Does FireWire have the “plug and play” capability?

Does FireWire have the “plug and play” capability?

Does FireWire have the “plug and play” capability? What is Plug and Play? Let's examine what plug and play is and what it does, then examine whether or not FireWire has the capability.

Plug and Play, also known as PnP, is a capability that was developed by Microsoft for its Windows 95 and later operating systems. It gives users the ability to plug a device into a computer and be recognized by the computer. The user does not have to instruct the computer. In various earlier computer systems the user had to tell the operating system when a new device was added. Plug and Play was a selling point Microsoft made for its Windows operating systems. Macintosh computers have had a similar capability that has long been built in., Plug and Play has been replaced by an open, industry standard, Universal Plug and Play, or, UPnP, with Microsoft's participation, which uses Internet protocols for seamless device plug-in.

Universal Plug and Play, or UpnP, is a set of computer network protocols that is promulgated by the UPnP Forum. The goals of Universal Plug and Play are to allow the devices to connect seamlessly, and to help simplify the implementation of networks in the home, like communications, data sharing, and entertainment and corporate environments. UPnP does this by defining and publishing UPnP device control protocols built upon open, Internet-based communication standards.

The term Universal Plug and Play is derived from Plug-and-play, a technology which is used for dynamically attaching devices to a computer directly.

The architecture of Universal Plug and Play allows for the peer-to-peer networking of networked appliances, PCs, and wireless devices. It is a distributed, open architecture based on UDP, TCP/IP, and HTTP. Universal Plug and Play enables the communication between any two devices under the command of any control device on the network. One of the features of Universal Plug and Play is the device and media independence. The technology for Universal Plug and Play has the ability to transfer on many media types, such as power lines, phone lines, Ethernet, IR, RF, which includes Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and FireWire. There are no device drivers used, instead common protocols are used. Another feature of Universal Plug and Play is the user interface control. The architecture of UpnP allows the vendor control over the device user interface and interaction using the web browser. Another great feature of Universal Plug and Play is the independence of the programming language and the operating system. Universal Plug and Play products can be built utilizing any operating system and any programming language. Universal Plug and Play does not constrain or specify the design of an API for applications that are running on control points. APIs may be created by the operating system vendors to suit their specific customer needs. UPnP allows the vendor to have control over the device UI and the interaction using the browser, as well as utilizing conventional application programmatic control.

The architecture of Universal Plug and Play supports invisible networking, zero-configuration, and automatic discovery from a range of vendors for many device categories. Any device should have the ability to dynamically join a network, obtain an IP address, to announce its name, to convey its capabilities upon request, and to learn about the presences and capabilities of other devices. DNS and DHCP servers are optional, and are only utilized if they are available on the network. Devices have the availability to automatically leave the network without leaving behind any unwanted state information.

The Universal Plug and Play networking foundation is IP addressing. Each device is required to have a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, or DHCP, client and must search for a DHCP server when the device makes the first connection to the network. If there is no DHCP server available,in other words, if the network is unmanaged, the device must assign an address to itself. If, during the DHCP transaction, the device obtains a domain name, like through a DNS server or by DNS forwarding, the device should automatically use that name in subsequent network operations. Otherwise, the device should use its own IP address.

So to answer the question of whether or not FireWire has the capability to utilize plug and play, the answer is yes, but only if the FireWire device has been designed according to the standard for FireWire. As long as the FireWire standard has been met, the device may be connected and disconnected while the device and the Macintosh are both turned on.