Separately, on Tuesday, in an interview, Jason Ziller, director of Intel's optical input-output program office, spoke more about the technology that is expected to be used on future PCs and consumer electronics devices.
"We've been working on optical for many years. Specifically, this technology the last couple of years," he said. "We've developed the technology, we've developed the specifications, documenting the technology, and we have prototype product," he said.
Yep, that timeline fits with Apple coming and talking to them about it in 2007.
The future is wireless. Get the damned cables off my desk. All of them. I don't want to see anything more than power cords, and I'm not all that happy with them, either.
Optical cables are like optical LP pickup heads. Great idea, time is past, lets get on with the real deal, pure digital media. Only pseudo audiophiles try to claim LPs have merit over high definition digital formats (and they're still completely wrong.) Adding an optical pickup to an LP makes it better, but it still can't compete with 48-bit high bandwidth audio.
WRT computer system connectivity, we're already seeing cable-free terabyte-class NAS, keyboards, mice, internet, cameras, HD video... Why in the *world* would you encourage Apple to put more CABLES on the desk?
Sometimes I think the world just gets stuck. Cables are out. RF is in.
Multiple ports would still be necessary with Light Peak IMHO. Wavelength Division Multiplexing can be used to pack individual streams of data into one fiber cable I think, but how are they split back out? There has to be a splitter somewhere, so multiple ports would still be necessary.
Fees were charged to Firewire-implementors (Apple's license fee), so PC makers didn't adopt Firewire widely by the way.
SCSI can be a PITA to work with due to cabling and all the SCSI variations (68 pins for Ultra160 for crying out loud), but it's great for bus mastering- CPU loads are lower with SCSI I/O. And Firewire is a great interface on the Mac- low CPU overhead, it is fast for external hard drives. PowerPC G4 & G5 computers were great IMHO, they seemed to have better I/O thoroughput vs. CPU loads compared to today's Intel architecture.
Apple had its own in-house VLSI designers back in 2005? Wow- they truly were "soup to nuts" back then.
Don't think the connector graphic does justice on the video front, leaving out MiniVGA, Mini DVI, Micro DVI, and whatever else over the last 4 years. Other ports have been more stable, including power.
The future is wireless. Get the damned cables off my desk. All of them. I don't want to see anything more than power cords, and I'm not all that happy with them, either.
Optical cables are like optical LP pickup heads. Great idea, time is past, lets get on with the real deal, pure digital media. Only pseudo audiophiles try to claim LPs have merit over high definition digital formats (and they're still completely wrong.) Adding an optical pickup to an LP makes it better, but it still can't compete with 48-bit high bandwidth audio.
WRT computer system connectivity, we're already seeing cable-free terabyte-class NAS, keyboards, mice, internet, cameras, HD video... Why in the *world* would you encourage Apple to put more CABLES on the desk?
Sometimes I think the world just gets stuck. Cables are out. RF is in.
I don't think so. There will always be a place for cabled networking and local connections.
Wireless is not reliable, and is much slower than the rated speed. Wired connections are much faster and much more reliable.
With wireless, at home, for example, the higher frequency your router goes to to get better throughput, the shorter the distance it can broadcast, and the more difficult it is to get through walls, and even furniture.
Go to higher frequencies to match a wired connection, and if someone walks between you and your router, pop!, there goes the connection.
Wireless networks and connections are also magnitudes less secure, yes, magnitudes.
It's good for some things, such as using an internet connection around the house, where speeds aren't that high. But for computer to computer file transfer, it sucks.
The future is wireless. Get the damned cables off my desk. All of them. I don't want to see anything more than power cords, and I'm not all that happy with them, either.
Optical cables are like optical LP pickup heads. Great idea, time is past, lets get on with the real deal, pure digital media. Only pseudo audiophiles try to claim LPs have merit over high definition digital formats (and they're still completely wrong.) Adding an optical pickup to an LP makes it better, but it still can't compete with 48-bit high bandwidth audio.
