I'm trying to use a Sony DFW-V500 camera with my laptop, which is my main Linux platform (a Dell Inspiron 8200). The laptop has a 4-pin firewire connector, the camera, a 6-pin connector. It turns out the camera needs power from the two pins that are missing from the laptop. I looked on the web and found "firewire repeaters" that provide power for multiple devices. I'm wondering if these are safe to use with laptops. My concern is whether the 4-pin connector is ungrounded and so a laptop that's plugged in might build up an unhealthy signal voltage communicating with a repeater that's plugged in.
