Thunderbolt Networking Support Is Still Being Worked On For Linux

[starshipeleven]

I thought a tablet would be more likely to have a USB port than a Thunderbolt port.
Most tablets are ARM and I don't think there is any Thunderbolt-equipped ARM device.
Most smartphones and tablets seems to heading toward USB Type-C.

Are you stupid? Thunderbolt is Intel, so it's x86 tablets not ARM.
This is for high-end intel tablets running Windows, with CoreM or i3-5-7 onboard.
ARM devices suck too much balls to have any need for so fast ports at all.

This is an example http://liliputing.com/2016/01/dells-...k-display.html

[starshipeleven]

I'm pretty certain Thunderbolt only exists because Apple. They have a long history of ignoring standards and trying to do there own thing.

Thunderbolt is (and has always been) Intel's pet project. It's too complex for Apple to deal with alone.

[starshipeleven]

Yes, you're probably right. Firewire I think was also because of Apple, though companies like Sony tried to mooch off of it too. What I don't get is why they involved Intel.

It's the other way around. Thunderbolt is Intel's project that was adopted first by Apple.

As also EFI firmwares.

[bachchain]

10 Gbps ethernet is still pretty expensive though.

And thunderbolt isn't?

[starshipeleven]

And thunderbolt isn't?

Thunderbolt is generic, so it can offset the cost by being produced to do more than just high-end networking.

IF it gets produced in any significant numbers (which isn't currently happening).

[duby229]

Thunderbolt is generic, so it can offset the cost by being produced to do more than just high-end networking.

IF it gets produced in any significant numbers (which isn't currently happening).

Yes it is by Apple. If you didn't notice already, Apple has been using Intel products for quite some time. You've never had to visit an Apple store have you?

[starshipeleven]

Yes it is by Apple.

I said SIGNIFICANT.

[Emmanuel Deloget]

I already have Ethernet.
Ethernet also have the advantage of being more secure as it does not have direct memory access (DMA).

Are you sure you understand what DMA is?

Last time I checked, DMA was used to transfer the packets coming from my ethernet adapter to my machine memory where it can be handled by the OS. It was also used to transfer packets back to the adapter.

But I might be wrong, of course.

[starshipeleven]

But I might be wrong, of course.

The ethernet controller has DMA, direct memory access.
Whatever is connected to ethernet cable does not have DMA and can only talk to the ethernet controller.
Any kind of communication that does not broadly resemble ethernet can't get past the ethernet controller as it won't understand it.

Thunderbolt has pcie lines, and pcie lines allow ANYTHING you connect to them (an external port) to have DMA.

So yeah, it's not the same thing at all.

[ravyne]

Looking forward to it for exactly one reason -- I've never seen a laptop with 10GBe built in (not to mention that any kind of RJ45 has gone extinct on today's thin-and-light notebooks). You can get external 10GBe boxes that use thunderbolt, which avoid the DMA vulnerability but they're $400+, or external PCIe boxes that you can populate with a 10GBe card of some type, but that's also an expensive proposition. And both options are bulky.

10GBe gets you read speeds comparable to raid-0'd SATA SSDs, which means all your important and bulk storage can be offloaded to single NAS.