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I see a SATA controller in the laptop, with 2 internal SATA ports for a CD and HD, there is also a PS/2 'mouse'. I don't get it, are they designing a 'retro' s

by LeonM 9y ago

I see a SATA controller in the laptop, with 2 internal SATA ports for a CD and HD, there is also a PS/2 'mouse'. I don't get it, are they designing a 'retro' style notebook like the old iBook? Or have the designers been sleeping under a rock for the pas 10 years? edit: imac->ibook

dsr_ 9y ago
I don't understand the objection. If these incredibly useful ports are not present, they cannot be used. If they are present, they can be used, but you don't have to do so. This isn't a single laptop design: this is a prototype for building lots of different machines. If you want a NUC-style tiny brick computer, you can build one from this. If you want a RAID server, you can build a small one directly or a medium-sized one by adding a PCIe controller. It's never going to appeal to an ultrabook buyer, since it would be really difficult to engineer all the other components for ultra light weight, but you could replace the vast majority of non-gaming cheap laptops with this. Oh, and integrated touchpads are usually connected with PS/2, SMbus or I2C.
- yjftsjthsd-h 9y ago
  > integrated touchpads are usually connected with PS/2, SMbus or I2C. Yeah, my laptops mostly show up as PS2 devices. So long as usb is present, I support having other ports.
- LeonM 9y ago
  > This isn't a single laptop design: this is a prototype for building lots of different machines. OK, then it makes sense. The website isn't clear about that.
zdw 9y ago
The PS/2 port is probably for the wide range of trackpad/keyboard components that still use that still use that protocol internally, not a physical external port. Lots of devices do this - even high end network gear that have a "USB" port externally wire it to a USB to Serial converter internally, where Serial is the actual protocol in use.
- floatboth 9y ago
  External PS/2 isn't dead either, by the way. Haven't seen in laptops, but I have two modern desktop motherboards and both have a PS/2 port.
  - aidenn0 9y ago
    Last time I checked, PS/2 does NKRO better than USB. I don't know if that's still the case.
microcolonel 9y ago
As for PS/2, that's still the standard interface for keyboards and pointing devices in laptops for power reasons. USB is seriously wasteful. The other way to go is an embedded controller over i2C or similar, but there's not really a standard way to do that in the POWER ecosystem.

by LeonM 9y ago

dsr_ 9y ago

I don't understand the objection. If these incredibly useful ports are not present, they cannot be used. If they are present, they can be used, but you don't have to do so. This isn't a single laptop design: this is a prototype for building lots of different machines. If you want a NUC-style tiny brick computer, you can build one from this. If you want a RAID server, you can build a small one directly or a medium-sized one by adding a PCIe controller. It's never going to appeal to an ultrabook buyer, since it would be really difficult to engineer all the other components for ultra light weight, but you could replace the vast majority of non-gaming cheap laptops with this. Oh, and integrated touchpads are usually connected with PS/2, SMbus or I2C.

yjftsjthsd-h 9y ago
> integrated touchpads are usually connected with PS/2, SMbus or I2C. Yeah, my laptops mostly show up as PS2 devices. So long as usb is present, I support having other ports.
LeonM 9y ago
> This isn't a single laptop design: this is a prototype for building lots of different machines. OK, then it makes sense. The website isn't clear about that.

zdw 9y ago

The PS/2 port is probably for the wide range of trackpad/keyboard components that still use that still use that protocol internally, not a physical external port. Lots of devices do this - even high end network gear that have a "USB" port externally wire it to a USB to Serial converter internally, where Serial is the actual protocol in use.

floatboth 9y ago
External PS/2 isn't dead either, by the way. Haven't seen in laptops, but I have two modern desktop motherboards and both have a PS/2 port.
- aidenn0 9y ago
  Last time I checked, PS/2 does NKRO better than USB. I don't know if that's still the case.

microcolonel 9y ago

As for PS/2, that's still the standard interface for keyboards and pointing devices in laptops for power reasons. USB is seriously wasteful. The other way to go is an embedded controller over i2C or similar, but there's not really a standard way to do that in the POWER ecosystem.