Free software.
Real work.
For well over a year, ASFireWire has effectively been my full-time job — just without the salary.
Support the person behind it.
I'm Aleksandr Shabelnikov (@mrmidi), the creator and maintainer of ASFireWire.
I built ASFireWire so people could keep using their favorite gear, or pick up good professional hardware affordably instead of letting it go to waste.
I could have made it a paid product. I chose to keep it free and open source so more people could benefit.
The work behind it isn't free. Financial contributions help cover my everyday living expenses and development tools, making it possible for me to continue developing and maintaining ASFireWire.
If this work has value to you, it's your call to help keep it going.
If you support ASFireWire, I'd be happy to acknowledge you on the website and in the app's About section, with your name and an optional link. Recognition is entirely optional—you can choose either, both, or remain anonymous. Let me know your preference.
Have a question, a press inquiry, or an idea for a partnership? You can reach me directly at me@mrmidi.net.
More than writing code.
Rebuilding FireWire support requires methodical research: understanding IOMMU mappings and DMA ownership, programming OHCI controllers, tracing FireWire protocols, and finding the device-specific behavior that keeps real-time audio and video working.
A functioning architecture also needs maintenance. That means profiling and performance optimization, keeping layer boundaries clear, preventing regressions across device families, testing changes against real hardware, and reviewing contributions carefully enough to understand their consequences.
Some work ends in a smaller implementation or a better test rather than a new feature. That work matters just as much when one shared change can affect every device on the bus.
DriverKit in practice.
ASFireWire has also grown into a substantial open-source example of Apple's DriverKit ecosystem in practice. The project brings together DriverKit, PCIDriverKit, AudioDriverKit, and SCSIControllerDriverKit in a single hardware stack.
It's not just a collection of API examples. The implementation covers real controller initialization, DMA, interrupts, device discovery, protocol handling, audio and SCSI integration, and the interactions between these layers.
The source code is publicly available for anyone researching low-level driver development on modern macOS.
Good evidence helps too.
Hardware testers help cover devices I do not own. A reproducible failure with startup logs and relevant device reports can reveal a problem that would otherwise stay invisible. A successful physical playback, capture, or scan test helps establish exactly what works.
Share a hardware result ↗ · Read the contribution policy ↗
ASFireWire remains free and open source. Financial support does not create paid features or a promise about delivery dates.
Working together.
I'm also open to employment or contract opportunities in systems programming, C/C++, driver and low-level hardware development, macOS and DriverKit, embedded systems, and real-time audio/video software.
The public repository is an example of my engineering work. Reach me at me@mrmidi.net or through LinkedIn.
Keep useful hardware running.
Check the installation guide and device evidence before testing.