Could be a next-gen Mac mini that replaces the Mac Pro. Instead of a single large enclosure full of processors, memory, HDDs, and SDDs like the Mac Pro, Apple could ship a Mac mini with total Thunderbolt connectivity. Just connect 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, or 128 of them together and you get a supercomputer. Grand Central Dispatch could be modified to take advantage of Thunderbolt's ultra-high-speed transfer rates et voila.
Just connect 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, or 128 of them together and you get a supercomputer. Grand Central Dispatch could be modified to take advantage of Thunderbolt's ultra-high-speed transfer rates et voila.
BOMBSHELL at WWDC: GCD modified to handle fully distributed computing over Thunderbolt.
That'll move units. That'll move units out the wazoo.
Have a room full of (current Mac Pro design) successors, and then they're plugged into an iMac as an interface terminal. For smaller operations, a room full of Mac Mini with the same…
And call it Apple Galaxy, with the computers being 'stars' in the metaphor.
BOMBSHELL at WWDC: GCD modified to handle fully distributed computing over Thunderbolt.
That'll move units. That'll move units out the wazoo.
Have a room full of (current Mac Pro design) successors, and then they're plugged into an iMac as an interface terminal. For smaller operations, a room full of Mac Mini with the same…
And call it Apple Galaxy, with the computers being 'stars' in the metaphor.
It would be great if we saw Thunderbolt "boxes" that had PCIe slots in there that could take HDD/SSDs, GPUs, cards for additional ports, and whatnot and put them in as you see fit. For HDDs and standard SSDs you'd have a sled that would do the PCIe to SATA III conversion.
Nice to hear rumors about Apple refreshing its pipeline. I'm going to be in the market for a new MacBook and would like to see an update this summer.
I'm not in the market for a Mac Pro, but it would sure be interesting to see why Apple has delayed a refresh for those systems. My company buys those literally by the truck load for its creative departments.
Could be a next-gen Mac mini that replaces the Mac Pro. Instead of a single large enclosure full of processors, memory, HDDs, and SDDs like the Mac Pro, Apple could ship a Mac mini with total Thunderbolt connectivity. Just connect 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, or 128 of them together and you get a supercomputer. Grand Central Dispatch could be modified to take advantage of Thunderbolt's ultra-high-speed transfer rates et voila.
I don't believe high performance computing clusters typically use a PCI bridge as an interconnect. This probably sounded like a good idea to you and others, but I have yet to see to see it suggested by anyone with even remote knowledge of engineering. The other issue is that no one has really pointed out how such a thing could be set up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
BOMBSHELL at WWDC: GCD modified to handle fully distributed computing over Thunderbolt.
That'll move units. That'll move units out the wazoo.
Have a room full of (current Mac Pro design) successors, and then they're plugged into an iMac as an interface terminal. For smaller operations, a room full of Mac Mini with the same…
And call it Apple Galaxy, with the computers being 'stars' in the metaphor.
I am guessing this is a joke? It's really silly how no one considers logistics such as the case for using a cluster vs a single workstation. Does thunderbolt support zero copy protocols? Will we see thunderbolt switches? Does GCD support a PCI bridge interconnect? Does it have some method of failover support? Have they started on thunderbolt switches? You'd need some kind of switch for issues like traffic shaping to deal with multiple IO requests. Details seem to be ignored.
It would be great if we saw Thunderbolt "boxes" that had PCIe slots in there that could take HDD/SSDs, GPUs, cards for additional ports, and whatnot and put them in as you see fit. For HDDs and standard SSDs you'd have a sled that would do the PCIe to SATA III conversion.
That device will make the iMac practical for even more Mac Pro users.
I can picture a day, however, when Pro users have an iMac with lots of boxes lying around with their storage, video cards, audio cards, etc. Cables everywhere and a messy situation. Then Apple 'saves the day' by creating a tower that allows them to incorporate all those external devices internally.
That device will make the iMac practical for even more Mac Pro users.
I can picture a day, however, when Pro users have an iMac with lots of boxes lying around with their storage, video cards, audio cards, etc. Cables everywhere and a messy situation. Then Apple 'saves the day' by creating a tower that allows them to incorporate all those external devices internally.
