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What is a name of the port below (the first port on the right)? And for what purpose can it be used?

Enter image description here

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    This question appears to be off-topic because it is a "guessing-game" type question. See meta.superuser.com/a/6074/23133 Jan 31, 2014 at 18:56
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    According to JSanchez's answer: its called Fireware IEEE 1394
    – Jason OOO
    Jan 31, 2014 at 19:09
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    @JasonOOO if you feel your question has been answered mark one of the given answers as accepted. Jan 31, 2014 at 19:53
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    Is it still a "guessing game" when it's something not obscure, common knowledge, deeply related to basic PC hardware and easily answerable by the community? I consider this question extremely on-topic: "I have this hardware port on my laptop. What's this? What's it purpose?" Jan 31, 2014 at 23:21
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    4-pin IEEE1394 aka Firewire 400, but wasn't it be easier to take a quick look in the manual of the device that has this port, instead of asking this question?
    – klingt.net
    Feb 1, 2014 at 0:35

2 Answers 2

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That's a 4-conductor Firewire 400 connector.

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  • oh great!!! I hope to update your answer with some detail so that reader can get some idea before opening the link that you provided.
    – Jason OOO
    Jan 31, 2014 at 19:04
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    It was more than a link answer. See, it says that's a 4-conductor Firewire 400 connector. I think I shall refrain from answering questions such as this, where clicking on a link might be too much work for others. Yet not providing a link to a better explanation is OK? Nitro2k01 summarized it well, but they didn't provide a link to further the user's education. Hmm..doesn't make sense. Anyway, from now on, I will only try to assist with questions where I can provide more than just a link.
    – JSanchez
    Jan 31, 2014 at 19:24
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    @Ramhound I think the answer was fine, the answer could have no link at all and it would still answer the question fully ("What is that port"/"The port is a 4 conductor Firewire 400 connector") The link is just a nice extra external reference if the reader does not know what Firewire is and would like to learn more. Had the answer been "It is a port for this" I would totally agree with you, but the answer as-is stands alone without the link. Jan 31, 2014 at 19:49
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    @ScottChamberlain - I agree. Perhaps its more of a border case. The author himself wanted more information. I just feel it takes more then a single sentence to describe the port.
    – Ramhound
    Jan 31, 2014 at 19:59
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It's a four pin Firewire 400 connector. It can be used with any device that supports Firewire 400, except devices that are bus powered, since the four pin variant of the connector only includes the data pins and not the power connections.

Firewire is (at least to the user) a generic serial bus interface, much like USB. Firewire has fallen out of favour to USB, but was previously popular in professional video and audio equipment, such as high-end camcorders, and audio devices.

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