Das Keyboard promises that their Model S for Mac is a worthy successor to the legendary IBM Model M, but I beg to differ

I make my living typing, and always have. From my days as a systems administrator to today doing whatever it is that I do, half my waking hours are spent in front of the keyboard. I’ve long used a very specific and much loved keyboard: A 1987 IBM Model M. But, in need of Macintosh keys and a USB connection, I jumped at the opportunity to pick up the brand-new Das Keyboard Model S for Mac. Here’s what I thought of it, my recommendation, and why I’m sending it back.

What I Look for in a Keyboard

I literally spend 8 to 10 hours a day typing, and I’ve gotten fairly fast over the last 2 decades. The only really satisfactory keyboard I have ever used is the one I continued to use most of that time, an IBM Model M manufactured in 1987. What’s so great about this keyboard that people like me continue to use them?

The IBM Model M is “defend your house from zombies” solid, with a thick steel backing plate and rigid plastic case. The “buckling springs” under each key give a perfect “press and pop” feeling, with each key press rewarding the finger and ear with a satisfying “clack.” This old-school typewriter feel is much sought after, and has spurred a vibrant aftermarket for otherwise-obsolete IBM keyboards.

To see how to use an old 101-key keyboard with a Mac, see Command and Control: The Clash of Keyboards

But I use a Mac. Macs have USB ports and make heavy use of the control, option, and command keys. IBM Model M keyboards are short on keys, and use AT or PS/2 connectors, making them less than compatible with Apple Macintosh computers, or recent Windows PCs, for that matter.

Introducing the Das Keyboard Model S For Mac

The Das Keyboard Model S is smaller and lighter than the IBM Model M

I’ve heard rumblings about Das Keyboard and their enthusiast oriented clicky keyboards for a while, but they only recently came out with a product specifically designed for use with Apple Macintosh computers. The Model S line uses Cherry MX blue mechanical key switches, known for their satisfying tactile feel. And the Model S for Mac includes Option and Command keys, along with media and sleep keys for use with Mac OS X.

Not having used a Das Keyboard, I decided to give it a try to see if it really “compares to the legendary IBM Model M”, as promised on the company’s website. I went ahead and ordered my keyboard, and it shipped much more quickly than I had expected. I must’ve gotten one of the first keyboards off the line, because the estimated ship date is still a month from now!

The Das Keyboard Model S is truly an enthusiast oriented keyboard, with 6 key rollover and a built-in USB hub. But the USB hub uses a separate connector from the keyboard, is only 2 ports, and interferes with right-handed use of mice or Apple’s Magic Trackpad. The dark glossy finish contrasts with flat black keys, though I do not care for the illegible lowercase font used by Das Keyboard.

Unboxing and Initial Impressions

Shipping was fast, but I was surprised by the small size and light weight of the box I received. The inner container, though glossy and thankfully not overly verbose, looks and feels cheaper than one would expect from a high-end enthusiast product. Honestly, it would get lost on the shelves at Fry’s or Micro Center amid thir ocean of worthless, mushy, flexy junk keyboards.

This is a shame, because the keyboard itself really is impressive in a “2001 monolith” or “Death Star” sort of way. The sharp angles make it appear at once smaller than it is, yet more substantial than the plastic junk most companies call keyboards. The style is entirely different from the slim slabs of aluminum sold by Apple, yet both are iconic in their own way.

But the Das Keyboard Model S for Mac feels much lighter than its 3 pound weight would suggest. Although I didn’t expect it to have the same heft as my 6 pound IBM Model M, it does not feel much more substantial than the cheap Compaq keyboard I had sitting in my closet. The keys are extremely lightweight, with a feathery feel that filled me with dread. This is no Model M.

Das Keyboard Model S Typing Feel

I gave the Das Keyboard a thorough workout, using it exclusively for over a week of heavy typing. Although I could type just as fast on the Model S as the trusty IBM, I did not enjoy the feel at all.

Cherry’s MX Blue switches have a two-piece “snap” design Image: GeekHack.org	IBM Model M uses a buckling spring Image: WakWak.com

The Cherry MX blue key switches do indeed have a nice snap, but they are undone by an overall feeling of lightness to the action. The keycaps do not feel “locked in” or solidly-connected, They wobble slightly as you type, and are so light that you may not know you’ve pressed them at all if not for the snap and pop of the switch.

What’s worse, in fast typing I found myself “getting ahead of” the key switches. Unless released to spring back nearly their entire travel, the switch will not snap or pop at all on the next press, though the character input will still register. Perhaps it is my typing style that is at fault, but I found myself typing extra characters without knowing it.

I’m disappointed that Das Keyboard would emphasize the comparison between this keyboard and the Model M so strongly in their marketing materials, and disgusted that reviewers would go along with this farce. No one who had ever tried both back-to-back would ever make this comparison. Das Keyboard is fine on its own, but is nothing like a Model M. It’s like slamming the door on a Honda Civic and a Mercedes S Class: Both are satisfying, but there’s no mistaking one for the other.

Another peculiarity of the Das Keyboard Model S for Mac is its handling of the media keys. Unlike Apple’s own keyboard, and the Unicomp Spacesaver M I am currently typing on, the Das Keyboard requires one to press the function key to activate the media keys. And these media keys are oddly shifted to the left: reverse, play/pause, and fast-forward are on F6, F7, and F8 rather than F7, F8, and F9; mute, volume down, and volume up are similarly shifted from F10 through F12 to F9 through F11. I find this extremely curious in a keyboard designed for the Mac.

Stephen’s Stance

Make no mistake, the Das Keyboard Model S for Mac is a whole class better than the plastic junk most people use, and the snappy Cherry MX blue key switches are more rewarding than any scissor or membrane keyboard out there. But this is no IBM Model M, so buckling spring fans should look elsewhere. I would not hesitate to recommend the Das Keyboard Model S for Mac to anyone looking for an alternative to Apple’s scissor key aluminum slabs or built-in MacBook keyboards, but I will be returning mine and evaluating a Unicomp Spacesaver M instead.

Pros:

• Great to see a company so committed to the keyboard, a critical computer component
• Classy black monolith shape
• Good (but not great) Cherry MX blue keyswitches
• Macintosh keys (option, command, and media)

Cons:

• Totally different feel from the IBM Model M feel, despite Das Keyboard’s marketing
• Paltry 2 USB ports are in the wrong spot and use their own separate cable
• Mac media keys mis-located and require function-Fx press
• More expensive than the son-of-Model M sold by Unicomp

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2012. | Review: Das Keyboard Model S for Mac (and Why I’m Sending It Back)
This post was categorized as Apple, Features, Personal, Terabyte home. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

Two portable RAID systems arrived at my door. Which would you be more interested in?