That was actually pretty funny. The $800 one has a 150W power supply, so it will run some things, not everything. It's still a lot of money for a less than ideal solution, but Sonnet in my experience isn't too bad. They jump on a lot of stuff early, but you pay for it. I guess it could be worth it for some people. I kind of wonder how many will buy it for an imac as opposed to a macbook pro.
Excellent! That is what I have been expecting to see, with the caveat that they could hold 4 or 6 double-width cards... but it's still early in Thunderbolt's history. It's only been a year since it was released to the world and even then it was exclusive to Apple.
It is interesting that the Sonnet equipment doesn't show any Windows compatibility. I was expecting to see more Win OEMs taking to Thunderbolt later this year but I'm not seeing any promises from vendors. I'm hope I'm just missing them like I missed this Sonnet tech.
PS: Can you install a GPU use it to play games with the display being built into a MBA or will you need an external display directly attached to the GPU ports to take advantage of it? If the latter, does that mean the Thunderbolt daisy-chain will not work with the Apple Thunderbolt Display because GPU cards aren't yet made to work that way?
Excellent! That is what I have been expecting to see, with the caveat that they could hold 4 or 6 double-width cards... but it's still early in Thunderbolt's history. It's only been a year since it was released to the world and even then it was exclusive to Apple.
It is interesting that the Sonnet equipment doesn't show any Windows compatibility. I was expecting to see more Win OEMs taking to Thunderbolt later this year but I'm not seeing any promises from vendors. I'm hope I'm just missing them like I missed this Sonnet tech.
I also don't understand that it's Mac only. Hopefully it will be adopted by Wintel, whoops, Windows as well, soon, otherwise I think it will go down like FireWire.
PS: Can you install a GPU use it to play games with the display being built into a MBA or will you need an external display directly attached to the GPU ports to take advantage of it? If the latter, does that mean the Thunderbolt daisy-chain will not work with the Apple Thunderbolt Display because GPU cards aren't yet made to work that way?
I don't know if that is up to this expansion box, rather than MBA/OSX allowing a video input (from TB to internal screen) which I don't believe it does. Although after another gander at that marketing pic from their site it looks like you can indeed enjoy the better video card capability on a MB(A).
As to your 2nd question, the box seems to only have 2 TB ports, ie the ports on the cards you install are non user accessible. Can't find a picture of the back though, or any explanation/details.
I also don't understand that it's Mac only. Hopefully it will be adopted by Wintel, whoops, Windows as well, soon, otherwise I think it will go down like FireWire.
It isn't Mac-only. If Intel cares at all about it, they'll force it onto all their motherboards and Windows machines will have to have it. Provided Intel actually cares about this tech they've created, don't worry about adoption.
Remember what happened the last time Apple and Intel backed adoption of a port? USB happened.
Hopefully it will be adopted by Wintel, whoops, Windows as well, soon, otherwise I think it will go down like FireWire.
There seems to be a decent amount of Thunderbolt support from various logic board makers but I still see no direct support in Windows. As for Thunderbolt going down like FW I think that will be tough because unlike FW and like USB Intel is supporting it in their chipsets. It'll be hard to ignore. The big issue is the cost of the equipment but knowing I can buy a box and then use it with some other notebook later on does give me some expansion options that xMac users seem to want.
I also don't understand that it's Mac only. Hopefully it will be adopted by Wintel, whoops, Windows as well, soon, otherwise I think it will go down like FireWire.
Do you know any Windows systems with Thunderbolt?
When they start to appear on the market, Sonnet will probably support them.
That was actually pretty funny. The $800 one has a 150W power supply, so it will run some things, not everything. It's still a lot of money for a less than ideal solution, but Sonnet in my experience isn't too bad. They jump on a lot of stuff early, but you pay for it. I guess it could be worth it for some people. I kind of wonder how many will buy it for an imac as opposed to a macbook pro.
That's the point. No one ever said it would work for EVERYONE. But as time goes on and the iMac becomes more powerful, and as Thunderbolt catches on, and as Thunderbolt adapters do more, the number of people who needs a Mac Pro declines.
