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An USB plug that goes both ways

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Re: An USB plug that goes both ways

#71

Post by pyre »

landhar wrote: post #49
RiderOfGiraffes wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- ... that the USB symbol is always on the top side Yes, I thought that, except that on my father's computer it goes on the bottom. I checked quite thoroughly.

That might be because your father's computer has the usb ports mounted upside down. It happens very often though. And in some laptops you even have all combinations at once: some mounted right, others upside down and one or two mounted vertically... It's a mess...

More like the USB spec should have realized that the ports may end up in all sorts of configurations, especially on devices where they are trying to make the maximum amount of limited space (i.e. laptops, netbooks, etc). The connector was designed without really allowing normal people (or at least people are aren't 'in' on the group-think that can go on in working-groups) to try and use it.

Re: An USB plug that goes both ways

#72

Post by Waywocket »

richbradshaw wrote: post #41

Who still uses USB regularly enough to feel this is a problem? Memory sticks are irrelevant in todays Gb ethernet as standard world, printers are wireless or networked, scanners don't exist for all intents and purposes, mice and keyboards are bluetooth... the list goes on!

On average, I use a USB connector about 3 times a day. I have yet to see a Bluetooth device that isn't a phone (I literally don't know a single person who has a Bluetooth controller that isn't one of those never-used phone features, nor anyone who actually owns a Bluetooth gadget, and the only ones I've even seen for sale are headsets for - you guessed it - phones).

Re: An USB plug that goes both ways

#73

Post by Waywocket »

cookiecaper wrote: post #46
richbradshaw wrote: post #41

Who still uses USB regularly enough to feel this is a problem? Memory sticks are irrelevant in todays Gb ethernet as standard world, printers are wireless or networked, scanners don't exist for all intents and purposes, mice and keyboards are bluetooth... the list goes on!

Almost everyone still uses USB as the baseline for almost everything. Few people use Bluetooth mice or keyboards. Networked scanners and printers are expensive when compared with USB appliances. Gb network is only standard on high-end components, most are still 10/100. USB drives are the most common form of data transfer because of the assurance that they will be compatible with most machines.

>USB drives are the most common form of data transfer because of the assurance that they will be compatible with most machines.

At $orkplace I have the 'opportunity' to see how non-technical folks work - In the last three years floppies seem to have finally died out, though there are still a few holdouts who will burn to CD-R rather than using one of those newfangled USBthingamies.

Those of us who breathe the internet tend to forget that we live in a world vastly different to that of a large proportion of the population.

Re: An USB plug that goes both ways

#74

Post by ekanes »

jedc wrote: post #55
StavrosK wrote: post #45

I read a poignant comment on YouTube (I know, I know) the other day: "I have a theory, that USB cables have three sides: Wrong side A, wrong side B and right side. Geometry would tell us that the first side would be the same as the third one, but I know the truth."

That reminds me of a saying that we used religiously back in the Navy: "50/50/90". If you have a 50/50 chance of making a correct decision, you'll get it wrong 90% of the time.

I watch this in action every time I ask my four year-old which is his right or left hand. Poor little dude gets it wrong almost every time.

Re: An USB plug that goes both ways

#75

Post by IChrisI »

cookiecaper wrote: post #46
richbradshaw wrote: post #41

Who still uses USB regularly enough to feel this is a problem? Memory sticks are irrelevant in todays Gb ethernet as standard world, printers are wireless or networked, scanners don't exist for all intents and purposes, mice and keyboards are bluetooth... the list goes on!

Almost everyone still uses USB as the baseline for almost everything. Few people use Bluetooth mice or keyboards. Networked scanners and printers are expensive when compared with USB appliances. Gb network is only standard on high-end components, most are still 10/100. USB drives are the most common form of data transfer because of the assurance that they will be compatible with most machines.

USB drives are also good for storing changing files that need to be moved between work and home. You can burn more files to a CD but that takes more than 30 seconds,

Re: An USB plug that goes both ways

#76

Post by BrandonM »

jedsmith wrote: post #57
BrandonM wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author is pretty obviously either a non-western or a non-native English speaker. Read some of the picture captions.

That's assuming the author and the submitter are the same person.

Oh, my bad. I assumed the titles matched. I guess based on our informal English usage comparison, it is likely that the author and submitter are the same person.

Re: An USB plug that goes both ways

#77

Post by electromagnetic »

landhar wrote: post #49
RiderOfGiraffes wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- ... that the USB symbol is always on the top side Yes, I thought that, except that on my father's computer it goes on the bottom. I checked quite thoroughly.

That might be because your father's computer has the usb ports mounted upside down. It happens very often though. And in some laptops you even have all combinations at once: some mounted right, others upside down and one or two mounted vertically... It's a mess...

With my desktop I have all sorts of combinations. One row is mounted right, the other is upside down and then there's a bus on the side that's aligned vertical.

Re: An USB plug that goes both ways

#78

Post by sskates »

s3graham wrote: post #65
russell wrote: post #63

OK kids, quit the bellyaching. There is only one way to get a USB cable wrong, even if you get it wrong 90% of the time. Remember the PS2. It came with round DIN connectors. There was only one right way to plug it in, but an indefinite number of wrong ways to try it. And we had to do it uphill...in the snow.

PS/2 connectors were actually more usable because you could apply light pressure and then without looking, spin it from side to side, and then push in when it "docked".

This sounds like it's more difficult

Re: An USB plug that goes both ways

#79

Post by kabdib »

The USB 2.0 spec says that connectors have to stand up to 1,500 plug/unplugs.

I know people who have worn out their connectors. It's not a common problem, but . . . surely we can do better.

Too bad we can't get power over optical connects. Practical amounts of it, I mean.

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