[analogue SPRINKLES]

Originally Posted by CharlesS 

Would you prefer that I use ESP to figure out definitively what Steve was thinking?

Or what exactly were you expecting?

Um perhaps like at least a story about it, some quotes, references, links....

[CharlesS]

Sorry, I've got other things to do. Besides, the only one who positively knows what Steve meant by that is Steve, and the most anyone else can do is guess.

edit: here you go, a link. This is my guess as to the "world of hurt" caused by the licensing for Blu-Ray.

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut00...ista_cost.html

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Actually, I think Apple and Intel stole the idea from ort888. I also love how plenty of people popped into the thread and said matter-of-factly how and why this was impossible. Well done, internet geniuses.

^^^ this.

Some regulars in there telling Ort that essentially he's clueless. Half a year later Intel demonstrates the idea on actual working hardware. To make things even better, they do it on OS X. Congrats to Ort, shame on some of the others.

[Cold Warrior]

Novelties - From Camera to Computer, With Fiber Optic Links - NYTimes.com

Standard NYT article on it. It says light peak is coming to manufacturers later this year.

[analogue SPRINKLES]

So wait is Intel behind it all? If so what's the point of USB 3?

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES 

So wait is Intel behind it all? If so what's the point of USB 3?

Backwards compatibility.

However, Intel doesn't seem to eager to implement USB3.

-t

[Big Mac]

Could Light Peak offer full, transparent Firewire compatibility with an adapter cable?

[Simon]

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES 

So wait is Intel behind it all? If so what's the point of USB 3?

LP and USB aren't the same thing. They don't really compete. You can run USB over LP actually. You can think of LP as a physical carrier for other bus protocols.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

Could Light Peak offer full, transparent Firewire compatibility with an adapter cable?

In principle, yes. However, bus power is still something Intel needs to integrate into LP for this to become fully possible.

But assuming they're talking care of that, LP could be used to route video, Ethernet, USB, FW, etc. all through the same physical bus.

[analogue SPRINKLES]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

Backwards compatibility.

However, Intel doesn't seem to eager to implement USB3.

-t

I dunno man, USB is using fibre already and they just have some sort of fancy converter in the plug or something so it works on USB2.

Even so what is the point of all this conversion and upgrading to USB3. Then what, USB4 is another backwards compatible one or can they just switch it to lightpeak?

Please don't drag on a new USB format on for another 10 years just so my cheap printer still works.

[turtle777]

Well, I'd like for Light Peak to replace USB.

However, so far, it's not clear if Light Peak will support power. W/o that, it's not a full replacement.

-t

[Simon]

Read again: LP will not replace USB. It is not intended to do that.

The idea is that LP can carry USB together with many other bus protocols across the same physical layer. The question is not LP or USB. In fact, if bus power isn't added to LP it will necessarily be LP and USB.

[Big Mac]

So in other words, Simon, you're saying that LP will just simplify the internal bus logic by carrying all those protocols on it, but there will still need to be separate interfaces?

[Simon]

That's just one way LP was demonstrated to work. It's not that LP couldn't run "its own bus", it can actually. But right from the start it was designed to also act as a physical layer for other bus protocols to run on top of.

Bottom line, LP and USB3 neither require nor exclude each other. USB3 will happen with or without LP.

What you could contemplate however, is that eventually Intel could push high-bandwidth applications to a new LP protocol in order not to have to develop USB4.

[analogue SPRINKLES]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

Well, I'd like for Light Peak to replace USB.

However, so far, it's not clear if Light Peak will support power. W/o that, it's not a full replacement.

-t

Meh, the cable is so thin that they have to add a thick jacket to protect it anyway. Might as well throw in another wire first just to supply power.

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

Actually, there were some valid objections raised that are not (yet) answered by this new Intel proposal.

-t

I'm sure they've been answered, they just haven't decided to tell you yet.

[voodoo]

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES 

Meh, the cable is so thin that they have to add a thick jacket to protect it anyway. Might as well throw in another wire first just to supply power.

Indeed. Light Peak isn't out yet and hasn't been finalized. I can't see any reason against having a wire for electricity transport along with the light. How hard can it be?

A powered Light Peak seems like a simple enough replacement for USB and most other ports as well.

Time will tell, but I'm not going to bash Light Peak for possible flaws. When it is out and in production on actual Macs, we can rehash this discussion - but right now it seems like a perfect replacement for most ports.

[OreoCookie]

Light peak is a sort of `metainterface' which can be used to bundle interfaces, for instances. You could run only one data cable from your Mac to your display which not only carries the video signal but also, say, USB and FireWire.

Think of Light peak like a QuickTime container: it may contain many different tracks in different formats. The container format doesn't care about the content. But even by itself, the tracks in different formats can be read by themselves if you put them into files.

[voodoo]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie 

Lightpath is a sort of `metainterface' which can be used to bundle interfaces, for instances. You could run only one data cable from your Mac to your display which not only carries the video signal but also, say, USB and FireWire.

Think of Lightpath like a QuickTime container: it may contain many different tracks in different formats. The container format doesn't care about the content. But even by itself, the tracks in different formats can be read by themselves if you put them into files.

Lightpath? Sounds riveting

[Simon]

YouTube: Intel Light Peak Interconnect Technology Update

Intel's 10Gbps Light Peak interconnect now ships 2011 | 9 to 5 Mac

PC Pro: Intel shows off first Light Peak laptop

[analogue SPRINKLES]

This is the first time i have been excited for a friggin cable.

I can't wait for the day 1 cable carries the whole shabang.

HDMI is a dream for me in the tv/audio department and this sounds even better.