RAID is becoming more familiar in the SOHO market, but portable devices using 2.5″ drives remain a novelty. I recently tested two such units, and came away with mixed impressions. Although the ToughTech Duo from CRU-DataPort/Wiebetech sports attractive design, it didn’t perform much better than the homely Akitio Taurus Mini Super-S. And neither is all that portable.

A Tale of Two Drives

CRU-Dataport/Wiebetech ToughTech Duo and Akitio Taurus Mini Super-S

I’ve been intrigued by the industry-wide shift from 3.5″ to 2.5″ hard disk drives, and was curious when this trend would come to consumer devices. CRU-DataPort, also (confusingly) known as Wiebetech, was first to offer up a two-drive portable RAID unit for me to test. Their ToughTech Duo is a rounded elongated brick with a brushed aluminum finish, LCD screen, and big rubbery buttons.

The ToughTech Duo arrived with a pair of 750 GB Seagate drives installed, but it supports many others as well. I swapped in a pair of 500 GB Toshiba drives (sent separately by IDEMA for my use in tests) and was immediately impressed by the ToughTech’s metal drive carriers. They hold the drive firmly and latch in place securely yet require no screws. The overall build quality of the ToughTech Duo is solid, and the interface is easy to use – perhaps too much so, as we will shortly see!

I really appreciated the CRU-Dataport/Wiebetech ToughTech Duo drive carrier

A short time later, Akitio offered me their 2-drive “Taurus Mini Super-S” for testing. A sharp square brick with a rough black finish, the Taurus Mini’s LCD was harder to read and the two tiny control buttons were nearly impossible to press. The drives reside behind a metal door operated with thumbscrews but attach to rough trays with standard Phillips screws. I suppose the drives are secure, but the Taurus isn’t reassuring to work with.

Both the ToughTech Duo and Taurus Mini Super-S include USB 2.0 and eSATA as well as two FireWire 800 ports for daisy-chaining. The omission of USB 3.0 is curious considering how widespread that interface has become on storage devices, but eSATA and FireWire allow these devices to reach their (limited) performance potential.

The CRU-Dataport/Wiebetech packaging is much friendlier

Both devices ship in gaudy boxes that would be right at home on the shelves of MicroCenter or Fry’s, but the Akitio is excessively verbose and nerdy. The packaging, like the overly-long product names, would put off casual computer users, especially Apple buyers looking for simplicity and ease of use. This is disappointing, since any device with FireWire but no USB 3.0 must be aimed at Apple users!

Configuring RAID

Both drives allow the user to switch between RAID 1 (mirroring) and RAID 0 (striping, with no data protection) using the panel buttons. But since this operation is destructive to the data stored, this might not be all that useful. Most users will likely select one or the other and leave it that way, a blessing given the microscopic buttons on the Akitio.

An average user is likely to leave the drive plugged in when performing RAID changes, leading to disastrous results with the Wiebetech drive. The Akitio resets itself when RAID levels are changed, but the Wiebetech (curiously) does not. I was able to continue writing and reading data after switching to RAID 1, but a reboot destroyed the format and the data. I made the company aware of this issue and they assured me it would be corrected. But I haven’t seen a fix yet, and it’s been a few months. The fact that the documentation instructs users to unplug the drive on RAID changes isn’t reassuring: Few buyers will actually read and follow these instructions.

Interestingly, both devices use the same on-disk format for both RAID 0 and 1. I was able to pull the drives from one and use them in the other with no apparent issues. Wiebetech assured me that their RAID 1 format simply writes all data to both drives. I was able to confirm that this was the case, with a removed RAID 1 drive remaining readable using a direct SATA connection.

Usability Concerns

There's a lot of stuff in the Akitio Taurus Mini Super-S box!

Although both devices are admirably small, they are not really all that compact. Carrying either drive (along with its power brick) in my backpack was definitely noticeable both in bulk and weight. And these are surprisingly heavy devices – each weighs more than my 2011 MacBook Pro!

Both devices get fairly hot under heavy use as well, and neither sports a fan. The Akitio has what looks like a heatsink along the bottom, but I didn’t notice that the rest of the body stayed cooler. And the Wiebetech got downright hot, even setting off its internal temperature alarm during benchmarking! This was an isolated occurrence, however, and I was unable to cause it to overheat again.

It is way too easy to erase all data on the ToughTech Duo by changing RAID levels with the big, friendly buttons

The ease of switching RAID modes is disturbing to me, since this destroys all data on the drives even without considering the Wiebetech’s data loss-inducing bug. But the LCD and buttons are fairly useless apart from this rare operation.

Performance and Compatibility

I tested both devices with the same Toshiba 500 GB drives to gauge their controller performance, but the Seagate drives shipped with the CRU-Dataport/Wiebetech device are much quicker overall.

Sequential read performance with RAID 0 pushes the limits of FireWire at about 83 MB/s, with RAID 1 only slightly behind

Sequential write performance isn't as good, with both units lagging when using RAID 1. Although equal in performance with RAID 0, the Wiebetech lagged severely in RAID 1 performance

Random read performance is nicely homogenous, with both drives topping out around 45 MB/s

Random writes were a different story, with the Akitio and Wiebetech close together for both RAID 0 and 1, but each demonstrating superiority in a different area. The Akitio just kept accelerating as I/O's got larger with RAID 1, while the Wiebetech pulled ahead with RAID 0. Oddly, RAID 0 writes lagged behind RAID 1 on the whole.

Wiebetech's bundled Seagate drives easily outperformed the Toshibas is random benchmarks, nearly doubling random write throughput

But the Toshiba drives were faster in sequential operations, with the Seagates lagging well behind

Stephen’s Stance

I often receive storage devices for review, but it’s unusual that two such similar ones arrive at once. After giving each a fair amount of testing and use, I come away unimpressed. The Akitio looks and feels like the sort of no-name OEM device often overlooked by buyers, while the slickly-designed Wiebetech exhibited disconcerting bugs. Both have confusing names and packaging as well. If I had to pick one, it would be the CRU-Dataport/Wiebetech ToughTech Duo, thanks to its more compact size and user-friendly drive sleds. Note that the Akitio appears to be cheaper at retail, but this is due to the cost of the hard disk drives in the Wiebetech/CRU-Dataport device.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2011. | Two Dual-Drive Portable RAIDs Reviewed: Akitio and Wiebetech
This post was categorized as Personal, Terabyte home. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

I purchased Novatel's latest 4G MiFi, the 4510l, from Verizon and am very impressed by it so far

Somewhat disappointed in the Clear PXU1900, I decided to try another 4G mobile broadband solution. Verizon began their LTE buildout after Clearwire’s WiMAX was already widely deployed, but they have moved aggressively to catch up. And Verizon has the benefit of better if less-plentiful spectrum for their network. My experience with Verizon’s 4G LTE service, and their Novatel MiFi 4510l modem, has been quite positive so far.

