[ltp] In search of the perfect laptop combination

[Steve Krulewitz]

Andrew --

This is the one I use:

http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-4NFQ25

Got it cheap from compgeeks.com a few years ago.  Has worked great with old
and new iPods in both windows and Linux.  In linux, it uses the ohci1394
module.

One thing to pay attention to is how your firewire devices plug in.  In the
case of this card, it comes with 2 special cables.  On one end of each of
the special cables you have a flat wide connector that plugs into the pc
card (similar to the network dongles that network pc cards use).  On the
other end of each cable is a male firewire connector, one with a 6 pin and
one with a 4 pin.  This setup is good for me because I also have a wifi card
in the other pc card slot so the firewire card does not get in the way of
the wifi antenna that sticks out.  The bad thing about this card is that you
need the special cables, and in the case of the new iPod that has its own
custom cable, you can't connect it without a hub or adapter of some sort
(hence the PocketDock).

Some firewire pc cards have firewire ports built on to them, but they would
probably obstruct any other pc card you put in.

One final note -- most firewire pc cards do not supply power to the bus, so
the iPod will not charge while connected.  There are some hackish ways to
get around this (i think there are some firewire cables that can also be
plugged into another port to draw power, etc) but I just make sure I have a
good charge in my iPod before hooking it up.

cheers,
-steve