Mmmm.... in many definitions, a bus is a single wire, cable or group of wires were every component is directly connected to that bus. The moment you need hubs or other devices that split the physical connection in more than one part, I tend to call that a network.
The fact that the USB consortium calls it a bus, doesn't automatically redefine the term bus. For all I know, they could have called it bus because the acronym USB sounds easier than for instance USN (Universal Serial Network).
Think about the bus as an abstract/system concept rather than the physical/wire.
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Michael N. Moran (h) 770 516 7918
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The Beatles were wrong: 1 & 1 & 1 is 1
The tricky part to keep in mind is that there are *two*, at least somewhat different kinds of things that people call a "bus" in electronics and computing hardware:
1) the "power bus" or "bus-type network" is essentially a cabling topology: a cable or signal line that runs along the apparatus, and when a part needs power or network connection, it just hooks up to it at some arbitrary position. CAN or traditional coax-cabled ethernet are busses, in this sense.
2) the address/data bus concept. I.e. when lots of signals ride in a package, on lots of nearby cables, that's a bus, for the same reason we call the thing that transports lots of people from one place to the other a "bus".
Coincidentally, address/data busses were, at least in their classic versions, a bus in both senses of this term, i.e. the address bus would run all along the mother board, and all major parts of a computer would connect to it.
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Hans-Bernhard Broeker (broeker@physik.rwth-aachen.de)
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It's a synchronous bus, according to the schedule. However, there are occasional clock synchronization questions.
Yes. It's an unusual double-buffer scheme. I have seen as many as twelve DATA items waiting to get on the bus. Then once on the bus, items are buffered until delivery to their destinations. Interestingly each DATA item carries its own routing and destination information, making it a relatively sophisticated network, which happens to employ buses.
Average latency at any given point during weekdays is probably around thirty minutes, but maximum latency is around 13 hours. Ah, but think of the bandwidth! As the old joke goes, "don't underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of 9-track tapes." Which is particularly funny now, because both station wagons and 9-track tapes are long obsolete...
That's a good definition, and "relatively short distances" is a good descriptive detail. Just to be clear, I think when you say "in more than one direction" you mean that, for example, the information can go from a device to multiple other devices, and not that it necessarily has to be bidirection (i.e. both input and output). An address bus is a typical example of this.
I beg to differ regarding station wagons. They are just as popular in Europe as ever, and they seem to be undergoing a resurgence in popularity in the US (several new models introduced in the past year). Apparently, some people with SUVs that guzzle gas and handle like pigs-on-skates have finally figured out that they never really needed to drive off-road after all. ;)
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Grant Edwards grante Yow! Jesus is my
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snipped-for-privacy@redhat.com (Frank Ch. Eigler) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@toenail.toronto.redhat.com:
To hold up a hanging plant?
More on topic: to provide power *from* one device *to* another (note no "back and forth"). To provide a power refernce to a device. To provide a signal of some sort in a single direction. To act as an antenna (OK, that's really just a special case of the previous example). To provide the means of measuring a force (tension) using a transducer of some sort.
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Walter Mallory walter.mallory@mbda-us.com
Reach, Connect, Celebrate, Grow, Serve
Grant Edwards wrote in news:4166a4e3$0$409$a1866201 @newsreader.visi.com:
So should it now be a Mini-Cooper filled with DVDs?
What do you mean a resurgance? My wife's Suburban is really nothing but a tall station wagon. Well, a tall station wagon, with an extra back seat, mounted on a truck chassis: but that's beside the point. :-)
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Walter Mallory walter.mallory@mbda-us.com
Reach, Connect, Celebrate, Grow, Serve
Ever seen a pig on skates? LOL Hilarious picture in my mind. But you've got to hand it to 'em that you can see 'em fly once they get the hang of it.... Short sturdy legs. And at that, four of those. A low center of gravity... Rocksteady... There's a catch, though... Can you guess what?
Waldemar
P.S. My 12 year old Peugeot 205 Automatic does better than 40 miles to the gallon, and with the present gas prizes I still call that guzzling... How about yours?
Me too :) I never expect this little question caused such big debate ;-)
At the end, my friend accepted that the word "bus" was used becuase it carry multiple bits of information at the same time. Not quite correct for USB, but at least it is true for PCI bus and SCSI bus.
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