WRT computer system connectivity, we're already seeing cable-free terabyte-class NAS, keyboards, mice, internet, cameras, HD video... Why in the *world* would you encourage Apple to put more CABLES on the desk?
Sometimes I think the world just gets stuck. Cables are out. RF is in.
Three pages of blathering and "Light Peak" is only mentioned a few times. As always, no meat and too much tofu.
Agreed. While it was a nice biography of computing buses, the assertion that somehow Intel thinks Atom will get more attention from Apple thanks to Light Peak is an absolute stretch and definitely not newsworthy, considering it's only supported by the author's opinion.
The future is wireless. Get the damned cables off my desk. All of them. I don't want to see anything more than power cords, and I'm not all that happy with them, either.
Optical cables are like optical LP pickup heads. Great idea, time is past, lets get on with the real deal, pure digital media. Only pseudo audiophiles try to claim LPs have merit over high definition digital formats (and they're still completely wrong.) Adding an optical pickup to an LP makes it better, but it still can't compete with 48-bit high bandwidth audio.
WRT computer system connectivity, we're already seeing cable-free terabyte-class NAS, keyboards, mice, internet, cameras, HD video... Why in the *world* would you encourage Apple to put more CABLES on the desk?
Sometimes I think the world just gets stuck. Cables are out. RF is in.
Well, potentially with this technology you can have one cable leading from your desk to a hub of some sort, into which you may be able to plug anything, inc power, usb, firewire & ethernet. For the rest you can use blue tooth, wifi, or whatever. Sounds good to me.
back in the 1990's Intel made money on the early adopters. they would release a new CPU generation that ran on existing motherboards. 6 months later they would release the new motherboards and chipsets. some people would spend almost $1000 on just the CPU to have it first.
in the current decade everyone wants a laptop. Apple makes almost all their computers with laptop parts and the enthusiast market is so so. So Apple and intel get to together and Intel now has a source of big margins since PC margins are falling every year.
Intel entered into the motherboard market in the 1990's but still doesn't control the entire board. I guess light peak is an attempt to control the entire PC except for the case.
$600 PC from Dell, most of the money goes to Microsoft and Intel.
USB was nice and cheap. WIth this it looks like you will need a separate LightPeak router to plug everything else in. until it comes out i really don't see the point of being the first one to buy it
Having this port replace dedicated ports on a laptop is only an ideal of the writer of this article. The biggest implications of such a port design that I see is it's addition to the MBAir & to all laptops as a means of Docking those devices. Docking Ports in their current design vary widely & aren't all that reliable for the average user who doesn't understand how to press down firmly. This port could solve a multitude of current issues but most notably it could provide a universal docking port for laptops.
It would also be a huge benefit for phones & other mobile devices with space limitations. People keep thinking of it in terms of replacing other ports, think more in terms of complimenting the other ports on computers.
Also, given the spec of 10GB throughput, that would make this port type the ideal solution for video guys. Just because you can't yet think of a personal practical use for it doesn't mean there isn't one.
The future is wireless. Get the damned cables off my desk. All of them. I don't want to see anything more than power cords, and I'm not all that happy with them, either.
Optical cables are like optical LP pickup heads. Great idea, time is past, lets get on with the real deal, pure digital media. Only pseudo audiophiles try to claim LPs have merit over high definition digital formats (and they're still completely wrong.) Adding an optical pickup to an LP makes it better, but it still can't compete with 48-bit high bandwidth audio.
WRT computer system connectivity, we're already seeing cable-free terabyte-class NAS, keyboards, mice, internet, cameras, HD video... Why in the *world* would you encourage Apple to put more CABLES on the desk?
Sometimes I think the world just gets stuck. Cables are out. RF is in.
Guess what? I have a Time Capsule, and have deliberately chosen Gigabit Ethernet over Wi-Fi (802.11n). Why? Greater speed, reliability, security. If I had multiple computers (including laptops), maybe Wi-Fi would be the better choice. Use the right tools for what you want or need. I look forward to optical cabling for high data transfer if I desire or need it.
