[Mr.Chow]

I was reading a book just a few min. ago and it was talking about fiber optics. I found it incredible when it said that while testing the fiber optics (one strand) they could not find the limit to it. They tested it up to 3 million terabytes and it only took a matter of seconds. They say that one strand of fiber optic cable (strand is no bigger than a human hair) could support the internet as a whole!

Now I'm sry but WOW ! That is incrediably fast ! It makes me wonder though if they may incorperate that in computers though. The speed of light.

How?

All the buses on a motherboard. All the transisters and such in a chip. What if they could make them glass ? It seems the Internet has gotton as fast as it possibly can! Now we just need to speed the computers up a lil bit.

I think computers are already very fast. But one thing that still bugs me is the HD. It's the slowest compnent of a computer. I cannot wait until they have a perment flash HD. Wich is availible. Sony has it in one of there developing laptops. 1) Saves power (no motor spinning a disk around) 2) much, much, MUCH faster ! Boot time would be a matter of seconds.

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The internet's not as fast as it'll get just yet. Trust me it'll get much faster

[GrantG]

The internet's not as fast as it'll get just yet. Trust me it'll get much faster

[Mr.Chow]

O I'm sure it will ! Don't get me wrong ! But for how fast it is right now ... thats pretty incredible !

[dsenette]

All the buses on a motherboard. All the transisters and such in a chip. What if they could make them glass ? It seems the Internet has gotton as fast as it possibly can! Now we just need to speed the computers up a lil bit

that would indeed be a nifty idea...but...horribly expensive (have you priced fiber lately?...) and also not easy to make...

the production of a fiber optic strand isn't as simple as making say...a drinking glass....the quality of the glass has to be extremely high...the good/bad part ratio at a fiber optics factory is horrible...(don't know the numbers...but they "throw away" alot)..

have you ever seen a strand being made? they take a giant glob of molten glass and put it in a hopper...then they draw off a big chunk of it to use as a weight...then the weight of that chunk pulls off a very thin strand of glass from the big glob of glass...(sort of like dripping honey)...then they wind that strand around a drum....it's crazy stuff


plus the data transmission across fiber is only as good as the light source....so current limitations on laster technology hinder it's use...also the size of the lasers would preclude fiber's use on a motherboard...

but still...if they ever figure it out...you could see extreme buss speeds on a MOBO..

[Mr.Chow]

hehe. I like hearing that ....

but still...if they ever figure it out...you could see extreme buss speeds on a MOBO..

Well it's just a thought. The Tech industry in the past 10 years has gone VERY far ! It may be expensive now but as better ideas for creating fiber optics comes along i think that some day it may be a strong possibility !

[warriorscot]

Heriot watt university is currently working on such a project however it has limitations and data transfer isnt as dependant on the medium as how fast the transistors can actually cycle.

[james_8970]

it'll be nice when they incorperate fiber optics into everything, but at the moment the technology is farly expensive, we don't know the true limitations of it and there is alot of work that needs to be done to replace the old cables and such, it'll be nice when everything begins to be introduced with in with 10 years i'd say....but i could be wrong.
James

[GrantG]

Comment removed due to offensive content

Edited by Kat, 21 October 2006 - 06:45 PM.

[Mr.Chow]

It will take time. But yes i think that in another 10 years, like 10 years past this will start becoming much more of a realality ... quite possibly.

[warriorscot]

To be honest i think there is more potential for quantum computing than optical it has certain practical problems that while quantum has even more its probably more worth the hassle.

Fiber optics is going to be more widely used and advanced for communications but its already used pretty extensively as while its expensive so is copper and the is much more glass available to make fiber than there is copper.

[james_8970]

Yes however quantum computing will be long in the making, last i checked they didn't expect it for another 25-30 years.
James

[-OCM770-]

Yes, fiber optics will indeed increase speed by a significant amount but it has some drawbacks.

A)It's very fragile (from what I've heard)
B) like wanabee1 said, it's currently very expensive and hard to make.
C)If it cracks just slightly, its no good anymore because the light gets distorted.


But some companies like Verizon i believe are already integrating fiber optics for there internet connection, there is an article about that in an issue of PCWORLD for whoever reads it.


-OCM770-

[SRX660]

There are fiber-optic lines at both the water and waste water plant's where i work. These lines are used for computer data gathering. There are approximately 16000 feet of small diameter lines. The company installing the lines told me the fiber-optics could support enough data for 50X the data we use now. We have over 100 PLC's ( a few of them more than 1/2 mile away)sending data every 3 seconds to the computer. We tried wireless but get too much interference so we installed the fiber-optics.

I really think it will be not too long before fiber-optics is in the home, and used in computers also.

SRX660

[warriorscot]

Fiber is expensive but copper is VERY expensive and you need less copper than fiber, also its the manufacturing thats costs more the raw material is cheap and plentiful which means it should be available everywhere relativley cheaply. Its pretty tough stuff, not as much as copper because its more maleable it will go back into shape, but once they are in you arent going to take them out to bend over on themselves. Most countries are starting or already are using fiber optics in the telecommunications lines.

Its also very useful in materials if you run it through metal sheeting and pipes you can use it to detect breaks and stresses, they are surrently working on ways to incorporate it into naval vessels hulls to allow crews to have early warning of breaches and faster responses.

[Mr.Chow]

Well to update and how things are looking at it for chips they have something new and in development called Laser Chips. Really crazy ... its fairly new ...