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An USB plug that goes both ways

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Re: An USB plug that goes both ways

#131

Post by LeonidasXIV »

regularfry wrote: post #111
phillmv wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know, back in '96 I can give them some slack for not necessarily thinking about that use case.

I can't. RJ11, RJ45, RS232 and PS2 plugs were already everywhere back then, and they were mounted every which-way. And they were all physically keyed at the connector such that you could figure it out blind. Bah and humbug, I say.

Plugging in PS/2 ports is the one single single port that sucks even more than USB, because instead of flipping and putting it in right, you have to rotate the connector and try until you succeed. Or you give up the blind thing and look how the port is mounted.

Re: An USB plug that goes both ways

#132

Post by eru »

BrandonM wrote: post #89
IChrisI wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Perhaps IChrisI was a bit sloppy, and actually meant DVD-R?

Re: An USB plug that goes both ways

#133

Post by eru »

athom wrote: post #87
IChrisI wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

And, let me guess, it was probably trivial to break for the black hat guys?

Re: An USB plug that goes both ways

#134

Post by zerd »

ghshephard wrote: post #6

Well, after 10+ years of using USB widgets of every shape, size, and color - I just discovered from reading the article that the USB symbol is always on the top side. So, I certainly got my value out of HN today. :-)

I thought it did that, but not everywhere. I found out by plugging it in, hearing a "Pooffh". The computer went black, and so did the external hard drive. I did not use excessive force to get it in. The "pin" inside must have been a little loose to begin with.

Re: An USB plug that goes both ways

#135

Post by fanf2 »

icegreentea wrote: post #85
kabdib wrote: post #79

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.

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?

Mini USB has about the same robustness as big USB. It is micro USB that is much more robust, which is one of the reasons it was chosen for the European phone charger standard.

Re: An USB plug that goes both ways

#136

Post by confuzatron »

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Re: An USB plug that goes both ways

#138

Post by athom »

eru wrote: post #133
athom wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

And, let me guess, it was probably trivial to break for the black hat guys?

I can't say I really know. I didn't hear about anyone breaking it, certainly.
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