As for the MB Pro, that's another option - and essentially equivalent. It doesn't really matter if you're choosing an MBP or an iMac. Thunderbolt adds dramatically to the capability of the system.
As for Thunderbolt going down like FW I think that will be tough because unlike FW and like USB Intel is supporting it in their chipsets.
That certainly is a valid statement that I haven't thought through - thanks. Although I don't use Windows at all, I bound to be confronted with it at my next job and possibly will like the coherence if available. (if that's the right word)
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
No where in its report does the publication indicate whether its sources are referring to updated MacBook Airs or a completely redesigned line of MacBook Pros [...]
Could be a next-gen Mac mini that replaces the Mac Pro. Instead of a single large enclosure full of processors, memory, HDDs, and SDDs like the Mac Pro, Apple could ship a Mac mini with total Thunderbolt connectivity. Just connect 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, or 128 of them together and you get a supercomputer. Grand Central Dispatch could be modified to take advantage of Thunderbolt's ultra-high-speed transfer rates et voila.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SockRolid
Just connect 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, or 128 of them together and you get a supercomputer. Grand Central Dispatch could be modified to take advantage of Thunderbolt's ultra-high-speed transfer rates et voila.
BOMBSHELL at WWDC: GCD modified to handle fully distributed computing over Thunderbolt.
That'll move units. That'll move units out the wazoo.
Have a room full of (current Mac Pro design) successors, and then they're plugged into an iMac as an interface terminal. For smaller operations, a room full of Mac Mini with the same…
And call it Apple Galaxy, with the computers being 'stars' in the metaphor.
It would be great if we saw Thunderbolt "boxes" that had PCIe slots in there that could take HDD/SSDs, GPUs, cards for additional ports, and whatnot and put them in as you see fit. For HDDs and standard SSDs you'd have a sled that would do the PCIe to SATA III conversion.
Nice to hear rumors about Apple refreshing its pipeline. I'm going to be in the market for a new MacBook and would like to see an update this summer.
I'm not in the market for a Mac Pro, but it would sure be interesting to see why Apple has delayed a refresh for those systems. My company buys those literally by the truck load for its creative departments.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MacTel
I'm not in the market for a Mac Pro, but it would sure be interesting to see why Apple has delayed a refresh for those systems.
Because there has been no delay. The chips for it just came out.
Normally Digitimes will have something I am remotely interested in. This story just seems way off base even for them.
I sent the last article writer an email begging that they stop reporting on Digitimes.
Is there a publishing term for "filler"? Digitimes might be generously considered roughage as far as news sources go.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
And call it Apple Galaxy, with the computers being 'stars' in the metaphor.
You're mixing your metaphors. It would be an Apple Orchard with the computers being the pips.
Quote:
Originally Posted by silicon1138
Labor shortages in China? WTF! Yeah, it must be hard to find enough people in China to get things made.
RIM can send them 10,000 experienced Canadians. I can hear it now: Mandarin spoken with a heavy Canuck accent. Eh?
Quote:
Originally Posted by SockRolid
Could be a next-gen Mac mini that replaces the Mac Pro. Instead of a single large enclosure full of processors, memory, HDDs, and SDDs like the Mac Pro, Apple could ship a Mac mini with total Thunderbolt connectivity. Just connect 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, or 128 of them together and you get a supercomputer. Grand Central Dispatch could be modified to take advantage of Thunderbolt's ultra-high-speed transfer rates et voila.
I don't believe high performance computing clusters typically use a PCI bridge as an interconnect. This probably sounded like a good idea to you and others, but I have yet to see to see it suggested by anyone with even remote knowledge of engineering. The other issue is that no one has really pointed out how such a thing could be set up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
BOMBSHELL at WWDC: GCD modified to handle fully distributed computing over Thunderbolt.
That'll move units. That'll move units out the wazoo.
Have a room full of (current Mac Pro design) successors, and then they're plugged into an iMac as an interface terminal. For smaller operations, a room full of Mac Mini with the same…
And call it Apple Galaxy, with the computers being 'stars' in the metaphor.
