batguebi01: Cinema Display FireWire cable length nuisance solution

Wednesday, 18 May 2011

Cinema Display FireWire cable length nuisance solution

Here's how to simply use the FireWire 400 hub in your 30" Cinema Display (DVI) with the dual-link adaptor, without the massive nest of unused cable just so the FireWire from the display can reach your computer.

You've upgraded to a new machine with a Mini DisplayPort, and want to keep using your dual-link DVI display. The cable is rather long, and includes USB, but no FireWire. You could try to plug the FireWire into your machine, but the slack they give you is so little, you get a nest from the coiled dual-link adaptor. And its even more awkward if you use a 400-800 adaptor stub.

Here's what I did. Get a normal male-male FireWire cable (800-to-400 if your machine has an 800 port), and just plug it into the back of your Cinema Display. Now you can still hook up 2 FireWire 400 devices thru the monitor: one using the unused port on the back of the Cinema Display, and one using the unused male connection at the end of the monitor's own cable.

Explanation: th ...