First off, thanks for reading my post and hopefully answering my (I'm guessing) very fundamental question - whose answer is nonetheless eluding me.
I read as much as I could through the previously posted questions, in hopes of not wasting everyone's time, but part of my problem is that I don't understand very much of the basic terminology or lingo, so even if the answer was staring me right in the face, I probably wouldn't recognize it.

I inherited a Fireface 800. I'm not much of a musician - I mostly just dabble. But now I have this very cool product and I'm hoping to grow into it.

So my question is this: can I send the audio and Midi signals (from whatever is plugged into the Fireface) solely and exclusively over the 1394 connection, or do I have to also use other audio connectors as well (simultaneously to, or instead of the 1394).

Im not quite understanding if the 1394 connection is an either/or solution (you can send all of your audio from the fireface to your computer using EITHER the 1394 OR any of the other digital or analog connectors) - - - or is it more a case of "the digital and analog connections are for sending the audio from the fireface to the computer, while the 1394 connection is just for program information and control".

For me, I dont have a very robust sound card on my desktop computer (Realtek - pretty stock and not much in the way of pro inputs), so if I could use the 1394 connection for everything, I think that would be ideal as I do have a very nice mobo with built-in firewire support.

thanks - and sorry again if this was an eye-roller of a newbie question - I dont pretend to be a musician, so Im hoping for some good will from you fine people.

cheers,
jim