Verizon LTE: State Of The Art

You should probably read 4G Connectivity Options Proliferate and Hands-On Review: Clear WiMAX Service (and PXU1900 USB Modem) first!

A few years, back, it looked like WiMAX was the wave of the future for mobile network access. With an all-IP platform and the support of computer giants like Intel, how could it fail? But everything has been derailed since then, and LTE has emerged as the likely 4G champ worldwide.

It is extremely odd that Verizon chose LTE for their 4G network. After all, they are the largest non-GSM mobile provider, having followed the path to IS-95 and EV-DO while arch-rival AT&T (and most of the rest of the world’s mobile operators) focused on GSM and HSPA. Although LTE is quite different from earlier GSM-based technologies, it shares some common supporting elements, including SIM cards and other access-control technology.

But Verizon has firmly and completely committed to LTE even as Clearwire and Sprint waver on WiMAX. In just over one year, Verizon has lit up their 4G data network to cover more than half the population of the USA, and they announce even more availability on a regular basis.

Verizon really has another ace in the hole when it comes to 4G. Clearwire’s 2.5/2.6 GHz WiMAX network suffers from interference from 2.4 GHz devices (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cordless phones, microwave ovens, security cameras, and all sorts of other wireless junk) and is extremely sensitive to walls, hills, and antenna orientation. In contrast, Verizon’s 700 MHz “Upper SMB block C” spectrum licenses are much cleaner and penetrate buildings far better. Even other LTE buildouts (from Lightsquared, AT&T, and Clearwire) will not be as solid in the USA as Verizon’s since they will use that troubled 2.5/2.6 GHz spectrum as well.

Verizon 4G Plans and Devices

Verizon’s 4G offerings are fairly pedestrian and somewhat expensive. $50 buys you 5 GB of monthly data on the 3G or 4G network, and $80 doubles that data allowance. A 2-year contract gets a generous equipment discount, as is typical in the industry.

I searched eBay for an inexpensive Verizon modem to purchase, since I dislike contracts, but came away disappointed. Verizon 4G devices sell for $150 or more, even as Clear 4G modems can be found under $50. I decided to settle for a contract, assuming the money I save now can be applied to the early termination fee if I decide to drop service.

On the device front, all of Verizon’s offerings support both 3G (EVDO) and 4G (LTE) data, which is great since I don’t live in a 4G area but often travel. I considered a USB modem for use with my Cradlepoint router, but my old PHS300 doesn’t support them. Even though I also have a brand-new CBR400, it’s not battery powered and my MBR1200 isn’t exactly portable!

Mini Review: Verizon Novatel MiFi 4510l

I had a positive (if not always excellent) experience with my 3G Virgin Mobile MiFi 2200 as well as a Huawei E585 I purchased for use in Europe, so I decided on a “portable hotspot” device from Verizon. They currently offer the Samsung SCH-LC11 and Novatel MiFi 4510l, but reviewers have not shown much preference for one over the other, and both are nearly identical hardware-wise.

I chose to stick with Novatel, based mainly on two minor advantages: Reviews suggest that the Samsung has trouble charging while powered on, making it less suitable for long-term fixed use. Also, although no 4G hotspot from any provider currently supports USB tethering, a throwaway mention in an AnandTech review suggested that this was indeed possible. I hoped that USB tethering, unsupported or not, might be possible in areas thick with Wi-Fi.

I purchased my Novatel MiFi 4510l from Wal Mart’s online mobile phone arm, Letstalk. They offered the device free with a 2-year contract, and threw in free overnight shipping to boot. After a little hassle with email and a phone call, I was able to get the device ordered and it arrived just under 48 hours after I clicked “buy”.

The MiFi 4510l is fatter but improved over its predecessor, the 2200

The MiFi 4510l is much improved over my old Novatel 2200. The old device has an impossibly-finicky power button, sometimes leaving the device on even when the lights were off. In contrast, the 4510l is easy to operate and reliably powers down. The new device also includes an integrated e-paper display which clearly shows signal strength and battery status.

But Novatel’s engineering still leaves much to be desired. Both MiFis share the same insanely-incompatible power cord (though the new one will at least charge when powered off) but use different batteries. The 4510l “forgets” its internal bandwidth usage counter every time it is restarted, a criminal omission on a device fast enough to deplete your data allowance in just a few hours! And the software interface is even less detailed and informative than before. Plus, Novatel insists on printing the default password on an external sticker!

The 4510l is about as thick as two 2200s, but still small enough to slip into even a small pocket. It lasts hours on a charge and, when plugged in, can indeed fill the battery and function simultaneously. Unlike the Clear modem, the (single) external antenna port is covered by a rubber plug. The e-paper display is reasonably informative, and the three-color LED joins in, showing 2G/3G (purple), 4G (green), and power-off (yellow).

Out and About With Verizon LTE

I’ve been really impressed by Verizon’s LTE coverage, especially indoors. Although only the airport had service in Austin, I’ve gotten LTE signals far outside Cleveland and Denver. And unlike Clear’s WiMAX, which slowed to a crawl just a few feet indoors, the Verizon LTE network hummed along over 5 Mbps deep inside hotel and office buildings.

Verizon’s LTE network speed is impressive compared to 3G, especially when it comes to uploads. Clear obviously throttles upload speeds in some cities, with 300 Kbps a universal maximum regardless of download throughput. But Verizon’s LTE network was nearly symmetrical in my tests, ranging from about 5 Mbps in Denver and Las Vegas to over 10 Mbps in Cleveland.

3G (and even 2G) data support was gratifying as well. In completely unscientific head-to-head testing, the Verizon Mifi consistently outperformed my Virgin Mobile (Sprint network) MiFi in the wilds of Northeast Ohio. My AT&T iPhone 4 was faster than the Verizon 3G network in some areas, but almost uselessly-slow in others. In all tests, the Verizon chugged along, providing predictable and acceptable 3G performance.

In terms of network performance, I really have only one gripe with the Verizon MiFi 4510l: It has trouble in areas of faint LTE coverage. I have encountered a few instances where it tried to connect to LTE, then failed and claimed to connect to EVDO but no data was going through. Others have reported the same issue, suggesting the tedious “fix” of forcing it to 3G or 4G when in these locations.

