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gigawire revisited

AmbitiousLemon

AmbitiousLemon

Moderator emeritus
Original poster
Nov 28, 2001
3,415
3
down in Fraggle Rock
some months back we were all talking about gigawire. apple had just filed a patent for the technology and we all wanted to know what it was. here is the to the patentlink

since then many have assummed gigawire would be the name for firewire2. others have suggested it might be some sort of wireless technology. one person even suggested it was a new monitor connection, claiming that the 22" cinema display already maxed out the current adc (this was way before the new 23").

so here we are with all sorts of new developments with firewire (see articles section) and im wondering what does everyone think about gigawire today? fas it become firewire2 in everyone's mind? anyone with legal background notice anything in the patent listing that us laymen have missed?

discuss
 
couldnt get a nonexpiring listing so:

GIGAWIRE

Goods and Services IC 038. US 100 101 104. G & S: Telecommunication services; cellular telephone communication; Communication by computer terminals, communication by telephone, facsimile transmission; providing of electronic mail (E-Mail); computer aided transmission of messages and images; communication between computer peripherals and devices; information about telecommunication.

IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: electrical and electronic equipment; computer hardware; computer firmware; computers; computer peripheral devices; handheld computers; telephones, mobile telephones, communication devices; telecommunications equipment and devices; wireless information devices; computer software programs; computer operating system programs; computer utility programs; computer application programs; computer software for the design, development, modeling, simulation, compiling, de-bugging, verification, construction and interfacing of electrical and electronic equipment, integrated circuits, cables and connectors all for use with computers, telecommunications equipment and devices, or computer peripheral devices; parts and fittings for all the aforesaid goods.

Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Serial Number 78082678
Filing Date September 5, 2001
Filed ITU FILED AS ITU
Owner (APPLICANT) Apple Computer, Inc. CORPORATION CALIFORNIA 1 Intinite Loop Cupertino CALIFORNIA 95014
Attorney of Record Thomas R. La Perle
Section 44 Indicator SECT44
Priority Date March 9, 2001
Type of Mark TRADEMARK. SERVICE MARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE
Click to expand...

also some MR flashbacks on gigawire: this link is the second post on MR mentioning gigawire

this is the first

this is one from ensign that got ignored but is interesting link

same topic link

one speculating wireless gigaWIRE link

this one is some one who wont buy a new mac because he is waiting for gigawire link
 
I wish I really knew what to say here...but it seems like most of the info we've already found out...

still...I think the GigaWire is going to be some sort of multi-networking setup between Macs & some sort of home electronic devices....

maybe a future filled with Macs that control household duties...?
 
you cant...

...because if you go miles and miles the data transfer speeds would be to unpredictable! and who needs it anyways? all you need is about 500ft. at most!!!
 
Re: you cant...

Originally posted by gambit
...because if you go miles and miles the data transfer speeds would be to unpredictable! and who needs it anyways? all you need is about 500ft. at most!!!
Click to expand...

That would be better for corporations where they have either campus type settings, or centralized server rooms/network closets. Install a gigawire device in each of those rooms to provide coverage for everyone with a TiBook (or iBook) can be connected. I would love to see that at our company, so that we don't have to make the Mac laptop people connect via the ethernet lines. That would also free up ports on the switches. We have pretty much maxed the ports on one side of the building, on one floor (each floor is split in half). We have the design and page production departments on that section, with some people having more then one system inside their office/cube.
 
I think with the recent adoptation of the IEEE board of Firewire as the official name of 1394 it would be stupid of them to change from that name with 1394b. So we'll probably see Firewire 2, to parallel USB 2.

That leaves Gigawire completely in Apple's domain. From the trademark info it looks like they are covering all the bases, and the technology could function like bluetooth...only better.

Another interesting point that only arises with the recent release of the Jaguar features is Rendezvous, or Zeroconf networking. With the next version of OS X being able to talk seamlessly with other machines on the network without any setup, wireless networking of some sort becomes a "must-have" technology for ALL Macs.

