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FireWire and USB are the connection ports of the future, and every new Mac has both formats built in. But there are millions of Macs in use today, including first generation G3s, that don't have either. The solution is to add what you need as a PCI card and the Swann USB/FireWire Combo card helps make the most of the limited number of PCI slots in most Macs. The card simply fits into a free PCI slot and supplies two FireWire and two USB ports, bringing older Macs in line with today's standards. We tested the card in a beige Power Mac G3, arguably the model most likely to be upgraded, and it worked impeccably. Any USB device we had that worked with newer Mac models behaved with our upgraded machine and the FireWire connections
Plugging and unplugging both USB and FireWire cables proved to be a little tricky, simply because in our minitower Mac, the PCI slot space was slightly recessed and beneath all the other cables. But USB hubs are cheap and plentiful and Swann also offers a FireWire hub for those with numerous FireWire devices. Slot machine You may find some simple USB devices, such as mice, are not automatically recognised by the Mac on startup and need to be unplugged and plugged in again to alert the Mac to their presence. However, this is simply the way older Macs with PCI-based USB ports behave rather than something specific to the Swann card. As any self-respecting FireWire or USB card should, the card supplied power for devices, coping with as many bus-powered USB and FireWire devices as a regular PowerMac G4's USB and FireWire ports. Of course, if you have a few power-hungry devices, it's best to use separate powered hubs or individual power supplies to keep them satisfied. If you have a PCI-based Power Mac and you need either USB or FireWire, you could do a lot worse than the Swann USB/FireWire Combo card. It's cheap, it delivers both formats in a single card and it works without fuss. What more could you ask? By Keith Martin |
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