Hopefully future firmware will address the network failover issues. It would be nice if Verizon also added a usage counter than survived reboots, though simply querying Verizon’s online account information and integrating it into the web interface would be a fine alternative. Hardware-wise, it would be great if some MiFi added 5 GHz Wireless-N support to clear up the 2.4 GHz band!

Stephen’s Stance

I would not hesitate to recommend Verizon’s 4G LTE network. It’s head-and-shoulders above Clear/Sprint WiMAX and will likely stay that way for a while thanks to their use of the 700MHz band. Verizon’s rapid network expansion and broad 3G network are reassuring enough to entice me into a 2-year contract. And the Novatel MiFi 4510l is a fairly solid device, though not perfect.

One more thing: I am very close to tethering the 4510l to the Cradlepoint over USB. It appears to be very possible, given the correct setup. Watch this space for news!

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2011. | Hands-On Review: Verizon 4G LTE (and the Novatel MiFi 4510l)
This post was categorized as Features, Personal, Terabyte home. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

The new Apple Thunderbolt Display is much more than just a monitor: It's a demonstration of what Thunderbolt technology is capable of!

It took a while, but Apple’s Thunderbolt technology is finally proving its worth. The new Thunderbolt Display is called “the ultimate docking station” on Apple’s website, and this may just be the case. With a single cable carrying power, display, and I/O from a thunderbolt equipped MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, the Thunderbolt Display really does transform what a laptop computer can be.

A Quiet Surprise

You might also want to read Thunderbolt = Light Peak = Mini DisplayPort + PCI Express

Apple introduced the latest version of their OS X operating system alongside the new MacBook Air, the cancellation of the old plastic MacBook, and a refresh of the Mac Mini this month. With so much news, it was easy to overlook another key product introduction: the Thunderbolt Display.

But far from being a simple monitor, the new Thunderbolt Display is really the first non-storage Thunderbolt peripheral as well as a demonstration of the power of this new interconnect. Taking a step forward from previous Cinema Displays, this new monitor includes a single cable for power and video signals and also leverages Thunderbolt technology to carry I/O traffic, turning the monitor into an extension of the attached MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or Mac Mini.

The new Display uses Thunderbolt technology to expand the I/O capabilities of slim computers like the Mac Mini and MacBook Air

The Thunderbolt Display includes three full power USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire 800 port, a Gigabit Ethernet port, a “FaceTime” HD webcam and microphone. All of these signals are multiplexed over a single Thunderbolt connection along with the DisplayPort via signal. Attaching this display to a brand-new Thunderbolt equipped MacBook Air transforms it into an iMac equivalent, with the same I/O capabilities and performance.

Note that the Thunderbolt controller in the MacBook Pro is twice as powerful as the one found in the new MacBook Air, allowing the Pro computers to use to Thunderbolt Displays at once. This “LightRidge” chip is also found in the Mac Mini and iMac, so all are capable of dual displays.

Changing the Shape of Computers

This is the real power of Thunderbolt technology in action. By extending the PCI bus outside a computer’s chassis, advanced peripherals like the Thunderbolt Display can add full speed I/O ports without sacrificing a thin, portable form factor. The previous generation MacBook Air was seriously compromised in terms of performance, with just two slow USB 2.0 ports and no Ethernet. The new Thunderbolt MacBook Air is an entirely different league, boasting 10 Gb of external I/O that can be used for full speed Ethernet, FireWire, and (hopefully) USB 3.0 in the future.

Thunderbolt allows a slim portable computer to have the same massive I/O capability as a desktop, and it has implications for nonportable devices as well. Consider the new Mac Mini, which has slimmed down to the size of the old Apple TV. Although it lacks an internal optical drive or any other expansion capability, equipping the Mac Mini with Thunderbolt enables it to challenge the tower desktops in the future. Already, companies like Village Instruments are promising to introduce PCIe expansion chassis for Thunderbolt, allowing computers like the Mac Mini and MacBook Air to use full-size PCIe cards.

Stephen’s Stance

Thunderbolt is important not because it is fast but because it extends the PCI bus outside the computer chassis. The next iteration of the Mac Pro could be as tiny as the Mac Mini, as long as it has two or more Thunderbolt ports and an expansion chassis for video and I/O cards.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2011. | Apple’s Thunderbolt Display Shows the Future
This post was categorized as Apple, Terabyte home. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

Despite Dragon Dictate's claims, all is not well with with my dictation experience

A few days ago, I posted a review of Dragon Dictate for Mac. Tellingly, it was entitled “utterly frustrating” and I illustrated my frustration with a video of the product in action (included below). Today, Nuance (maker of Dragon Dictate) responded with a detailed comment. Since their comment was long and thoughtful, I decided to post it, and my response, as a new post.

My Feelings About Dragon

I really wanted to like this product. Seriously. I’d heard so many great things about Dragon Naturally Speaking for Windows but could never afford it. Once I switched to Mac, I was concerned about the MacSpeech until Nuance bought the company and updated it as Dragon Dictate 2.0. So I decided to take the plunge when Amazon offered it as a “Gold Box” deal.

See my post, Dragon Dictate for Mac: Utterly Frustrating, and my video, Dragon Dictate for Mac: An Exercise in Futility

Since then, I have been completely frustrated with the product. It does a great job recognizing speech, but the interface is so limited and clunky it’s just about impossible to use. There’s nothing wrong with the underlying engine, just the packaging of it into a Mac application. If my basic concerns were addressed, I bet it would become an excellent product.

The Dragon Responds

Erica Hill from Dragon corporate communications left a comment in my post, hoping ”to hear back from you, either here or directly via email.” So here’s your response, Erica!

First, thank you for responding at all. All too often, companies don’t have this kind of proactive, honest response to feedback, especially when it’s negative. But you’re doing the right thing by responding like this!

Hi Stephen

Thanks for your thoughtful review of Dictate. We sincerely appreciate all feedback – good or bad, as it only helps us to improve Dictate.

I’m sorry that you haven’t had a good experience. We don’t hear this too often, but I’m glad that you’ve let us know, as it doesn’t matter if it’s one person or 100 – the experience should be enjoyable and productive for everyone. You mentioned wanting a refund – we will certainly oblige – just drop me a line at erica DOT hill AT nuance DOT com and I’ll get the process going for you.

I actually don’t want a refund. I want a functioning product. How about an upgrade to the new, improved, functional version of Dictate you so must be feverishly working on in the back room? Barring that, I suppose a refund might be the only recourse if the product will remain as-is for the foreseeable future.

