Questions about using an FW16E-equipped Motif XF with Windows 10 installed on a laptop seem to be coming up more frequently. I suspect that the reason replies are scarce is because there may be no easy answers. The first obstacle is that Microsoft has dropped support for FireWire (IEEE 1394). The second is that recent computers don’t typically have a FireWire port, and installing one is often not an option.

Although my own XF has an FW16E, the computer I’ve interfaced it to is an older desktop machine running Windows XP Pro, so I don’t have the problems of Win 10 or lack of FW port. I therefore haven’t had a need to find solutions.

I just did an online search…
http://www.google.com/search?q=FireWire+Windows+10+laptop
...and apparently the Win 10 FW driver issue can be resolved by installing a legacy driver from Microsoft. That still leaves FW port availability - what can be done will be very dependent on the particular computer.

Best of luck to those of you having to deal with the issue.

Obviously, people will have to buy specialized FireWire boards with a 3d party 64 bit driver. In addition, Microsoft has nothing to do with this, the motherboard manufacturers can do the drivers.

just_a_dude - 28 July 2020 11:59 AM

Obviously, people will have to buy specialized FireWire boards with a 3d party 64 bit driver. In addition, Microsoft has nothing to do with this, the motherboard manufacturers can do the drivers.

So, “Microsoft has nothing to do with this”?

Whether or not others can pick up the ball, Microsoft definitely dropped it.

They may be planning to change the data transfer protocols.