I was hoping to find out if I can use a TB4 hub to connect two computers for super fast networking. Currently I have a cable between two computers, when I plug it in I get the ridiculous fast speeds and it configures the point to point networking in such a way it falls back to wifi if the cable is not present.
I would like to do this with a TB4 hub in the middle. I don't want to connect a GPU (yet) but I do want the speed of networking with no latency that TB4 networking does. I think it is faster than NVMe SSDs.
Does anyone have a TB4 hub and two linux boxes and TB4 cables to see what happens if you connect two computers via a TB4 hub - do you get the networking automatically?
I can't tell what Linux does but USB4NET works without a hitch through USB4 hubs.
To go technical we need to check the USB4 System Overview. https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/D1T1-3%20-%20USB4%20... to find four types of Protocol are mapped to USB4: USB3 Adapters, DP Adapters, PCIe Adapters, Host Interface Adapters. We are all familiar with USB3, DP, PCIe but what is a "Host Interface Adapter"?
Now we need to open another document https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/D2T1-3%20-%20USB4%20... to find "Provides parallel communication channels: Control Packet Routing, Host-to-host tunneling" under the Host Interface section. It's Host-to-host tunneling we want.
Finally, go to page 55 of this PDF and see Path Terminology -- most importantly you can see there can be any number of Path Segments.
So to recap: The so called Thunderbolt networking is now called USB4NET, it is provided by the Host Interface Adapter, and it can travel over any number of routers. (In the first doc, you can find routers are the fundamental block of USB4, host, router, device are all routers and in this sense they are the same.)
> Does anyone have a TB4 hub and two linux boxes and TB4 cables to see what happens if you connect two computers via a TB4 hub - do you get the networking automatically?
What happens if you plug two TB4 ports from the same device into the hub?
I don't fancy spotting $300 to find out. Right now I have a mere USB C hub that does not do power delivery. I need a dock and they cost money I can spend on other things. However, if I knew of a dock that worked then I would get one, price permitting.
But since you use Thunderbolt networking, what is the actual speed of it? I've seen statements that suggest it emulates a 10 GbE NIC and so only does 10 gigabit/s, but that sounds kinda weird. Is it a full duplex almost-40 gigabit/s link?
I thought Thunderbolt was also directly on the pci bus which is also a reason I don’t want too many tb devices. I prefer not to have my motherboard fried
Not possible with just a TB4 hub.
A Thunderbolt connection is always between a host and one (or more) devices. It can’t support two hosts at the same time.
What problem are you trying to solve, which isn’t already solved with your existing Ethernet cable?
Update: I stand corrected. [1] Turns out most Thunderbolt controllers can act as downstream devices, too!
I would like to do this with a TB4 hub in the middle. I don't want to connect a GPU (yet) but I do want the speed of networking with no latency that TB4 networking does. I think it is faster than NVMe SSDs.
Does anyone have a TB4 hub and two linux boxes and TB4 cables to see what happens if you connect two computers via a TB4 hub - do you get the networking automatically?