USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess • Hacker News Board

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#41

Post by crote » Thu, Oct 01, 2020, 2:13 PM UTC

bla3 wrote: post #6

It's a mess, but it still seems much better than the situation before to me. It's true, you currently need to be careful when buying cables, but if you are, you can charge all your devices with the same plug. And usb-c video means your monitor can act as usb hub for keyboard and mouse over the video cable, so you only need to replug a single cable to move video and mouse and keyboard between computers. I use this a l…

Yeah, but try explaining to your non-technical friend with two monitors why connecting their laptop to both via USB C works, but their phone only gives video output on one.

There are at least 5 ways to transfer video over USB C: Straight USB, HDMI alternate mode, DisplayPort alternate mode, MHL alternate mode, and Thunderbolt. Then it's also possible for an alternate mode to only use a subset of the available lanes, the lane count doesn't match the lanes available in the "real" connector, and the protocols have multiple versions.

Labeling all of that as "USB C" is a massive mistake.

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#42

Post by duxup » Thu, Oct 01, 2020, 2:13 PM UTC

buzzerbetrayed wrote: post #19

jeremymcanally wrote: post #4

Really? I find it to be a game changer for me. The fact that my laptop, Switch, iPad, and several other devices can all share a charge has made my life much easier. I can just sprinkle a few of them throughout the house and never be without power. Before it was always a hunt to find a cable, or I had to be in [x] room to charge [y] device because that's where the charger lived. Plus, I can charge my MacBook on either…

Did you not read the article? Because your response doesn’t address any of the issues brought up in the article. Mainly that all the usb-c cables you sprinkle across your house might not have the same functionality. And if you plug your switch in to one it might charge it, while another will not.

> Because your response doesn’t address any of the issues brought up in the article.

Not the issues, but it addresses the gist of it.

For that person (and me) it has simplified things. If simplifying your life is part of the measurement, it has for some folks.

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#43

Post by thrower123 » Thu, Oct 01, 2020, 2:13 PM UTC

jeremymcanally wrote: post #4

Really? I find it to be a game changer for me. The fact that my laptop, Switch, iPad, and several other devices can all share a charge has made my life much easier. I can just sprinkle a few of them throughout the house and never be without power. Before it was always a hunt to find a cable, or I had to be in [x] room to charge [y] device because that's where the charger lived. Plus, I can charge my MacBook on either…

Micro-USB was better. Especially since there are still so many existing devices that used micro-USB ports.

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#44

Post by martin_a » Thu, Oct 01, 2020, 2:13 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #5

julianlam wrote: post #3

Sometimes it seems like I'm the only person with absolutely zero issues with USB-C. I have a Lenovo monitor that delivers power+HDMI+usbhub to my laptop, and having to only plug one thing in to access all my peripherals is amazing. I used a bog standard Anker USB-C cable for this.

Just wait until you have to write an embedded driver for it.

Ah yeah, who doesn't do this everyday? I've written like... five of these today alone...

Honestly, you'll find those "for me it's SUPER stressful"-cases everywhere, but it will not touch 99.99% of the other people.

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#45

Post by majewsky » Thu, Oct 01, 2020, 2:13 PM UTC

izacus wrote: post #34

vr46 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aha - you may find that your Switch CANNOT in fact share a charge - Nintendo's port is not necessarily safe to use with anything but its supplied charger. And I've just learned this lesson with a $60 bill from Nintendo repair after the port went pop and couldn't charge the device. I only have reputable chargers in the house from Apple and one from Anker aside from the Nintendo's own. All my apple kit works fine off t…

> Aha - you may find that your Switch CANNOT in fact share a charge - Nintendo's port is not necessarily safe to use with anything but its supplied charger. And I've just learned this lesson with a $60 bill from Nintendo repair after the port went pop and couldn't charge the device. I only have reputable chargers in the house from Apple and one from Anker aside from the Nintendo's own. It has worked reliably with pre…

I have a 2018 Switch and it works well with all chargers I've tested so far (mostly Apple and Lenovo besides the one that came with the Swift). My guess is that the problems that existed in the original hardware were fixed in a subsequent hardware revision.

