"The double USB has two contact layers which are both sketchy"
What does that mean?
An USB plug that goes both ways
81–90 of 138 posts
Re: An USB plug that goes both ways
#82The preamble that talks about how USB is increasingly important in our lives is hilarious: typical hyperbolic introduction to student projects that try and fail to justify the importance of the project. It is especially funny because it falls back on the "increasingly important" trope, when it is not only false but subsumed by a far better argument: USB is ubiquitous.
Yup, you could sum it all and simpl say: "With the ubiquity of USB, here is a plug design that makes connecting more hassle free {pictures}" HOWEVER, This guy has been beat to the punch by guys at CES this year. There was a guy handing out samples of a USB adapter that you plug into any existing USB cable and i does what this guys design does, except it doesnt have any moving parts. Rather than the sliding plastic th…
Do you have the contact info for this company? I'd surely order a dozen just for around the house.
Re: An USB plug that goes both ways
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
You know, back in '96 I can give them some slack for not necessarily thinking about that use case.
Re: An USB plug that goes both ways
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
That's what coins are good for.
The chances are only 50/50 before you decide. After making your choice, the state collapses to 90% wrong.
Re: An USB plug that goes both ways
#85The 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.
Mini and micro USB (and I presume USB 3.0) are all rated for much more plug cycles. I'm sure most USB 2.0 plugs made now are actually rated for much more than 1500, but you can't exactly go about changing the spec now can you?
Re: An USB plug that goes both ways
#86I've always wondered why the USB port is the way it is. It seems such an unbelievably stupid design, but I assume there must be a reason for it. Does anyone have a link, or brief explanation? Incidentally a search for "why is the usb port such a stupid design?" (without the quotes) brings up nothing remotely relevant on any of the major search engines. Strange.
I'd love to see a more natural feeling interface. Why, for instance, can't we have magsafe-esque connector for USB? Or hell, maybe even a TRS connector ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS_connector ) with 2 or 3 additional ring contacts? Seems like both would be much more user friendly.
Magsafe is patented by Apple:
http://patft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Se...
That's why docking stations don't have Magsafe connections.
Re: An USB plug that goes both ways
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
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,
A company where I used to work got paranoid about its employees walking out the door with its precious intellectual property on those things, and installed something called 'Hibun' to prevent just that. From then on, anyone who "needed" to move data to a USB drive had to use one specially made for the Hibun system, and a "key" to permit transfer in a form that could only be read on another "authorized" computer.
That was... fun.
Re: An USB plug that goes both ways
#88"The double USB has two contact layers which are both sketchy" What does that mean?
"Stretchy", not "sketchy". I'm not sure what that means either though.
Re: An USB plug that goes both ways
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
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,
> You can burn more files to a CD but that takes more than 30 seconds,
CDs are 700MB. You can get GB+ USB thumb drives for free.
Re: An USB plug that goes both ways
#90Had the inventors of USB just made it a trapezoid or some other asymmetrical shape this all could have been avoided.
I suppose this is the reason why USB type B, mini and micro are designed as either trapezoid or have a beveled edge.