Bottom line, your points are taken, and please know that we are committed to improving Dictate with every new version and update, so your feedback helps. With regard to your suggestions for improvements, I checked in with the product team and have a few thoughts to share on some specific points, and a question or two.

Add That

My suggestion: Add a simple, streamlined dictated command to add a word to the dictionary – “add that” should allow you to spell and train in one go

Use ”Access or Show Vocabulary Editor Window” to open the Vocabulary Editor window. But you are correct, there is no voice-only way to add custom vocabulary words. But once you add a custom word like “Fibre Channel” and train it, you should see that word or phrase recognized in your dictation.

Ok, so it’s possible to kick off the complex process of adding a word with a dictated command. Thank you! Now what about the rest of the process? This would be a very useful feature. As for recognition, as you can see, it sometimes recognizes added words correctly and sometimes not. It’s all very frustrating. For example, even though I’ve added and trained “SATA” (pronounced as “SAT-uh”) it never, ever recognizes it correctly. Not once.

Use ”Train Vocabulary From Selection” after selecting a word or words using the “Select…” command.

I’m not clear on what this does. I knew about this command, but it didn’t appear to do anything at all. When I try this, I invariably get a window that says “all the words in the text supplied are already in this vocabulary.” And it does not appear that this improves recognition accuracy or adds words to the vocabulary.

For example, I recently wrote an article about the Micron P320h SSD. I did not add that long, clunky product name to the Dictate vocabulary, so every time it appears I either have to say the ungainly phrase, “cap P no space 320 lowercase h” or type it in manually. Yet selecting that name and saying “train vocabulary from selection” pops up a window claiming that all the words are in the vocabulary. They are not, and are not recognized correctly. So I don’t understand what the point is.

Use ”Vocabulary Training” to scan existing documents for unique vocabulary words.

This seems to work to add words to the vocabulary, but it does not appear to train the pronunciation of them. And it seems to skip words like “P320h”. I will certainly begin using this function in the future, but I don’t hold out much hope that it will improve recognition accuracy for technical terms.

Dictate Anywhere

My suggestion: Fix the obnoxious behavior outside the Dictate “notepad” window – or add an “insert only” setting to not “guess” where you are in a document and overwrite things

“Universal Tracking” is something we are working on. Currently we do recommend that folks dictate within TextEdit for the best experience.

My suggestion is simpler than universal tracking as defined here. Rather than trying to make the application smarter, why not make it dumber? Don’t automatically insert spaces or retrace characters in other applications than TextEdit. Just insert what is dictated and let the user handle cursor movements. This would be much more intuitive than the bizarre behavior exhibited by Dragon Dictate currently.

Where exactly do you recommend dictating in TextEdit? The online marketing materials claim “watch your words appear on screen in your favorite Mac applications” and “Dragon Dictate for Mac works with your favorite Apple applications, including Mail, iChat, iCal, TextEdit, Pages, Safari and many more.” I see no mention of Dragon Dictate’s reliance on TextEdit on your website or on the product box. Rather, promotional materials indicate that the product works in any application.

One commenter on my blog suggested using the “cache selection” command to improve Dictate’s behavior in other applications. I will try this in the future as well.

Extra Characters

My suggestion: Fix the weird “add extra characters after the cursor” bug demonstrated in my video

This will be addressed in a future release.

That’s good to know. Although you claim that most users are satisfied with the program, this bug is widely documented on the Internet for years, and I have received condolences from other users who say this is the main reason they stopped using the program. Fixing this problem should be priority one for Nuance, since it affects every user in every application.

Fixing Words

My suggestion: Allow me to fix one or two words, not a whole phrase, and allow me to fix it outside the Recognition window’s (limited) choices

These are great suggestions and the correction process is something that we are always striving to improve.

The recognition window issue is a major pain. Often, it simply refuses to offer an appropriate choice of words, even after multiple attempts at dictating the word desired. This happens with known words as well as those not in the vocabulary editor. It would be tremendously useful to be able to say “spell that word” or something similar rather than relying on the choices that the recognition window shows.

No Abbreviations

My suggestion: Add a “no abbreviations” setting to the Mac version so it stops correcting “minutes” to “min.”

Finer control of engine settings for AutoFormatting will be addressed in a future release.

This is very good news indeed, since it is majorly frustrating that Dictate will not allow me ever to dictate the word “minutes” after a number. It always changes my wording to “15 min.”

At the very least, the recognition window should offer the spelled-out version of any abbreviation as a optional correction. I would think this would be a very simple feature to add. But at present, recognition only offers one choice: The abbreviated form that has already been recognized.

Weighted Recognition Options

My suggestion: Allow me to say “always recognize it this way” for words like “Fibre Channel” and “Stephen’s stance” (not “fiber channel” and “Steven’s stance”)

With addition of custom vocabulary words, items like “Fibre Channel” will appear in dictation.  Sample dictation:

1. Let’s review the latest in Fibre Channel designs for high-performance storage area networks. I would like to know Stephen’s stance on this issue.

I have added these the vocabulary words to Dictate, but it still recognizes them incorrectly the majority of the time. As illustrated in the video, “Fibre Channel” is often recognized correctly but sometimes not, even though the alternative “fibre channel” would never appear in a document I was dictating.

Again, my suggestion is to allow the user to say “never recognize that” or something similar.

Common Mistakes

My suggestion: Improve recognition of common commands and terms (“explanation point”? Seriously? When has anyone ever dictated that?)

Would like to know if you were using the mic that came with Dictate or a different audio input source. This type of misrecognition could be due to poor audio quality.  Can you let me know?

I am using the headset mic and USB adapter that came with Dictate. However, when using this mike in other applications like Skype, I have heard that sound quality is poor. Perhaps there is something wrong with the mic hardware?

More Issues with Dictate for Mac

Although I did not comment on these issues at length, since we’re talking about improvements to the application, let me take a few moments to outline some more issues that I am experiencing.

1. High CPU utilization: Dictate will often use quite a bit of my system’s CPU, pinning one of the four cores near 100%. This seems excessive, especially since it does not always require this much juice. I suspect a bug.
2. Delayed recognition: After a while of use, Dictate begins slowing down. Just now, it was taking 30 seconds or more for my words to appear in the floating window and another 20 seconds or so to appear in the document. I have to restart Dictate or just return to the keyboard. This is often a prelude to the third issue…
3. Crashing: Dictate has proven unstable in regular usage, often crashing after extended usage. I usually allow the application to send these reports to Nuance, so you should have this information already. When it crashes, Dictate often loses a few minutes of work in the TextEdit window.

