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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

#81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just buy the official power supply instead of "finding" random junk.

...but then why follow specifications at all?

The computer costs $35-55. Mistakes get made and they'll fix it. Get over it.

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

#82
post #72
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

And the criticism is completely invalid here. The power spec is very clear and unambiguous, and there is only one way to get it right. It is not the fault of the spec when manufacturers cannot be bothered to produce a circuit that has already been designed for them in the spec itself.

The USB Power Delivery specification is very complicated and covers, despite the name, a lot more than power delivery.

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

#83
post #72
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

And the criticism is completely invalid here. The power spec is very clear and unambiguous, and there is only one way to get it right. It is not the fault of the spec when manufacturers cannot be bothered to produce a circuit that has already been designed for them in the spec itself.

Too complex and overreaching is certainly a valid fault.

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

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it's useful to have a bunch of multi-purpose ports on a computer. You can attach a mouse, a keyboard, a printer, a hard drive, a screen, a dock, a charger, or whatever you want, all to the same port. In my experience, finding the right cable has never been an issue. All the USB-C devices I've bought came with a suitable cable in the box.

It's not the initial cable that's the problem, it's those that come after. My wife wanted a charger with a longer cable for her phone. We need it to be able to fast charge, which is called a variety of different names on both the phone and charger sides. Can I get the $10 charger, or do I need the $40 charger the size of the MBP charger? We ended up just biting the bullet and getting one of the more expensive, MBP-ch…

You needed a $5 AC power extension cord.

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

#86
post #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.

Which is the single reason why I hate USB-C, and I don't want USB-C to replace lightning.

And yet people keep saying USB-C will get better, the controller will get better, the quality of USB-C cable will get better. And Time and Time again it has proved vendors only care about cost, not quality.

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

#87

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.

Generally when I use a SBC like a raspberry pi or esp 8266/32, I use an existing cell phone charger + whatever cable is nearest to where I'm sitting.

I 100% expect the SBC to work with any combination of charger and cable. I have lots of existing cell phone charges and cables so unless I were purchasing this for someone else I don't think I would consider ordering the branded raspberry pi charger/cable.

Compatibility with existing cables is a big deal; I won't be ordering my Pi 4 until sometime after this is resolved.

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

#88

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.

You might want to use a type c charger you already have or a power bank.

Or the person buying it is the increasingly number of non-technical people buying Raspberry Pis. To them, its just broken and needs to be returned.

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

#90

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.

Disagree... you should have two types of cables, one low end, low power, etc... one high end, supports it all. That would be easier. As to the audio adapter, would just assume to have an inline dac, I have a USB2 A to 3.5mm 4-pole adapter that would be entirely doable in USB3, maybe a slight bump at either end. Then the device would have to support the given DAC, you'd have the same compatibility issues for audio, but that's already true. 3 failed attempts to get a cheap replacement for my lost my pixel 2 xl adapter.
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