The article probably should mention Geoport somewhere in it's history section. Between ADB and Firewire. It failed, but was an interesting first attempt at high bandwidth (2 Mbit/s!) serial I/O on the Mac....
Apple invented Firewire, created miniDVI/miniDisplayPort and many other modifications to standards all subsequently added to standards used by the Industry.
It's not that difficult for Apple to invent this Fiber standard and then approach Intel to work together and hand it off to them to drive it.
Intel has the leverage. Apple just wants this crap in the system to lower the over all manufacturing costs on their end and thus reduce the cost of systems while still maintaining profit margins.
Since Intel has been designing many of Apples motherboards it doesn't have to be an hackintosh. I would imagine that between Apple and Intel they have gone through many prototype models by now. The interesting thing is that the board appear to be far enough along that the Light Peak hardware is on the motherboard. This could be indications of good things to come.
We've already seen from either Nvidia or ATI, I forget which, an external video card box. The point was that modern high end cards use so much power that by putting them in their own box, with their own power, they wouldn't be constrained by the computer's power supply, or heat removal.
I also think that this would be a great internal wiring solution.
but can this do pci-e over it?
video cards need to be on the pci-e bus and not a super usb bus with high cpu load.
One thing I would like to see that uses this Light Peak cable is some type of plug in graphics card.
Is this even possible?
It all depends on what you expect from the graphics card, but you can find USB interfaced displays right now of limited size. Using an optical connection though, like this, you don't have to have the display processor at the end of the cable. You could instead just transmit the frame information over the Light Peak cable.
Either way you could effectively put a display 100 meters away and still get pristine results.
Comments
Separately, on Tuesday, in an interview, Jason Ziller, director of Intel's optical input-output program office, spoke more about the technology that is expected to be used on future PCs and consumer electronics devices.
"We've been working on optical for many years. Specifically, this technology the last couple of years," he said. "We've developed the technology, we've developed the specifications, documenting the technology, and we have prototype product," he said.
Yep, that timeline fits with Apple coming and talking to them about it in 2007.
Thanks for indirectly confirming it.
The future is wireless. Get the damned cables off my desk. All of them. I don't want to see anything more than power cords, and I'm not all that happy with them, either.
Optical cables are like optical LP pickup heads. Great idea, time is past, lets get on with the real deal, pure digital media. Only pseudo audiophiles try to claim LPs have merit over high definition digital formats (and they're still completely wrong.) Adding an optical pickup to an LP makes it better, but it still can't compete with 48-bit high bandwidth audio.
WRT computer system connectivity, we're already seeing cable-free terabyte-class NAS, keyboards, mice, internet, cameras, HD video... Why in the *world* would you encourage Apple to put more CABLES on the desk?
Sometimes I think the world just gets stuck. Cables are out. RF is in.
Fees were charged to Firewire-implementors (Apple's license fee), so PC makers didn't adopt Firewire widely by the way.
SCSI can be a PITA to work with due to cabling and all the SCSI variations (68 pins for Ultra160 for crying out loud), but it's great for bus mastering- CPU loads are lower with SCSI I/O. And Firewire is a great interface on the Mac- low CPU overhead, it is fast for external hard drives. PowerPC G4 & G5 computers were great IMHO, they seemed to have better I/O thoroughput vs. CPU loads compared to today's Intel architecture.
Apple had its own in-house VLSI designers back in 2005? Wow- they truly were "soup to nuts" back then.
Cables? CABLES?
The future is wireless. Get the damned cables off my desk. All of them. I don't want to see anything more than power cords, and I'm not all that happy with them, either.
Optical cables are like optical LP pickup heads. Great idea, time is past, lets get on with the real deal, pure digital media. Only pseudo audiophiles try to claim LPs have merit over high definition digital formats (and they're still completely wrong.) Adding an optical pickup to an LP makes it better, but it still can't compete with 48-bit high bandwidth audio.
