Addressing a Common FireWire Repeater Port Count Question

> What we would like is the:
> FW8-FIO-UB4PRH Unibrain FireRepeater-800 Pro FireWire 800 IEEE 1394b
> Repeater Hub 4 Port
> Assuming (all ports a bi-directional) as we would like 4 output
> devices feeding into
> 1 input device.


Since FireWire is a true peer-to-peer technology, unlike say, the prosaic USB standard, terminology for FireWire repeaters and hubs is a little different. Typically the count on a FireWire repeater hub is the total available ports, since the host computer is considered just another peer level device. In other words, plugging a computer into the FW8-FIO-UB4PRH leaves three available ports left. If you have 5 total devices to connect (including a computer), then you could deploy two of the repeater hubs in conjunction with each other. The following schematic illustrates one such configuration with FW8R1 and FW8R2 representing separate FW8-FIO-UB4PRH units.

         FW8R1
         -----
HOST --- = p1 |
         | p2 = --- DEVICE   FW8R2
         | p3 = --- DEVICE   -----
         | p4 = ------------ = p1 |
         -----               | p2 = --- DEVICE
                             | p3 = --- DEVICE
                             | p4 = --- DEVICE
                             -----|