[conspire] question re Oxford 911 chip

[Darlene Wallach]

I found the following at
http://www.fwdepot.com/firewiredepot-forum/viewtopic.php?p=2&sid=1388f5395ef2445725e7ad5750cedd30
"using the Oxford 911 chip, a hardware and firmware modification
was required to allow it to use drives over 160G in size"

If at some point in the future I wanted to get a larger
than 160GB external drive to use for backup and connect
it thru the firewire port (which I still need to purchase),
it appears I should purchase a firewire enclosure with an
updated chip from the Oxford 911. Would that be an
Oxford 922?

 From using google it appears the Oxford is Macintosh-based.
Is that because Firewire originated with Apple?

I don't seem to pose the appropriate queries in google.
Can someone suggest a query for how can I determine which
chips tend to be of good quality vs chips that tend to pose
problems on Linux for firewire enclosures (firewire to ide)?

Should I just call Micro Center and ask if someone there
knows about Linux?

I am very ignorant of hardware and obviously don't have a
clue as to where to get information and to get my many
questions answered.

Thank you for your patience, attention, and consideration,

Darlene Wallach