WRT computer system connectivity, we're already seeing cable-free terabyte-class NAS, keyboards, mice, internet, cameras, HD video... Why in the *world* would you encourage Apple to put more CABLES on the desk?
Sometimes I think the world just gets stuck. Cables are out. RF is in.
I don't think so. There will always be a place for cabled networking and local connections.
Wireless is not reliable, and is much slower than the rated speed. Wired connections are much faster and much more reliable.
With wireless, at home, for example, the higher frequency your router goes to to get better throughput, the shorter the distance it can broadcast, and the more difficult it is to get through walls, and even furniture.
Go to higher frequencies to match a wired connection, and if someone walks between you and your router, pop!, there goes the connection.
Wireless networks and connections are also magnitudes less secure, yes, magnitudes.
It's good for some things, such as using an internet connection around the house, where speeds aren't that high. But for computer to computer file transfer, it sucks.
Cables? CABLES?
The future is wireless. Get the damned cables off my desk. All of them. I don't want to see anything more than power cords, and I'm not all that happy with them, either.
Optical cables are like optical LP pickup heads. Great idea, time is past, lets get on with the real deal, pure digital media. Only pseudo audiophiles try to claim LPs have merit over high definition digital formats (and they're still completely wrong.) Adding an optical pickup to an LP makes it better, but it still can't compete with 48-bit high bandwidth audio.
WRT computer system connectivity, we're already seeing cable-free terabyte-class NAS, keyboards, mice, internet, cameras, HD video... Why in the *world* would you encourage Apple to put more CABLES on the desk?
Sometimes I think the world just gets stuck. Cables are out. RF is in.
whatever id&*t!. You don't get my point.
Three pages of blathering and "Light Peak" is only mentioned a few times. As always, no meat and too much tofu.
Agreed. While it was a nice biography of computing buses, the assertion that somehow Intel thinks Atom will get more attention from Apple thanks to Light Peak is an absolute stretch and definitely not newsworthy, considering it's only supported by the author's opinion.
One thing I would like to see that uses this Light Peak cable is some type of plug in graphics card.
Is this even possible?
I think a lot would depend on what else is using the lightpeek connection at the time. I imagine it is a possibility though.
whatever id&*t!. You don't get my point.
Did you just answer the wrong post? Embarrassing, huh?
Cables? CABLES?
The future is wireless. Get the damned cables off my desk. All of them. I don't want to see anything more than power cords, and I'm not all that happy with them, either.
Optical cables are like optical LP pickup heads. Great idea, time is past, lets get on with the real deal, pure digital media. Only pseudo audiophiles try to claim LPs have merit over high definition digital formats (and they're still completely wrong.) Adding an optical pickup to an LP makes it better, but it still can't compete with 48-bit high bandwidth audio.
WRT computer system connectivity, we're already seeing cable-free terabyte-class NAS, keyboards, mice, internet, cameras, HD video... Why in the *world* would you encourage Apple to put more CABLES on the desk?
Sometimes I think the world just gets stuck. Cables are out. RF is in.
Well, potentially with this technology you can have one cable leading from your desk to a hub of some sort, into which you may be able to plug anything, inc power, usb, firewire & ethernet. For the rest you can use blue tooth, wifi, or whatever. Sounds good to me.
back in the 1990's Intel made money on the early adopters. they would release a new CPU generation that ran on existing motherboards. 6 months later they would release the new motherboards and chipsets. some people would spend almost $1000 on just the CPU to have it first.
in the current decade everyone wants a laptop. Apple makes almost all their computers with laptop parts and the enthusiast market is so so. So Apple and intel get to together and Intel now has a source of big margins since PC margins are falling every year.
Intel entered into the motherboard market in the 1990's but still doesn't control the entire board. I guess light peak is an attempt to control the entire PC except for the case.
