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Raspberry Pi admits to faulty USB-C design on the Pi 4

arstechnica.com

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Re: Raspberry Pi admits to faulty USB-C design on the Pi 4

#41

How hard is it to to copy a [expletive] schematic? Edit: I'm serious. What convinced them to implement a design different from the example in the spec that simply does not work (hello, testing?)?

The USB-C spec is 300 pages with multiple errata and revisions. It's not just one schematic.

Yes, forget due diligence. It's too much work.

Re: Raspberry Pi admits to faulty USB-C design on the Pi 4

#42

While this isn't great, as a consumer I don't really see too big of a problem. If I get a raspberry pi to use for home automation or as a media center, do I really need it to work with every USB-C cable? I'd think I'd just find one that works and let that be the dedicated raspberry 4 cable. If you're building a product based on Raspberry Pi that you're selling to others, then sure I could understand the outrage.

I don't think anyone believes it is a big problem, but it's a minor annoyance with an easy resolution that will improve the general robustness of the product when it's fixed. Which is a great thing for a cheap all-purpose device like the raspi.

Re: Raspberry Pi admits to faulty USB-C design on the Pi 4

#43

From a Pi consumer perspective, this is not that big of a deal. However, it damages the purpose (in name) of USB C. Isn't C supposed to be the 'all purpose' spec? If we have popular manufacturers failing to follow the spec, we end up with cables marked as 'compatible with Raspberry Pi' or 'compatible with Nintendo Switch'. To the average consumer (and even most techies), USB C was supposed to be the 'one size fits al…

USB C has confused me for the same reason. I read often about how there is no expectation that two USB-C cables/ports will work together. Why design them to fit together if they won't always work right?

> Why design them to fit together if they won't always work right?

I too don’t understand dynamic typing. ;)

Re: Raspberry Pi admits to faulty USB-C design on the Pi 4

#45

From a Pi consumer perspective, this is not that big of a deal. However, it damages the purpose (in name) of USB C. Isn't C supposed to be the 'all purpose' spec? If we have popular manufacturers failing to follow the spec, we end up with cables marked as 'compatible with Raspberry Pi' or 'compatible with Nintendo Switch'. To the average consumer (and even most techies), USB C was supposed to be the 'one size fits al…

USB Type-C is an example of the second-system effect: http://catb.org/jargon/html/S/second-system-effect.html

Alternatively: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-system_effect

Re: Raspberry Pi admits to faulty USB-C design on the Pi 4

#46

From a Pi consumer perspective, this is not that big of a deal. However, it damages the purpose (in name) of USB C. Isn't C supposed to be the 'all purpose' spec? If we have popular manufacturers failing to follow the spec, we end up with cables marked as 'compatible with Raspberry Pi' or 'compatible with Nintendo Switch'. To the average consumer (and even most techies), USB C was supposed to be the 'one size fits al…

This has always been a criticism of USB C and it proves true time and time again. USB-C tries to be too many things to too many people and ends up with a huge matrix of incompatibility as a result.

Re: Raspberry Pi admits to faulty USB-C design on the Pi 4

#48

While this isn't great, as a consumer I don't really see too big of a problem. If I get a raspberry pi to use for home automation or as a media center, do I really need it to work with every USB-C cable? I'd think I'd just find one that works and let that be the dedicated raspberry 4 cable. If you're building a product based on Raspberry Pi that you're selling to others, then sure I could understand the outrage.

I'd be pretty damn annoyed if I went to set up my new media center and discovered that I was gonna need to go out, buy a selection of different cables, and figure out which one works.

Or you just buy the official cable, which seems to be competitively priced. It's not ideal, but also not that big of a deal now that it is known. (Yes, it would be incredibly frustrating if you encountered this and was not aware)

Re: Raspberry Pi admits to faulty USB-C design on the Pi 4

#49
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but it's an extra expense. If you've got spare USB-C chargers you could use, it's tempting to wait.

Their USB charger costs 7€. From my experience: Just buy their charger and you'll have no problem. I've seen so many attempts at powering the Pi with alternative sources that suck and cause problems. 7€ is worth avoiding that.

But some folk already have decent pd-usb3 chargers that damn well ought to work.

Mine, that can charge my gpd pocket can barely power my pi4.

I still see the yellow lightening bolt which indicates a "poor" power supply - which is just plain lying.

Re: Raspberry Pi admits to faulty USB-C design on the Pi 4

#50

From a Pi consumer perspective, this is not that big of a deal. However, it damages the purpose (in name) of USB C. Isn't C supposed to be the 'all purpose' spec? If we have popular manufacturers failing to follow the spec, we end up with cables marked as 'compatible with Raspberry Pi' or 'compatible with Nintendo Switch'. To the average consumer (and even most techies), USB C was supposed to be the 'one size fits al…

Would be nice if they at least had a code on them to know what the compatibility is, such AV means the port is audio and video compatible, AVP would mean the former plus you can use it to charge or power a device. The same codes could be used on the cables as well.
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