Airport is great, but it is limited by the underlying 802.11b technology. Bandwidth and security would have to be vastly improved for it to work.

Imagine Apple ushering in the era of tablet computers, stealing the thunder from BG, who has been pushing it for the last couple of years...hehehe:D
 
it would be great for a small company like mine...

everything is within 20 feet of each other...

now if we could find a way to get the network output devices to adhere to it... ;)
 
on a side not i wanted to mention that many campuses already have wireless netwoks either finished, in planning, or starting up. berkeley is currently in the "starting up phase" as they are experimenting with various access points and locations. i believe (could be wrong) that stanford already has campus wide coverage. my father's high school has had full coverage fo years now. the staff gets powerbooks (g3 back when it started. this was awhile ago) or pcs (toshiba i think). there are also a number of locations ive found in SF that have free wireless access, and there are websites that list places around the country that offer free wireless access. (all of this is via 802.11). pretty neat stuff.
 
so for devices that are purely on ethernet...would they be able to conform to a wireless setup? similar to setting them up on Airport?
 
I think the only thing stopping it from happening at the company I work for is the lack of speed of airport. Considering how everyone is on a 10/100 network (autosense) to go down to airport speeds on current systems would be foolish. When they come out with a faster version, I would hope that would have a better chance of being accepted. I could see 100Mb, full duplex wireless taking off, but not where it is now. At least, inside corporations that need the speed.

Just try downloading a 100MB+ file from a server via airport and you will see why it won't work in a corporate situation. Download the same file when plugged into the network from a standard 100Mb connection (full duplex) and consider that. We have people moving 500MBs of data at a time up and down from server and to printers... Airport would put a serious bottleneck into the works as it stands. Fine for home use, and colleges, but not in the corporate world.
 
I've visited a couple of campuses with 802.11b...very nice...I'm still waiting for them to sort out the security issues here at San Diego State...
 
the tech is there now for hgher speeds. i believe the progression has been 2mb -> 11mb (apple) -> 54mb ->128mb.

i know the 54mb are being sold now, but i think the 128 is something that was announced as having been done but is probably not being produced (could be wrong though, i read about it awhile ago)

eye, the setup is essentialy (sans security) the same as setting up airport on your home network. the high school i mention even uses airport base station. berkeley is using some airports. they are really mixing things up trying figure out which is best.

its great advertising for apple to. when you go into the Free Speech Cafe you always see tons of laptops on the wireless network. all the peecees have wireless cards sticking out of their pc card slots and are crowded around the power outlets. the apples with builtin antenna and long battery life are always lounging where ever they please, even out on the balcony.
 
Originally posted by AmbitiousLemon
eye, the setup is essentialy (sans security) the same as setting up airport on your home network. the high school i mention even uses airport base station. berkeley is using some airports. they are really mixing things up trying figure out which is best.

its great advertising for apple to. when you go into the Free Speech Cafe you always see tons of laptops on the wireless network. all the peecees have wireless cards sticking out of their pc card slots and are crowded around the power outlets. the apples with builtin antenna and long battery life are always lounging where ever they please, even out on the balcony.
Click to expand...

that's really cool...I'm still a bit concerned about older devices...but I don't know a whole lot about Airport...mainly because I do not use it...but it sounds very promising...

I wish some of the coffee places around here would do that...the best I've found locally are ones that offer extra phone lines for dialup connections...:rolleyes:
 
well, there's also the cisco wireless routers that my high school uses, and the IBM WAP that my college uses....
and miles and miles would be great if they could figure out transfer speeds! the only reason i said that was because it was a "cellular" patent.
the only other option i see is that they make a really boosted airport base station adn they put in space and then cage us all gigawire cards and we have WA all over the country, or even the world ha ha ha!!!
actually, a company already did that, they put a satalite with a booseted AirPort Base Station and a G4 500 i think, and the beta tests worked really really well, it's just expensive at the moment, maybe that's what all this gigawire is for....
and there's alot of campus' in the orange county/la county area that have WA at school, especiall souther orange county (all in california of cource ;))
 
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