$600 PC from Dell, most of the money goes to Microsoft and Intel.
USB was nice and cheap. WIth this it looks like you will need a separate LightPeak router to plug everything else in. until it comes out i really don't see the point of being the first one to buy it
Having this port replace dedicated ports on a laptop is only an ideal of the writer of this article. The biggest implications of such a port design that I see is it's addition to the MBAir & to all laptops as a means of Docking those devices. Docking Ports in their current design vary widely & aren't all that reliable for the average user who doesn't understand how to press down firmly. This port could solve a multitude of current issues but most notably it could provide a universal docking port for laptops.
It would also be a huge benefit for phones & other mobile devices with space limitations. People keep thinking of it in terms of replacing other ports, think more in terms of complimenting the other ports on computers.
Also, given the spec of 10GB throughput, that would make this port type the ideal solution for video guys. Just because you can't yet think of a personal practical use for it doesn't mean there isn't one.
Cables? CABLES?
The future is wireless. Get the damned cables off my desk. All of them. I don't want to see anything more than power cords, and I'm not all that happy with them, either.
Optical cables are like optical LP pickup heads. Great idea, time is past, lets get on with the real deal, pure digital media. Only pseudo audiophiles try to claim LPs have merit over high definition digital formats (and they're still completely wrong.) Adding an optical pickup to an LP makes it better, but it still can't compete with 48-bit high bandwidth audio.
WRT computer system connectivity, we're already seeing cable-free terabyte-class NAS, keyboards, mice, internet, cameras, HD video... Why in the *world* would you encourage Apple to put more CABLES on the desk?
Sometimes I think the world just gets stuck. Cables are out. RF is in.
Guess what? I have a Time Capsule, and have deliberately chosen Gigabit Ethernet over Wi-Fi (802.11n). Why? Greater speed, reliability, security. If I had multiple computers (including laptops), maybe Wi-Fi would be the better choice. Use the right tools for what you want or need. I look forward to optical cabling for high data transfer if I desire or need it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeoPort
Hehe . . .
Intel?
Definitely Apple
If we're going to anthropomorphise these companies, you just know that Apple is always the beautiful (but faintly dangerous) woman.
It's not that difficult for Apple to invent this Fiber standard and then approach Intel to work together and hand it off to them to drive it.
Intel has the leverage. Apple just wants this crap in the system to lower the over all manufacturing costs on their end and thus reduce the cost of systems while still maintaining profit margins.
A Love story?
Hehe . . .
Intel?
Definitely Apple
If we're going to anthropomorphise these companies, you just know that Apple is always the beautiful (but faintly dangerous) woman.
She's beautiful, but I hope you're not insinuating that Apple's fortunes are sagging.
She's beautiful, but I hope you're not insinuating that Apple's fortunes are sagging.
Well played.
Engadget said it was a hacintosh.
Since Intel has been designing many of Apples motherboards it doesn't have to be an hackintosh. I would imagine that between Apple and Intel they have gone through many prototype models by now. The interesting thing is that the board appear to be far enough along that the Light Peak hardware is on the motherboard. This could be indications of good things to come.
Dave
That idea has been mentioned for this.
We've already seen from either Nvidia or ATI, I forget which, an external video card box. The point was that modern high end cards use so much power that by putting them in their own box, with their own power, they wouldn't be constrained by the computer's power supply, or heat removal.
I also think that this would be a great internal wiring solution.
but can this do pci-e over it?
video cards need to be on the pci-e bus and not a super usb bus with high cpu load.
One thing I would like to see that uses this Light Peak cable is some type of plug in graphics card.
Is this even possible?
It all depends on what you expect from the graphics card, but you can find USB interfaced displays right now of limited size. Using an optical connection though, like this, you don't have to have the display processor at the end of the cable. You could instead just transmit the frame information over the Light Peak cable.
Either way you could effectively put a display 100 meters away and still get pristine results.
Dave