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#46

Post by izacus » Thu, Oct 01, 2020, 2:13 PM UTC

jeremymcanally wrote: post #4

Really? I find it to be a game changer for me. The fact that my laptop, Switch, iPad, and several other devices can all share a charge has made my life much easier. I can just sprinkle a few of them throughout the house and never be without power. Before it was always a hunt to find a cable, or I had to be in [x] room to charge [y] device because that's where the charger lived. Plus, I can charge my MacBook on either…

It gets even better when you find out you can get a HDMI/Power dock that works with Switch, laptop, phone and can provide video and charge them all without having to carry 15 cables with you.

Can it be confusing? Yes. But it's a hellova improvement from bunch of disjoint cable standards we had before.

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#47

Post by throw0101a » Thu, Oct 01, 2020, 2:13 PM UTC

To paraphrase Winston Churchill: USB-C is the worst form of interface, except for all the others that have been tried.

My pet peeve is nomenclature of USB versions: 3.2 Gen 1, Gen 2, 2x2, USB 4 Gen {2,3}x(1,2}.

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#48

Post by philplckthun » Thu, Oct 01, 2020, 2:13 PM UTC

vr46 wrote: post #23

jeremymcanally wrote: post #4

Really? I find it to be a game changer for me. The fact that my laptop, Switch, iPad, and several other devices can all share a charge has made my life much easier. I can just sprinkle a few of them throughout the house and never be without power. Before it was always a hunt to find a cable, or I had to be in [x] room to charge [y] device because that's where the charger lived. Plus, I can charge my MacBook on either…

Aha - you may find that your Switch CANNOT in fact share a charge - Nintendo's port is not necessarily safe to use with anything but its supplied charger. And I've just learned this lesson with a $60 bill from Nintendo repair after the port went pop and couldn't charge the device. I only have reputable chargers in the house from Apple and one from Anker aside from the Nintendo's own. All my apple kit works fine off t…

I think it's fine to point out the Thunderbolt mess, or the PD vs non-PD devices (although non-PD is becoming exceedingly rare as far as I can tell at least for "larger" devices), but using the Nintendo Switch seems like a bad example in my opinion, since it explicitly does not follow all USB standards, especially in fact on charging.

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#49

Post by dx87 » Thu, Oct 01, 2020, 2:14 PM UTC

jeremymcanally wrote: post #4

Really? I find it to be a game changer for me. The fact that my laptop, Switch, iPad, and several other devices can all share a charge has made my life much easier. I can just sprinkle a few of them throughout the house and never be without power. Before it was always a hunt to find a cable, or I had to be in [x] room to charge [y] device because that's where the charger lived. Plus, I can charge my MacBook on either…

Nintendo says you shouldn't use anything except 1st party cables with the Switch. There were articles a couple of years ago talking about Switches being bricked.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/08/heres-why-nintendo-sw...

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#50

Post by sq_ » Thu, Oct 01, 2020, 2:14 PM UTC

jeremymcanally wrote: post #4

Really? I find it to be a game changer for me. The fact that my laptop, Switch, iPad, and several other devices can all share a charge has made my life much easier. I can just sprinkle a few of them throughout the house and never be without power. Before it was always a hunt to find a cable, or I had to be in [x] room to charge [y] device because that's where the charger lived. Plus, I can charge my MacBook on either…

100% agree with you on how convenient USB-C can make things. Being able to carry one 60-90w brick with multiple USB-C PD outputs and charge pretty much all of my devices off of it is amazing.

On the other hand, I would say that all of us here on HN probably aren't the target audience for this article. Collectively, I'd say HN readers are likely to understand that different USB-C bricks, cables, and devices are going to support different things and research our purchases accordingly. The article seems to be more targeted at people who will grab a $3.50 gas station cable and expect it to charge their phone at 18w and laptop at 65w.