To Apple it is simply a docking port for mobile hardware. That is it is a high speed solution for docking AIRs and Mac Book Pros.
That's what I figured. Intel may see it as more. Apple originally had a mini displayport connection in that spot on their notebooks. This just allowed them to build extra functionality into it. If thunderbolt gained prevalence in workstations too, I could see manufacturers coming out with breakout boxes if the volume is there to enable the use of various cards across form factors. I still see it as unlikely in the near future. Apple specifically relied on embedded graphics for the design here. Those cap out at the E3 level, at which point you're still limited to 20 total lanes. I keep seeing people reference external PCI boxes, yet they don't mention that most PCI cards aren't hot pluggable outside of some of those designed for servers.
OS X and Windows both support it, and Linux either has or is getting it, depending on the flavor.
That's not entirely true. Very little is actually certified under Windows. The thunderbolt display isn't certified on current Macs under Bootcamp or on Windows computers with thunderbolt ports. Then there is the issue of external pci devices that you and someone else on here like to bring up frequently. Most PCI devices are not hot pluggable, unless you get into ones designed for enterprise use assuming you don't have VMs running on that hardware through something like ESX. That might have changed. Thunderbolt doesn't exist there anyway, but you must realize adoption here could take a long time.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wizard69
To Apple it is simply a docking port for mobile hardware. That is it is a high speed solution for docking AIRs and Mac Book Pros.
That's what I figured. Intel may see it as more. Apple originally had a mini displayport connection in that spot on their notebooks. This just allowed them to build extra functionality into it. If thunderbolt gained prevalence in workstations too, I could see manufacturers coming out with breakout boxes if the volume is there to enable the use of various cards across form factors. I still see it as unlikely in the near future. Apple specifically relied on embedded graphics for the design here. Those cap out at the E3 level, at which point you're still limited to 20 total lanes. I keep seeing people reference external PCI boxes, yet they don't mention that most PCI cards aren't hot pluggable outside of some of those designed for servers.
Originally Posted by wizard69
Not only that let's say you need to run such a card on a different operating system, one that doesn't support TB.
OS X and Windows both support it, and Linux either has or is getting it, depending on the flavor.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
OS X and Windows both support it, and Linux either has or is getting it, depending on the flavor.
That's not entirely true. Very little is actually certified under Windows. The thunderbolt display isn't certified on current Macs under Bootcamp or on Windows computers with thunderbolt ports. Then there is the issue of external pci devices that you and someone else on here like to bring up frequently. Most PCI devices are not hot pluggable, unless you get into ones designed for enterprise use assuming you don't have VMs running on that hardware through something like ESX. That might have changed. Thunderbolt doesn't exist there anyway, but you must realize adoption here could take a long time.