From owner-freebsd-current Tue Aug 5 19:16:45 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) id TAA20800 for current-outgoing; Tue, 5 Aug 1997 19:16:45 -0700 (PDT) Received: from onyx.atipa.com (user15925@ns.atipa.com [208.128.22.10]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id TAA20790 for ; Tue, 5 Aug 1997 19:16:40 -0700 (PDT) Received: (qmail-queue invoked by uid 1018); 6 Aug 1997 02:18:59 -0000 Date: Tue, 5 Aug 1997 20:18:58 -0600 (MDT) From: Atipa X-Sender: freebsd@dot.ishiboo.com To: Michael Smith cc: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Status of USB, TX chipset, PIIX3, etc. In-Reply-To: <199708060159.LAA01849@genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk On Wed, 6 Aug 1997, Michael Smith wrote: > Atipa stands accused of saying: > > > > Any news on the following high-demand technologies? > > > > Universal Serial Bus (USB) > > http://www.usb.org (503)264-0590 > > Modular, _Powered_ I/O w/ neato hubs > > 12Mbit/sec, up to 127 devices > > There are several developers working on this. IMHO USB is an abomination > with "Job Security" written on almost every page of the spec. 8( Ha. I see no NEED for USB; only added convenience. It would be easier to deal with than a cyclades! If a good API were present, it would be a nice "geek-port" type of interface. This type of interface, if well supported, would make computers EASIER. I know that is not the main concern of people in this group (who are oviously technically adept), but it is still a noble goal. One that is especially appreciated by those of us in the support industry! :) > > Intel 430TX Chipset / PIIX3 Controller > > built-in UltraDMA IDE (33MByte/sec) > > support for SDRAM > > built-in USB > > All of these either require no support, are already supported, or have been > discussed above. I do not believe UltraDMA is supported. The PIIX3 is quite a bit different than the PIIX2, with the RTC and USB built in. > > DVD CD-ROMs and hardware decoders > How are they different from "normal" CD-ROMs? They require hadware decoders. The cinema and audio industries freaked out when they saw the potential for digital duplicates. DVD is encrypted on the media and passed through a decoder. I am certainly no expert, but it does require additional hardware support, above and beyond the host interface. Kevin