[GRLUG] NOT LINUX - Thunderbolt

[Bob Kline]

True. Everyman's interface might
remain USB 3.0 for a long while.  Many
interfaces have come and gone.  I
remember SCSI and Firewire peripherals
in the Sunday paper inserts years ago.
Now they, and almost the Sunday paper,
have disappeared - of course SCSI is
still around for the expensive iron, but
never got real cheap for everyman,
including the cables.  How many
interfaces one can expect the peripherals
industry to support is unclear. You can
be endless converters - e.g., SATA to
USB - at Cyberguys, but I think this is
more a matter of compatibility than
performance.  USB 2 seems fast
enough yet for most Joe Blow uses.

   -- Bob




On Wed, Jun 13, 2012 at 10:04 PM, Robar Philip <philip.robar at gmail.com>wrote:

>
> On Jun 13, 2012, at 7:17 PM, Bob Kline <bob.kline at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >
> http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thunderbolt-performance-z77a-gd80,3205.html
> >
> > An interesting development, apparently
> > with coming availability to PCs and Linux.
>
> Note that Thunderbolt cables are expensive at $50 and no one expects them
> to get much cheaper in the near future.
>
> Also Thunderbolt peripherals are very expensive—even for a simple single
> external drive. Unless you’re a professional or a business is paying for
> your equipment you probably won’t be using Thunderbolt in the foreseeable
> future.
>
> As a 2011 iMac owner I’m kinda screwed. No eSATA, no USB 3.0 and
> Thunderbolt is just way too expensive; leaving me stuck with Firewire
> 800/400 and USB 2.0.
>
> I had a brief glimmer of hope when I saw this article by USA Today,
> “Thunderbolt drive: Speedy alternative for Macs,” but after reading it I’ve
> decided that their writers are paid way too much. Quote:
>
>    The only problem: Thunderbolt drives were scarcely available,
>    and the ones that were in stock were extremely pricey.
>
>    Finally Seagate and Western Digital, which dominate the
>    hard-drive industry, have released Thunderbolt drives for
>    the Mac, and they truly are super speedy and affordable.
>
> Well, if you define “affordable” as just being grossly overpriced rather
> than ridiculously overpriced then maybe. For instance, Seagate’s
> Thunderbolt premium for their portable single drive is $150 (including the
> price of a cable). And the premium for their desktop model is $250.
>
> So for most of us Thunderbolt will just be a convenient way to attach
> multiple monitors.
>
>
> Phil
>
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