firewire was chosen over USB for the interface because USB does not have the data throughput speed required. A USB-to-Firewire adapter is still only a USB port and not fast enough to handle the data transfer between the radio & the PC.

Bill

Thanks for the quick reply, Ray. That's what I feared. So much for my $1,600 laptop ! I guess I'm relegated, for now, to the Flex-1500 team. Bill W3WJ

Richard G7EIX

**EDITED* due to me noticing you have a Dell Inspiron 17 R Unfortunately you do not have laptop with a card slot... so yes, the 1500 is the highest you can go (or a 6500/6700) :-) A large amount of laptops have ExpressCard slots for which you can buy a 1394 adapter that should allow you to use the 3000. Some older laptops may have a PCMCIA slot, which again you can also obtain a 1394 card for.

David, KE5RV

This same situation applies to me as well. Has anyone in this community tried this using an ExpressCard adaptor?

K9DUR

When I do club presentations or run a booth at a local hamfest, I use my laptop and/or my wife's laptop, both of which ExpressCard slots. The 3000 & 5000 both work quite well with an ExpressCard firewire adapter. 73, Ray, K9DUR

Richard G7EIX

Yes. I have two different ones and they both work great with the Flex 5000.

David, KE5RV

Richard and Ray, thanks so much for the quick replies. I'll order an ExpressCard adaptor and see if my laptop recognizes it. My 2 year old company-issued laptop has a Firewire port but my new HP laptop doesn't. In fact, I don't see any new laptops on the market that do. I guess that is a fading technology in the Windows world. Thanks again! 73, David, KE5RV

Richard G7EIX

Unfortunately its a dying technology, so the manufacturers are moving away (already have in 99% of cases) and adopted USB3 and Thunderbolt as alternatives. Hopefully you will have good results with the card. I have a SIIG and a Sonnet (USB2.0/1394 Combo) - both work great and both have the Texas Instruments Chipset.

Richard G7EIX

In case anyone is interested in the Sonnet - here is the link. http://www.sonnettech.com/product/fwusbexpresscard34.html