When Intel unveiled its Light Peak optical interconnect (video) at IDF earlier this week, many noticed that the demonstration computer used to show the new technology was in fact a hackintosh. Well, thanks to Engadget we now know why: Apple is very, very involved in the conception of Light Peak. Let's take this opportunity to look at some of Apple's other connection standards from the past.
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Member since:2005-11-10
I think really the goal here is for Apple to make laptops cheaper, smaller and cut costs across the board by moving to a single type of port that can handle all connections. With all the complaints about the MacBook Air only having one USB port, Light Peak could solve the connectivity problem in these ultralights by providing screen, USB, networking and more through just one socket. I certainly like the idea!
Member since:2005-09-17
My FireWire disks are daisy-chained, and people I know that try to stay with Firewire HDDs do so to.
Rather than the feature not being successful (it works just fine), it is the connector that features it which has not gained traction. Pretty much every FireWire disk has 2 FW sockets just for that. Pretty much no USB disk does. That is probably why you have not seen it.
Member since:2006-11-24
The reason why you don't see USB HDs daisy chained is because while the B in USB stands for "bus", it is of course not a bus technologically. That's why.
Also, when you read transfer/access speed comparisions from ye olden days, FW always lagged substantially behind plain IDE setups, so there was really no point in having HDs with FW interface.
Member since:2006-01-18
The idea of daisy chaining I don't think has been successful. The last time I really daisy chained anything was SCSI devices.
Actually daisy chaining has been the preferred connection method in firewire, firewire can work hostless, but without intel on board it had always sort of a nieche market, big nieche, but it never really has been as popular as the inferior usb.
Apple seems to search for a universal firewire replacement, and this time they have Intel on board.
Member since:2006-01-10
Apple seems to search for a universal firewire replacement, and this time they have Intel on board.
Unless the OEM's (Dell, Acer, HP) get on board with this though it will just be another niche market that will fizzle out. Sony and Apple were the only 2 OEM's I remember really pushing firewire which is one reason why I think it never caught on to the mainstream.
Member since:
2006-01-10
Apple has grand plans for the technology, according to Engadget. It will start off with the ability to daisy-chain several peripherals into a single Light Peak port, with later plans involving Light Peak replacing every other port. In other words, all your networking, peripheral, and display needs will go through (a) Light Peak port(s).
I like the idea of a cheap fiber optic cable replacing my ethernet cables in my home, but lord knows how much this is going to cost. If the plan is to really use it as a network cable then I expect a big push in Airport development unless Cisco/linksys and the like get on board with this idea.
The idea of daisy chaining I don't think has been successful. The last time I really daisy chained anything was SCSI devices. My PC only had 1 port but I had a JAZ, ZIP, 2 external HD's all connected together with adapters going through that 1 port. I haven't really seen anyone else do it either. I'm not knocking the idea but they should maybe puts lots of ports on the monitor so the consumer sees the monitor as a hub.
Edited 2009-09-27 21:24 UTC