Stephen’s Stance

That Dragon chose to respond to my issues publicly, and am willing to work with you to resolve these problems. But it seems that there is no solution at present to most of my concerns, and the additional issues of load, slowdown, and crashing do not inspire confidence. I still cannot recommend this application, and find myself increasingly frustrated with it.

What I would like from Dragon mainly is a roadmap showing definite improvements in the near future. Resolve the random character issue (which has been known for years), fix the slow down and crashing issue, and perhaps add some of the easier feature requests and streamline the process of adding vocabulary. All of these should be doable for a company like Nuance, especially since the product retails for so much money.

When can we expect these fixes? Are you working on them? We customers would love to know.

See also Dragon Dictate review: speech recognition from Nuance for Mac

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2011. | Nuance Responds to My Dragon Dictate Concerns
This post was categorized as Apple, Personal. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

• My writing
  • Processing and Scheduling Thin Provisioning is another entry in my State of the Art Thin Provisioning series
  • I posted another napkin-tastic infographic: Real-World Port Throughput Relative To Light Peak
  • Wednesday saw the Thunderbolt leak, Will Apple Call Light Peak “Thunderbolt”?, but USB 3.0 For Mac Is Here (sort of)
  • Then there was the real reveal on Thursday: Thunderbolt = Light Peak = Mini DisplayPort + PCI Express
  • I had to dispel some silly speculation: Why the iPad 2 Won’t Include Thunderbolt
  • I didn’t write the post, but I did write the DCIG 2011 Small Enterprise Storage Array Buyer’s Guide!
• Other stuff
  • Good stuff from Nasuni: Blocks vs. Files: Which Approach is Better for Cloud Gateways?
  • IPv6 was a topic of discussion at Tech Field Day, so this one from Eric Siebert was interesting: IPv6 support in vSphere
  • Terry Slattery also has some IPv6 ideas: Are You Ready for IPv6?
  • Another great TFD post from Jeff Fry: IP Address Management (IPAM) and INFOBLOX
  • A response to my VAAI questions from IBM: XIV VAAI Support – whats the story?
  • I’ve been wondering about this. What’s your opinion on Gabrie van Zanten’s post? To USB or not to USB, how do you boot your ESXi host?
  • And now for something completely different: Pants Down on Madison: Salinger’s Slightly Salingeresque Boswell Wants to Be Left Alone

Subscribe to my Google Reader feed or follow me on Twitter to see these in real-time.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2011. | Back From the Pile: Interesting Links, February 25, 2011
This post was categorized as Apple, Enterprise storage, Everything, Personal, Terabyte home. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

Thunderbolt (nee Light Peak) is here!

Apple unveiled their new line of MacBook Pro laptops today, complete with “Thunderbolt”, the trade name for a production packaging of Light Peak and Mini DisplayPort. After much speculation (including quite a bit by yours truly), we finally have some concrete information about Light Peak, and perhaps a peek (if you forgive the pun) into the next generation of I/O technologies!

Note: The following comes from my own research on the day of the launch. Intel’s Thunderbolt Technology Brief is especially helpful, and many of these images come from there. Intel has promised to brief me on the technology shortly, and I will write a more complete and correct article at that time!

PCI Express At Heart

We have long known that Light Peak is more a transport than a protocol. Rather than competing with existing standards like USB and FireWire, Light Peak is an interconnect that can carry a variety of protocols. But we never knew exactly how this mechanism would work until now.

Apple’s and Intel’s Thunderbolt pages reveal that it uses PCI Express as its base transport mechanism. This isn’t the first time the serial PCI Express bus has been exposed to the “outside world” – the weakly-supported ExpressCard standard already includes a single PCI Express (v1) lane for plug-in cards.

But Thunderbolt is much, much faster than ExpressCard. With a confirmed 10 Gb/s of throughput, Thunderbolt is a significant upgrade, but what exactly is the technology behind it? Intel could have used four PCI Express v1 lanes, but this would fall short of 10 Gb/s in real-world throughput thanks to 8b/10b encoding losses and other overhead, and would also pose additional cabling challenges. It could also have specified a single PCI Express v3.0 lane, which would spec nicely to 10 Gb/s, but this standard is quite new, having been finalized in November, 2010.

Instead, it appears that Thunderbolt will use two PCI Express v2.0 lanes, each operating at 5 GHz and using 8b/10b encoding. This means that real-world Light Peak throughput will be limited to about 2x 4 Gb/s, 20% less than the rated number. But this scheme would be much simpler to implement, being compatible with Intel’s current Sandy Bridge CPUs and chipsets as well as nearly every existing PCI Express-capable chip and peripheral.

Thunderbolt = Light Peak Over Mini DisplayPort

Intel’s Thunderbolt port is not just a renaming of Light Peak, though. It is a packaging of Light Peak technology with Apple’s Mini DisplayPort (mDP) video connector standard. Note that the Thunderbolt name and logo are Intel’s trademarks, not Apple’s, and will likely show up on PC hardware as well.

Mini DisplayPort is a compact 20-pin connector for the DisplayPort digital video interface standard. Introduced in 2006, DisplayPort is intended to replace DVI and VGA (and supplant HDMI) for use in computer displays. DisplayPort gained significant traction in late 2010 as major PC component and display manufacturers like AMD, Intel, Dell, Lenovo, LG, and Samsung announced they would use it both internally and externally for future displays.

Apple switched to DisplayPort in late 2008, and has exclusively used Mini DisplayPort since 2009. They released the compact mDP specification for free use by other manufacturers, and support for the standard is growing.

Maintaining Compatibility With Mini DisplayPort

Although it is not 100% clear exactly how Intel added Light Peak PCI Express lanes to the Mini DisplayPort connector, we do have a general idea.

All 20 pins in the mDP connector are already used for the DisplayPort video and associated data signals, leaving none for PCI Express. Although the mechanical tolerances of a mDP connector are better-suited for an optical interconnect, and Thunderbolt does hold out the promise of optical connections, the initial Thunderbolt implementation uses electrical signals to carry PCI Express data.

Intel’s illustration appears to show PCI Express and DisplayPort data multiplexed over a single connection. But this would be tricky to implement while still maintaining backwards-compatibility with existing Mini DisplayPort devices, as touted.

Intel accomplished this bit of magic by only multiplexing when compatible endpoints are detected:

“if a DisplayPort device is detected, a Thunderbolt controller will drive compatibility mode DisplayPort signals to that device”

They re-use the existing pins for a multiplexed connection of PCI Express and DisplayPort data for Thunderbolt-capable endpoints but fall back only to Mini DisplayPort signaling when a mDP device is detected. This likely means that the PCI Express lanes will be entirely disabled when connected to an existing Apple Cinema Display or other Mini DisplayPort device.

