Why use Ethernet over Firewire

- If you want to transfer data from computer to computer and you are limited to 100 Mbps (Firewire is 400/800 Mbps)
- If your one computer does not support ethernet (old eMacs) but when it has a Firewire port.

Support by other operating systems

- Mac OS X has one of the most user-friendly implementations where you can share your ethernet or WiFi connection via Firewire.
- FreeBSD
- Windows Me, XP and Windows Server 2003 all have native support

How to use Ethernet over FireWire (IPv4 over FireWire)

The Ubuntu kernel package already contains the necessary driver modules for IPv4 networking over FireWire. You need the firewire-ohci and firewire-core drivers for the FireWire controller, and the firewire-net driver to run the IPv4 protocol over FireWire.

Run the following to activate the driver.

sudo modprobe firewire-net

To activate the connection during boot, a change in '/etc/network/interfaces' must be made.

auto firewire0
iface firewire0 inet static
    address x.x.x.x
    netmask 255.255.255.0
    broadcast x.x.x.255
    pre-up modprobe firewire-net

Replace the x by a static IP address in your local subnet.

Using a firewire cable and the above commands, you can have a network between two computers.

External Links

• Networking over FireWire - Wikipedia page on IEEE 1394

• Linux FireWire wiki

• Ethernet over USB - Wikipedia page on connecting Ethernet devices via USB, and USB as an Ethernet network.

Comments

eth1394 has been removed from the kernel since version 2.6.22 and it's task has been taken over by the 'firewire-net' module, source