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It's not that no one knows how to use the dock connector, it's that Apple has a patent on the actual connector itself, you so you can't sell a product that uses the dock connector without paying Apple royalties.

For your own use it's possible to buy a $4 30-pin connector and wire it up to whatever you want:
http://www.allpinouts.org/index.php/Apple_iPod,_iPad_and_iPhone_dock

So I have to assume the summary talking about commercial third-party iPod accessory development rather than personal-use hacking, though they could certainly have been more clear if that's their intent.

Well they're not using Firewire these days, but it's also not *just* USB. It also contains audio/video out. Granted, I don't know how often people use those capabilities, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were a lot of people using the audio line-out connection to connect to stereo equipment.

I don't see anything particularly wrong with that card. Let's go through it in order:

1) The chip itself: If you're going to be standing on stage, potentially wandering aroung with a little piece of metal in your hand that represents your company's future and is literally worth millions to your competitors, are you REALLY going to show off the real thing? No. You use something that looks close just to indicate size, approximate appearance, and other basic details so the idiots in the crowd know what they're looking at.

2) The number 7: I'm not sure what exactly is implied by the author here, but going along with displaying basic information, it's sensible to alter the display chip with a hand-drawn logo, for the benefit of observers.

3) Blocked vent: From the look of the rest of the card, is seems that the cooling air needs to come from somewhere. My guess is that some comes from inside the case, and some comes through that "blocked" vent. See, a long time ago, humans discovered that when you run a fluid through something with tiny holes, big things (like dust) are kept out, giving you a nice clean fluid. Filters are good things.

4) Screws: Personally, I use those screws all the time in my computer. They're great for mounting disk drives, PCI cards, case components, and generally anywhere else you need a small machine screw. Screws don't always fit perfectly in a final product, let alone in a prototype.

5) DVI bolts: Yep. All my DVI ports have them.

6) Stacking two single-slot cards together to show the end plate doesn't need screws: Single-slot end plates are most likely held on with screws through flanges bent over the card itself. How exactly would that be easier on a double-slot card than just punching a hole and running some machine screws through, especially considering that there's no indication of what's actually behind those screws? My personal hypothesis is that the screws go into a plastic wall that divides the card,

7) Soldering of DVI port: Personally, I think it'd be easier to just solder a DVI port in than clip off all the little wires from the port so it would physically fit where it is. This entire claim is based around apparently a single photograph. Judging from that same photograph, there's also no contacts on the edge connectors, and only a smudge written on that sticker in the middle.

8) Half-covered SLI connector: SLI is an edge connector. From the same photograph, it appear's there space there to make contact with an edge and cover the contacts with a thin connector. That should work, right?

9) Power connectors: Assuming that it's absolutely impossible to use wires to connect anything over a distance of one inch, the 8-pin connector appears to just rotate its pins by 90 degrees, probably to accommodate the other stuff that appears on the board in the immediate vicinity. I'm not an expert, but according to this, that extra connector appears to provide just more power, so would it not be possible to connect it in the port, rather than on the board?

10) Glue: Since when is glue not an acceptable means of attaching parts? I personally have used glue many times, in many ways, for the purpose of holding things in place. On a board destined for display, it seems like an even more practical solution.

11) Board being cut off: This one almost seems legitimate,except for the fact that I have a few boards lying around here with traces (and a few components) right on the edge of the board. Yes, it looks a little crude. In fact, it almost looks like a prototype made for display, possibly even by just cutting off test circuitry from the board.

12) Exaggerated marketing: I'm really not concerned that the spokesman said "This is Fermi" if it isn't. The point is that it's a close approximation, and the card's actual functionality isn't an issue. If they had used a real prototype that happened to burn up during testing, it would be hailed as evidence that "the car

Is it http://www.allpinouts.org/ like it was written in the summary?

Or is it http://www.allpinouts.com/ as it was linked in the article?

Both URLs are Slashdotted at this point so I can't check.

The iPhone wins on portability, although the C-64 could drive an external display including a large TV (no HD support though).

It did have s-video though. While the plug was nothing like the current standard, a Commodore 64 monitor used the same luminance and chrominance setup. To make the slashdotting of a frontpage-linked site a tiny bit worse:

http://www.allpinouts.org/index.php/Commodore_C128/C64C_Video

> been hoping someone with some bandwidth to spare would be kind enough
> to collect all of this information in one place

I've been using the pinouts from these 2 websites for too many years
http://www.hardwarebook.info/Category:Connector
http://www.allpinouts.org/index.php/Main_Page