One Big Surprise: Two Channels!

There is one more surprise in store from Intel and Apple:

“A Thunderbolt connector is capable of providing two full-duplex channels. Each channel provides bi-directional 10 Gbps of bandwidth.”

Whoa there! So this little Mini DisplayPort connector includes 20 Gb/s of throughput in each direction, plus up to two DisplayPort v1.1a connections with 8.64 Gb/s each. This yields a grand total of 57 Gb/s over that slim wire. That’s one impressive interconnect!

Intel's Thunderbolt Controller diagram is revealing!

The Intel Thunderbolt controller is fed four PCI Express v2.0 lanes and a DisplayPort signal from the “Cougar Point” platform controller hub (PCH). A DisplayPort signal can also be routed in from a discrete graphics card. Each Thunderbolt controller can apparently drive two Thunderbolt connectors, though it is likely that these will share the same four PCI Express lanes using a crossbar switch built into the controller.

A Wide World of Peripherals

LaCie stands make a big splash with Thunderbolt-compatible storage devices

As mentioned, just about any existing PCI Express chipset can reside on this Thunderbolt bus, and the topology is extremely flexible. A Thunderbolt peripheral could be an endpoint, using the PCI Express lanes to drive FireWire, USB, Fibre Channel, or just about any other interconnect. It could also be a hub, allowing further Thunderbolt connections, or a pass-through in a daisy-chain topology.

It is somewhat surprising that Apple did not release a new Thunderbolt-capable Cinema Display today. In fact, only storage devices from Promise and LaCie are noted in Apple’s page. They do promise a user can “daisy-chain up to six new peripherals, such as the Promise Pegasus RAID or LaCie Little Big Disk, or five peripherals and an Apple LED Cinema Display.” But this indicates that the Cinema Display would be at the end of the chain operating in Mini DisplayPort compatibility mode.

It is likely that Intel is supplying the Thunderbolt chips used in peripherals as well. If Intel is the single source for these chips, it could drive up cost and reduce availability of compatible peripherals. But it would also likely improve interoperability and compatibility in general.

Stephen’s Stance

Although Thunderbolt is backward-compatible, only the forward-looking use cases are really compelling. A future Cinema Display with USB, FireWire, and Ethernet ports would be a start. It would be easy to imagine a slimmer MacBook with just a few internal ports that relies on its display to provide DVD, ExpressCard, and other expansion devices. I’d love to see a Thunderbolt- and Sandy Bridge-equipped MacBook Air!

It is disappointing that Apple and Intel decided to use the Mini DisplayPort connector rather than USB, but the USB Implementer’s Forum was apparently opposed to that idea. Since Apple controls mDP and modern Macs increasingly include just that connector and USB, it was an easy alternative choice. Although today’s MacBook Pros include just a single Thunderbolt port, one suspects that future machines might reduce the number of USB connectors or eliminate FireWire in favor of a second Thunderbolt.

This is an exciting development in I/O and storage. Watch this space for future updates!

Note: Images in this post come from Apple and Intel.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2011. | Thunderbolt = Light Peak = Mini DisplayPort + PCI Express
This post was categorized as Apple, Computer History, Everything, Personal, Terabyte home. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

CalDigit USB 3.0 PCI Express Card Review

I recommend the CalDigit PCI Express card for Mac Pro users with a need for (storage) speed!

No, Apple didn’t send me a sneak peak at some new hardware. My USB 3.0 experience comes courtesy of CalDigit, who sent me their Mac OS X-compatible USB 3.0 PCI Express card for evaluation. I’m pleased as punch with the card and software drivers they delivered, and it makes me crazy that this isn’t included by default in Mac Pro desktops, let alone the new MacBook Pros to be introduced tomorrow.

The CalDigit USB 3.0 adapter is a PCI Express card intended for use in a Mac Pro. A graphic artist friend of mine was kind enough to let me use his very-expensive Apple workstation for testing, and was so impressed that he turned around and ordered a CalDigit card for himself. Installation is a snap – just open the Mac Pro, unscrew the retainer above the PCI Express slots, slide the card in place, and screw everything back together. (Side note: I love Apple’s tower case design!)

I didn’t see a 4-pin mini floppy power connector inside the Mac Pro case, but the CalDigit card does include a compatible header. This would give the ports more power than they can draw from the PCI Express bus itself, but I didn’t see the need. Using only the PCI Express bus, I was able to spin up and use every USB bus-powered drive I tried with no issues.

Installing the software was a snap, too. CalDigit’s driver appears to be locked to only their card (I tried it with a variety of other USB 3.0 cards with no success) but it did support every USB 3.0 drive I tried. This is in stark contrast to the LaCie USB 3.0 driver which only talks to LaCie drives! Specifically, I connected two different Seagate GoFlex USB 3.0 drives, a generic USB 3.0-to-SATA adapter, and Iomega’s screaming-fast USB 3.0 SSD. Every one was instantly available to Mac OS X and visibly out-performed FireWire and USB 2.0.

Real-World Tests

Since this was not my own machine, I was not able to perform my usual benchmarks. But I did test some copy operations, experimenting with USB 2.0 and FireWire 400 and 800 connections. The 1 TB Seagate GoFlex drive pushed over 100 MB/s when using the CalDigit USB 3.0 card, according to my iPhone stopwatch, but were limited to about 45 MB/s and 30 MB/s when using FireWire 400 and USB 2.0, respectively. I had previously tested this drive using eSATA on my iMac and found it topped out at about 110 MB/s, so the drive itself appears to be the bottleneck when using USB 3.0.

Swapping in the Iomega USB 3.0 SSD was eye-opening. This drive proved to be blazing fast in my tests earlier in the week, topping 200 MB/s in both read and write operations when connected to my Asus Cougar Point motherboard running Windows 7. I wasn’t able to perform adequate benchmarks with the Iomega, but my stopwatch showed it accelerating past the GoFlex and easily pushing 150 MB/s or more. I wouldn’t doubt that the CalDigit card is capable of 200 MB/s with an appropriate storage device.

The CalDigit controller lagged in writes, but performance was still impressive

The story was somewhat different under Windows. My instrumented tests (using Atto Disk Benchmark in Windows 7) showed a curious slowdown in write operations compared to the ASMedia USB 3.0 controller selected by Asus for my P8H67-M Pro motherboard. The CalDigit card and drivers matched the ASMedia at over 200 MB/s in read operations to the Iomega SSD, but lagged behind at 150 MB/s when it came to writes. I wonder if perhaps Mac-oriented CalDigit did not optimize their Windows 7 drivers for this card. Of course, 150 MB/s is still more than four times faster than USB 2.0, and I would never have noticed this if I was only using a hard disk drive!

