Light Peak Ready for Implementation on Copper, Not Yet on Fiber Optic

[KnightWRX]

Wrong... Ethernet cables don't fancy being bent or stuck in some cavity.

What you're thinking of is copper medium using RF signals (multi-frequency signal) like your TV cable uses, where the outside edge of the conductor is the highest frequency and the inside of the conductor is the lowest frequency and your receiver uses "channels" to read the different frequencies of your signal.

Ethernet is basically electrical wire. As long as it has continuity, it doesn't give a damn.

 

[jav6454]

What you're thinking of is copper medium using RF signals (multi-frequency signal) like your TV cable uses, where the outside edge of the conductor is the highest frequency and the inside of the conductor is the lowest frequency and your receiver uses "channels" to read the different frequencies of your signal.

Ethernet is basically electrical wire. As long as it has continuity, it doesn't give a damn.

It sure enough does that Ethernet is categorized into different CAT ratings.

 

[rmwebs]

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I intend to buy a new Mac - probably an iMac - to finally replace my old and crawling G4 tower. I think I may hold out for the next release with the prospect of Sandy Bridge, but is this something else I should be waiting for?

I really wouldn't make it a deciding factor tbh. How many of your devices, or any device come to think of it currently require 10gbit/s? It'll be a good 3-4 years before it gets widely adopted assuming Apple even decided to adopt it. It's a Display Port killer, which may be a big issue for Apple given how much they have invested into it.

 

[Shadow]

Have they addressed the power flaw in lightpeak yet? (I.E It has none.)

I'm all for Light peak - its fast. But without power it halves its usefulness. A portable hard drive requires a power over usb. It'd be pointless to use light peak and have a second cable plugged into a USB socket to get power to the device.

Surely if they plan to roll it out on copper it would be wise to use it for standard 5v power like USB does? Even intel said they wanted to use copper along side the fibre to get power to the device.

They're bundling copper wires into the cable as well for power; although that was back when it was fibre only but I see no reason that they won't do the same now that it's copper. Source

 

[rmwebs]

Ethernet is basically electrical wire. As long as it has continuity, it doesn't give a damn.

I know what you mean - Ethernet is a LOT more forgiving than fibre, however it does break if bent too far on occasions. I've had cables break from being incorrectly wrapped. Some seem to handle it better than others.

 

[Hellhammer]

How many Volts and how many Amps can Light Peak deliver? No matter how fast a cable is, if it can't power a hard drive at 7200 RPM, it's pointless! That's the problem with USB, it delivers so little power (5 volts and 500mA I think) that any hard drive you connect to it is either slow or requires a bulky power adapter. I think that in the future, portable hard drives should not require separate power adapters to run fast.

AFAIK Intel hasn't said a word about power. USB can already power 2.5" 7200rpm drives fine but 3.5" drives require too much power.

 

[notjustjay]

Wrong... Ethernet cables don't fancy being bent or stuck in some cavity. They also break.

OK, so they can handle more abuse, within reasonable bounds. No cable is indestructible.

The last few inches of CAT5 inside each of my wall plates is stuffed right in there. My network seems to run fine...

 

[talkingfuture]

So we may see this in a mac soon then?

 

[KnightWRX]

It sure enough does that Ethernet is categorized into different CAT ratings.

A bend with a radius 4 times the diameter of the cable is much more than what any fiber or coaxial would survive. It is what Cat 5 can tolerate. It is a big electric cable.

And seriously, you should see how much I manhandle the different strands when crimping my own RJ-45 connectors on them. Cat 5 doesn't give a damn about bends as long as you don't break it.

 

[definitive]

So we may see this in a mac soon then?

yeah, give it another 3-4 years

 

[Small White Car]

Lets call it what it really is - FireWire 2.0

Already did that one. Did you not notice FireWire 800? Many Macs have had it for years.

 

[al2o3cr]

Ethernet is basically electrical wire. As long as it has continuity, it doesn't give a damn.

Just try running even 100mbps over wire with the pairs connected incorrectly - not gonna work...

Have they addressed the power flaw in lightpeak yet? (I.E It has none.)

Well, they've either sorted it or this is running on fairy dust:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/14/intels-light-peak-optical-interconnect-shrinks-slightly-while/

 

[HiRez]

Does anyone know how much dropoff there is with distance? Or if there is a hard distance limit? Remember the old SCSI cables that could only be 3 feet max for good performance? That sucked. Hopefully this is better in that regard.

 

[Consultant]

Won't it be just Copper Peak then?

 

[KnightWRX]

Just try running even 100mbps over wire with the pairs connected incorrectly - not gonna work...

It is going to work, albeit, not as fast as it should. The different pairs use different twists since the different conductors aren't really shielded from each other.

As in any electrical system, you'll get cross-talk otherwise. This has nothing to do with bending and you'd have to like you say, use the wrong wires or untwist the pairs for quite a length for it to have any impact.

Again, this has nothing to do with the original premise that you can't bend Cat 5 cable. You can and way beyond the point where fiber would stop transmitting.

 

[misfit356tsw]

Then don't call it Light Peak.

Copper Peak doesn't roll off the tongue as nicely.

 

[rstansby]

Then don't call it Light Peak.

The name does seem a bit ironic now.

 

[shartypants]

I'm more than happy with 10gbps for now, usb2 has gotten so slooow. Hopefully the connector will be the same when they upgrade to optical later, and have it auto-sense copper or optical.

 

[Vanarak19]

light peak as a dock connector would be fabulous.

 

[jc1350]

Copper wires are also far more versatile than optical cabling. You could fold a copper wire in half or stuff it into a cavity somewhere, without any problems. With optical wire you need to be careful about the minimum radius you allow it to curve at, or risk breaking it.

corning makes a fiber cable line called "clearcurve" that can be bent in half, wrapped around tight spirals, 90-degree bends, etc. Granted these are drop cables; I don't know if they make something suitable for inside a PC, but if not today, I'm sure it's in the works.

Here's a video demo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUBRjiVhJTs

 

[Iphtashu Fitz]

Then don't call it Light Peak.

Firewire cables don't actually burst into flames, you know.

 

[locust76]

Even more amazing is the fact that they somehow managed to get light to travel through copper cabling.

/sarcasm

 

[louis Fashion]

quote of the Day -- Fanned

Then don't call it Light Peak.

Quote of the day, Fanned!!

 

[Vanarak19]

copper peak. No sunglasses required.

 

[Detektiv-Pinky]

A bend with a radius 4 times the diameter of the cable is much more than what any fiber or coaxial would survive. It is what Cat 5 can tolerate. It is a big electric cable.

And seriously, you should see how much I manhandle the different strands when crimping my own RJ-45 connectors on them. Cat 5 doesn't give a damn about bends as long as you don't break it.

Well, I am very sure that 10 Gbps will not run over Cat 5 (only specified to 100 MHz). I think it will at least be Cat 6e.

As the transmission frequency increases even the copper cabling becomes less forgiving. So the times for crimping you own cables might soon be over...