[clug] [OT] New Interconnect from Intel+Apple: Thunderbolt. 2*10Gbps. mini-display-port compatible

[Hugh Fisher]

Steve Walsh wrote:
> Thought some people on the list might be interested.
> This might be like firewire/i-Link: niche market.

Or might be like the last connection standard that Intel proposed
and Apple were first to widely implement: USB.

IIRC, Linux people working on power saving are not at all happy
with the constant polling required by USB's master-slave design.

Thunderbolt also supplies up to 10 amps to peripherals, while
USB is only 900mA (I think).

Brad Hards wrote:
> They have it working over copper, so I'm not sure optical will take hold, 
> except in niche markets.

The copper is limited to 3m while the optical is supposed to reach up
to 100m. No power over optical though. People building large scale
clusters or disk farms would probably appreciate the extra range.

The other market for optical would be musicians who want to hook
together their laptops and video gear with a bit more room in between.

	cheers,
	Hugh