Stephen’s Stance

If you own a Mac Pro, there is no need to wait for Apple to release USB 3.0 hardware and software. I can unreservedly recommend the CalDigit USB 3.0 PCI Express card for Mac Pro owners. The performance and ease of use is well worth the $79 MSRP. With so many external storage vendors rapidly switching to USB 3.0, the days of FireWire 800 being top dog in Mac performance are over. I’d love to connect the new USB 3.0-equipped Drobo S to this card!

CalDigit promised to send me an ExpressCard USB 3.0 adapter to try in my MacBook Pro as soon as they refresh their stock. I’m eager to try it out, since I’ve noted less-thrilling performance in the other USB 3.0 ExpressCard adapters I have tried. Those maxed out at around 110 MB/s in my Dell XPS/Windows 7 laptop, suggesting serious performance limits for the ExpressCard form factor. I am curious to see how the MacBook Pro performs in comparison.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2011. | USB 3.0 For Mac Is Here!
This post was categorized as Apple, Personal, Terabyte home. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

It looks like Apple will indeed re-brand Intel Light Peak as "Thunderbolt" and combine it with Mini DisplayPort!

Intel has been incredibly tight-lipped about Light Peak. Although I’ve been hounding my contacts inside the company for months, no one has spilled the beans about anything. All I know about Light Peak I learned on the Internet, as they say. Now comes another bombshell: Apple will introduce Light Peak-equipped MacBook Pros tomorrow (February 24) with “Thunderbolt”, a high-speed I/O port!

One could easily guess that Apple would rename Light Peak for its own use. It did the same with its previous high-speed I/O port, IEEE 1394, known among Apple users as FireWire. A trademarked name allows Apple to control compatibility to some extent, requiring users of the name to submit to Apple’s guidelines and perhaps pay a fee for its use. And Light Peak seems an especially poor name amid rumors that it will not use an optical connection after all!

The news comes from the German-language site, FSCKLog, and includes photos of the 13″ MacBook Pro spec sheet, the Thunderbolt logo, and even the ports on the side of the machine!

If we take this as fact (and the logo it pretty convincing) here’s what we know about Apple’s implementation of Light Peak:

1. Apple will call it “Thunderbolt” and refers to it as a “High-speed I/O” port
2. Apple will integrate Thunderbolt with the Mini DisplayPort connector (rather than a USB 3.0 port as I had guessed)
   1. The German spec sheet says “Thunderbolt-Anschluss unterstuetzt High-Speed E/A und Mini DisplayPort Geraete”, which means “Thunderbolt port supports High-Speed I/O devices and Mini DisplayPort”.
   2. The side photo shows an ordinary-looking Mini DisplayPort connector with a little thunderbolt icon next to it. Under magnification, I don’t see any sign of image manipulation in this photo.
3. Since it’s integrated with the Mini DisplayPort connector, it’s likely Apple will use the monitor as a high-speed I/O hub or breakout box
   1. Expect to see a new line of Cinema Displays with Thunderbolt-powered ports embedded in them.
   2. I bet companies like Belkin will quickly come out with Thunderbolt breakout boxes.
4. The MacBook Pro will still include FireWire 800 and (2x) USB 2.0 I/O ports, in addition to a MagSafe power port, Gigabit Ethernet port, and SDXC card slot.
5. There is no mention of USB 3.0, though I strongly suspect it will be included in the Thunderbolt spec.

Interested in learning more? You might want to check out some of my other articles about Light Peak, or my Light Peak performance comparison infographic!

Stephen’s Stance

I was skeptical that Apple would introduce Light Peak this month, though confident it would come this year. But this evidence is very convincing, if not wholly satisfying. I’ve been holding off on upgrading my three-year-old Santa Rosa MacBook Pro until Apple released some kind of serious I/O: A few USB 2.0 and FireWire ports just doesn’t cut it for my use. I do hope these new Sandy Bridge MacBook Pros meet my needs, though, because I’m itching for an upgrade!

But the specific inclusion and mention of USB 2.0 and FireWire 800 ports gives me pause. Why put USB 2.0 on board instead of USB 3.0? Why bundle “Thunderbolt” with the Mini DisplayPort connector rather than a USB 3.0 port? Why is there no mention of what Thunderbolt is useful for? I’m concerned that Thunderbolt might not be fully baked, and might not deliver the “high-speed I/O” I wanted. Early adopters could be stuck with limited compatibility and connectivity, and there is no telling if my “breakout box” concept will come to fruition. Heck, Thunderbolt could carry just video and audio for all we know!

Image credit: FSCKLog

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2011. | Will Apple Call Light Peak “Thunderbolt”?
This post was categorized as Apple, Computer History, Personal, Terabyte home. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

It’s hard to compare big numbers: Just how fast is 10 gigabits per second anyway? To help out, I’ve prepared another napkin-tastic infographic!

This illustration shows the number of ports required to match a single 10 Gb/s Light Peak connection (or 10 GbE link) in terms of real-world throughput. I used my own benchmarks to come up with real-world performance. Since these average 80% efficiency, I estimated that Light Peak would deliver 80% of its theoretical bandwidth, or just about 1000 Megabytes per second.

It’s important to remember that, despite the doom and gloom predictions, Light Peak is not intended to replace any existing port type. It is a high-speed interconnect for multiplexing these protocols. In other words, a Light Peak connection will carry multiple USB 3.0, FireWire, Ethernet, or other signals not some new special protocol. And Light Peak probably won’t use light at all at first: It will run over conventional copper wiring, perhaps combined with USB 3.0!

It’s fun to imagine what such a port would mean to the physical design of portable computers. A future MacBook Air could have a single combined port carrying either USB 3.0 or 10 Gb/s Light Peak over copper (“Copper Peak”?). This could connect to a “dock” or break-out box, or perhaps the ports could be embedded in a monitor or even the power adapter. This remote block could include everything we might need: 1 Gb Ethernet, FireWire 800, USB 3.0, and ExpressCard (PCI-over-Light Peak isn’t that far-fetched).

About the only thing Light Peak will have difficulty carrying is full-bandwidth video. Apple’s current DisplayPort cables already carry 10.2 Gb/s of data, and the DisplayPort signal driving a 27″ 2650×1600 display would saturate a Light Peak connection. Unless Apple has something up their sleeve (multi-link Light Peak?) we’re not yet looking at single-port computers!

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2011. | Infographic: Real-World Port Throughput Relative To Light Peak
This post was categorized as Apple, Features, Personal, Terabyte home. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.