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New port is fiber channel

machine translation

We had infos on a part of the mysterious external connectors of the
mother board PPC 970. One of them (and probably 2) is a connector
Fiber channel to connect for example Xserve RAID

-----------------------------------------
machine translation, but it's quite accurate
 
Originally posted by NavyIntel007
Ok so everyone rip out the CAT6 you just put in your house because fiber is here! :D :cool:
Click to expand...


Fiber-based Gigabit Ethernet and Fibre-channel (aka FC, commonly FC-AL [ Fibre-Channel-Arbitrated Loop) are not the same thing. The former is Ethernet using optical fiber for OSI layer 1, the latter is a fairly short-haul, high-speed optical alternative to SCSI (and notorious for driver problems on pretty much every platform on which it's been deployed. Sun's one of the the longest-running platforms using FC-AL, and their drivers STILL spontaneously LIP, and don't interop well with non-Sun GBICs.)
 
Re: machine translation

Originally posted by crassusad44
One of them (and probably 2) is a connector Fiber channel to connect for example Xserve RAID
Click to expand...

XStation? Why would you want to have a RAID system hooked up to a desktop ;)

This might also be the return of the desktop server as well.

D
 
for my home desktop use the ability to have a RAID set up is not going to be worth my computer dollars... i wouldve rather had the 5.1 surround...
 
it is an odd thing.

I have serious doubts that Fibrechannel is going to be built into a PowerMac.

Even build into an XStation would be a little odd... but perhaps more likely.

It's not built into the Xserve... you need to buy a PCI card for it.

Either this rumor is wrong, or those motherboards aren't for the PowerMacs...

arn
 
Originally posted by MarksEvilTwin
Whats so weird or useless about having a RAID system at home? Drives can fail spontaneously anytime, and yeah, if you keep good backups thats great, but we cant always be ready. My dad's HD randomly died last fall and he lost all these photos he took over vacation about a month earlier, because he hadn't had the chance to back it up at all, also some work documents. He now has two drives hooked up in a RAID so he's got these two drives mirroring eachother.



I think RAIDs are a great idea, and i dont think they should ONLY be used in pro environments. If you are willing to shell out the little bit extra for the second drive, its definitely worth it.



Mark
Click to expand...


A FC-AL RAID enclosure will run you around $10k. That right there makes it abnormal for home use.
 
Originally posted by MarksEvilTwin
Whats so weird or useless about having a RAID system at home?
Click to expand...

As another posted said... we're not talking about just RAID... Mac OS X supports RAID to a limited degree in software...

We're talking

FibreChannel up to 2.52 terabytes RAID - which would presumably be the reason to put FibreChannel in a Mac product (by Apple)

arn
 
I could see a perfectly good reason for them, although I agree it is unlikely to happen in the powermac.
PowerMacs are made for creative professionals, right? They need massive and redundant storage just like the companies running xserves for databases and such. If I had enough money and needed a large RAID, I would prefer not to have the xServe.
 
If this is true it's great news for HD editing (which really requires an array). Right now, to connect a nice array to a PM you have to buy the $500 fiber card. But if they duild it in, you wouldn't have to. I agree that the usefulness of this is limited, but for those who have the need, it's cool.

TM
 
I don't know if MacBidouille is saying that this is what they think some of the connectors are or if they know they are fiber connectors.
 
Hmm I am having doubts about the accuracy of these rumors, I would like them to be real. However I don't think that they are correct. FibreChannel, common do you really need that...? Hmm maybe they are making a new level of consumer, Pro Pro-Sumer
 
Uh folks, this is all from the site that claimed to have benchmarks of the 970 using a soon to be released new version of Bryce that is far into development. Guess what? Corel just announced that Bryce version 5 is it as far as the mac goes. Everything on the MB site is just totally and completely bogus, and specifically, news about Bryce is the final nail in the coffin in regards to their earlier claimed benchmarks.
 
Originally posted by anthonymoody
If this is true it's great news for HD editing (which really requires an array). Right now, to connect a nice array to a PM you have to buy the $500 fiber card. But if they duild it in, you wouldn't have to. I agree that the usefulness of this is limited, but for those who have the need, it's cool.
Click to expand...

But for those of us without the need that is another $500 (maybe less, but probably not less than $300) added cost per computer. I would rather the people who need it buy the $500 PCI card than those of us who don't pay more.
 
I think it is quite possible that a "new" high-end PowerMac line could have fiber-channel drives. Sun makes workstation level machines (Sun Blade 2000) that has fiber-channel drives.

This would give the PowerMac the punch of high-end SGI and Sun workstations. A 64-bit OS and fiber-channel drives would give a PowerMac a significant punch for video professionals. Think about the RAM you can put into a 64-bit OS machine and the speed of the drives. You would have incredible speeds rendering digital video.
 
Originally posted by rog
Uh folks, this is all from the site that claimed to have benchmarks of the 970 using a soon to be released new version of Bryce that is far into development. Guess what? Corel just announced that Bryce version 5 is it as far as the mac goes. Everything on the MB site is just totally and completely bogus, and specifically, news about Bryce is the final nail in the coffin in regards to their earlier claimed benchmarks.
Click to expand...


as excited an into a WWDC release of the 970... this really puts me down. wonderful... now we'll have to rename the french rumors "freedom rumors . it sure dosent help the 2k ive been saving for a system thats buring a hole in my pocket.

:confused:
 
The fiber Rumor is true.......(It seems unlikely that Apple would build-in FibreChannel into PowerMac motherboards) <- This is wrong!
 
Originally posted by Mac Messenger
The fiber Rumor is true.......(It seems unlikely that Apple would build-in FibreChannel into PowerMac motherboards) <- This is wrong!
Click to expand...

also a possibility...

I've clarified that this is my personal opinion in the article.

arn
 
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