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IP Over 1394/Firewire?
Chanc_Gorkon asks: "Just like to ask the Slashdot community if anyone has a set of step-by-step instructions for connecting two computers via IP over Firewire. Mac OS X Panther supports IP over Firewire, as does Windows XP. I would like to hook my PowerBook to a Windows XP machine, and be able to access the Internet and share files over the link. I am shooting for near full functionality, but the closest I came in my initial trials was being able to set static IP's per Firewire port, and do a FTP between the machines. If I can get this working, I figure this will be a good way of getting my PowerBook on the office network, without having to have a drop put in."
You are living in the stone age (or at least under a stone) my friend, if FireWire wasn't a viable medium for networking, why is support for it built in to both Windows XP and Mac OS X??? With built it support, it hardly requires ary "coersing" as you say. Just because you had some bad experience with SLIP back in the day doesn't prove anything about FireWire's networking capability/functionality. FireWire is much faster than a standard 10/100 connection, so it's use could be very advantageous in a 2 computer setup tranferring files. I think you are the one who needs to take advantage of these changed times.
A lot of posts have been of the form:
"Why are you using Firewire for networking? Buy a hub!"
A couple of points.
1. A lot of us have Firewire cables lying around but not hubs. Therefore, Firewire: $0. Switch: $25.
2. Firewire has the potential to be really fast. I know some of the third-party Firewire networking solutions for Mac used to sell well simply because they were 4x the speed of Ethernet -- which makes a big difference if you're transferring, say, massive TIFF proofs. (I personally have not gotten this working, see below.)
However:
1. It's a Mac. If you've got a free Ethernet port on another machine, you don't need a hub/switch. Macs detect crossover-vs.-normal UTP cables automatically.
2. Last I checked, the Firewire IP implementation in Panther wasn't terribly standard -- or, at least, I couldn't get any of my Linux or BSD boxes to recognize it. Might work with XP; should work with another Mac.
I've had a setup similar to what the poster's looking for for quite some time now
The basics (under Panther, similar under Jaguar):
- XP *loves* to bridge all of your networking connections, and it treats firewire as one. Don't let it. Delete the bridging node if it's in your Net Connections panel.
- Use the Internet Connection Sharing wizard, and set it to share your ethernet over the 1394 connection (firewire in the civilized world).
- On the Mac, go to your network control panel (prefpane, whatever), Show --> Network Port Configurations
- Add a New --> Built-in Firewire connection
- Set it up for DHCP and you should be good to go. You might also disable your built in ethernet, airport and dialup ports for this configuration if you want an easier time debugging the connection.
The connection works great between my Shuttle box and my Powerbooks. Close to gigabit speeds for local filesharing, speeds you'd expect for 'Net sharing.
Once the price of gigabit hubs comes down, however, I'll probably never use this connection type again. If my rendering farm gets big enough to require that type of constant bandwidth, I'll probably go gigE or fiber.
First, make sure that both computers are linked by firewire, then, reboot the powerbook, holding down 'T' as it is starting up. It should give you the firewire logo on the screen, meaning that it is in FW disk mode. Then, simply use the powerbook as a firewire hard disk (SBP2).