From owner-freebsd-hackers Wed Aug 6 02:11:25 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) id CAA10479 for hackers-outgoing; Wed, 6 Aug 1997 02:11:25 -0700 (PDT) Received: from genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au (genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au [129.127.96.120]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id CAA10458; Wed, 6 Aug 1997 02:11:18 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from msmith@localhost) by genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au (8.8.5/8.7.3) id SAA06556; Wed, 6 Aug 1997 18:40:02 +0930 (CST) From: Michael Smith Message-Id: <199708060910.SAA06556@genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au> Subject: Re: Status of USB, TX chipset, PIIX3, etc. In-Reply-To: <0FDE707975DCD0119E75006097C2ED880296AE@LUNA.e-planet.com> from "Rahimi, Ali" at "Aug 5, 97 10:34:46 pm" To: ARahimi@e-planet.com (Rahimi, Ali) Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 18:40:02 +0930 (CST) Cc: msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au, freebsd@atipa.com, sthaug@nethelp.no, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL28 (25)] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk Rahimi, Ali stands accused of saying: > > >It would also be foolish to leap in in a hurry and waste scarce > >developer resources on the next fad. > > Not so if every major manufacturer is looking at USB and if you're > intereseted in staying competitive. This isn't obvious though. Where are all the USB peripherals? > >I think that the lack of peripheral support is telling; particularly > > I think it's telling of the fact that most PCs don't have a USB port > on them yet. Compaq and Dell will soon be shipping with USB ports > however. USB will be here soon. Whether it will be a success, I don't > know, I'm not an analyst, PCs with USB ports will be here. Well, USB ports have been a selling point on a lot of systems here, but most of the motherboards that ship with it come with mini-8 DIN connectors rather than the "real" USB connector. For all the hype, nobody has yet offered me a USB peripheral of any sort. > >the custom silicon that is almost critical to producing a > >cost-effective peripheral just hasn't made it to market yet. At the > > I regularly go to 7 different silicon manufacturers when I'm looking > for parts. I went through all 7 of them (they're bookmarked in my > netscape). 5 of them had a USB support chipset (the other two were > memory companies). I'd say the silicon has made it to market. (the > manufacturers, for your reference include TI, National, NEC,Motorola, > etc). Can you be a little more specific about this? Particularly, can you point me at the online documentation covering the _peripheral_side_ chipsets, specifically the ones that live in the I/O space of a host micro and subsume all the protocol management? These, and the obvious next step (putting the macrocell on the same silicon as a micro) need to be out and _cheap_ before USB will go anywhere. > I can't wait to not have to hook up my mouse, my keyboard and my > speakers to three different looking and completely separate and > dispersed jacks. I _appreciate_ having separate ports and sensible I/O mechanisms for diverse peripherals. I wish that the PC keyboard and rodent were integrated and used a standard serial interface, but I don't think that having a set of _speakers_ on USB makes any real sense at all. -- ]] Mike Smith, Software Engineer msmith@gsoft.com.au [[ ]] Genesis Software genesis@gsoft.com.au [[ ]] High-speed data acquisition and (GSM mobile) 0411-222-496 [[ ]] realtime instrument control. (ph) +61-8-8267-3493 [[ ]] Unix hardware collector. "Where are your PEZ?" The Tick [[