This actually comes back to the original point someone made.
Standards/Formats are settled by economic factors, not technical debate.
The relative technical merits off NuBuss and PCI are not relevant (both
suck, but in different ways... ;>) The issue is volume. Second tier
and vertical market vendors lean towards maximum return, so they build
PCI boards. Apple could fight the trend or, like Sony did with VHS, go
with the flow.
Right now, in tiny peripherals PCMCIA/ATA is where it is at. Virtually
all laptop computers have slots. It is not clear to me what will happen
with ultra-tinys. CF devices still have a pretty small installed base,
Springboard even smaller.
Again, the technical merits are not relevant. No EMI shielding means
cheaper modules, but requires a limited bandwidth bus... So what? Why
build peripherals unless there is a market? Installed base will be the
key.
Best Regards,
-jjf
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Sabram [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2000 11:30 AM
To: Palm Developer Forum
Subject: Re: Springboard sucks (was Re: Subject: Low-level radio API...)
"Fitzpatrick, Joe" wrote:
> I would DEFINITELY agree with that! It is hard enough supporting
> drivers for multiple platforms. Who wants to juggle production runs
and
> inventory for multiple buss types?
This is why everyone on the desktop business ended up moving toward PCI
-- even Apple!! I can see something of a neutral standards
body eventually forming but right now the market is way too young and
too technically political. Dave mentioned CF and you saw no
problems, I see some big ones with CF.
* The bus is nothing but a miniaturization of the old IDE bus with a few
extra insertion detection pins. That is Intel logic based
while the whole Palm universe is Motorola based. Anything beyond memory
will create a big bus translation performance hit.
* CF standards mechanically dictates the height of the device instead of
the manufacturer. This really constrains the use of more
economic and cheaper parts. The one thing I love about Springboard is
only one side is mechanically speced. I can do much more in
a mold design.
* CF required an EM shielded case instead of the handheld device doing
the shielding. This increases the cost of the modules.
Most of all, I can't do an injection mold which is much cheaper per part
than stamping sheet metal.
* CF is too small -- yes I'm saying it. For a lot of my clients they
actually moved away from it due to loss of modules in the
field.
We are living in interesting times.
Steve
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