I go over it in the video but yes, active thunderbolt is probably a very good choice for a lot of people. I went into another direction for some reasons that are not applicable to everyone:
- Learning : I want to learn about the lower level of PCIe and it's a good project.
- Re-use of cabling : I have a bunch of single mode fiber bundle going around already. You can't find thunderbolt that just have a LC connector ...
- Isolation : Active thunderbolt cable still often have copper for some low speed signals, they don't offer true galvanic isolation
- Avoid dealing with thunderbolt. I want a custom chassis/pcb at one end and chips to convert from TB back to PCIe are not readily available to make custom stuff with ... (not as an individual anyway).
So yeah, if you want a ready to use solution, TB cable is absolutely a good choice, here I'm having some fun, learning in the process and hopefully sharing some of the knowledge.
- Learning : I want to learn about the lower level of PCIe and it's a good project. - Re-use of cabling : I have a bunch of single mode fiber bundle going around already. You can't find thunderbolt that just have a LC connector ... - Isolation : Active thunderbolt cable still often have copper for some low speed signals, they don't offer true galvanic isolation - Avoid dealing with thunderbolt. I want a custom chassis/pcb at one end and chips to convert from TB back to PCIe are not readily available to make custom stuff with ... (not as an individual anyway).
So yeah, if you want a ready to use solution, TB cable is absolutely a good choice, here I'm having some fun, learning in the process and hopefully sharing some of the knowledge.