I am guessing this is a joke? It's really silly how no one considers logistics such as the case for using a cluster vs a single workstation. Does thunderbolt support zero copy protocols? Will we see thunderbolt switches? Does GCD support a PCI bridge interconnect? Does it have some method of failover support? Have they started on thunderbolt switches? You'd need some kind of switch for issues like traffic shaping to deal with multiple IO requests. Details seem to be ignored.
Sonnet sells those:
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/echoexpresschassis.html
That device will make the iMac practical for even more Mac Pro users.
I can picture a day, however, when Pro users have an iMac with lots of boxes lying around with their storage, video cards, audio cards, etc. Cables everywhere and a messy situation. Then Apple 'saves the day' by creating a tower that allows them to incorporate all those external devices internally.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jragosta
That device will make the iMac practical for even more Mac Pro users.
I can picture a day, however, when Pro users have an iMac with lots of boxes lying around with their storage, video cards, audio cards, etc. Cables everywhere and a messy situation. Then Apple 'saves the day' by creating a tower that allows them to incorporate all those external devices internally.
That was actually pretty funny. The $800 one has a 150W power supply, so it will run some things, not everything. It's still a lot of money for a less than ideal solution, but Sonnet in my experience isn't too bad. They jump on a lot of stuff early, but you pay for it. I guess it could be worth it for some people. I kind of wonder how many will buy it for an imac as opposed to a macbook pro.
Excellent! That is what I have been expecting to see, with the caveat that they could hold 4 or 6 double-width cards... but it's still early in Thunderbolt's history. It's only been a year since it was released to the world and even then it was exclusive to Apple.
It is interesting that the Sonnet equipment doesn't show any Windows compatibility. I was expecting to see more Win OEMs taking to Thunderbolt later this year but I'm not seeing any promises from vendors. I'm hope I'm just missing them like I missed this Sonnet tech.
PS: Can you install a GPU use it to play games with the display being built into a MBA or will you need an external display directly attached to the GPU ports to take advantage of it? If the latter, does that mean the Thunderbolt daisy-chain will not work with the Apple Thunderbolt Display because GPU cards aren't yet made to work that way?
I also don't understand that it's Mac only. Hopefully it will be adopted by Wintel, whoops, Windows as well, soon, otherwise I think it will go down like FireWire.
I don't know if that is up to this expansion box, rather than MBA/OSX allowing a video input (from TB to internal screen) which I don't believe it does. Although after another gander at that marketing pic from their site it looks like you can indeed enjoy the better video card capability on a MB(A).
As to your 2nd question, the box seems to only have 2 TB ports, ie the ports on the cards you install are non user accessible. Can't find a picture of the back though, or any explanation/details.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PhilBoogie
I also don't understand that it's Mac only. Hopefully it will be adopted by Wintel, whoops, Windows as well, soon, otherwise I think it will go down like FireWire.
It isn't Mac-only. If Intel cares at all about it, they'll force it onto all their motherboards and Windows machines will have to have it. Provided Intel actually cares about this tech they've created, don't worry about adoption.
Remember what happened the last time Apple and Intel backed adoption of a port? USB happened.
There seems to be a decent amount of Thunderbolt support from various logic board makers but I still see no direct support in Windows. As for Thunderbolt going down like FW I think that will be tough because unlike FW and like USB Intel is supporting it in their chipsets. It'll be hard to ignore. The big issue is the cost of the equipment but knowing I can buy a box and then use it with some other notebook later on does give me some expansion options that xMac users seem to want.
Do you know any Windows systems with Thunderbolt?
When they start to appear on the market, Sonnet will probably support them.
That's the point. No one ever said it would work for EVERYONE. But as time goes on and the iMac becomes more powerful, and as Thunderbolt catches on, and as Thunderbolt adapters do more, the number of people who needs a Mac Pro declines.
As for the MB Pro, that's another option - and essentially equivalent. It doesn't really matter if you're choosing an MBP or an iMac. Thunderbolt adds dramatically to the capability of the system.
That certainly is a valid statement that I haven't thought through - thanks. Although I don't use Windows at all, I bound to be confronted with it at my next job and possibly will like the coherence if available. (if that's the right word)
I saw a Lenovo laptop with TB support:
http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/5/2683261/lenovo-thinkpad-edge-s430-is-the-first-windows-laptop-with-intels