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New USB-C logos make picking USB cables, chargers less confusing

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Re: New USB-C logos make picking USB cables, chargers less confusing

#151
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he was talking about DisplayPort over USB-C. Thunderbolt is something different.

That's probably indicated when the posted stated that they "...plugged it into a different USB C port..." Considering USB c != thunderbolt

Well they look the damn same.

Re: New USB-C logos make picking USB cables, chargers less confusing

#152
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he was talking about DisplayPort over USB-C. Thunderbolt is something different.

That's probably indicated when the posted stated that they "...plugged it into a different USB C port..." Considering USB c != thunderbolt

Thunderbolt 3 uses the USB-C format.

Headline from the official thunderbolt website: "Thunderbolt™ 3 – The USB-C That Does It All"

-- https://thunderbolttechnology.net/blog/thunderbolt-3-usb-c-d...

This whole sub-thread is just a really good hilarious demonstration of the whole problem, nobody has any idea how to figure out what a given cable or port will do anymore. We can't even talk about it without getting confused. (But can still be snarky to others who we think got it wrong, even when we're wrong ourselves. It's the internet, we'll never run out of superciliousness!)

Re: New USB-C logos make picking USB cables, chargers less confusing

#153
post #135

The new logos show the word 'certified'. Wait for the "super-certified" and "ultra-certified" USB logo variants in two years, to help clear up the newly-latent confusion. One new logo shows the word 'charger'. Wait for the "super-charger" and "ultra-charger" and "really really a charger" variants in three years, to help clear up that newly-latent confusion. Leibnitz had a hypothesis that all one needed was one base w…

I assume you'll only be able to legally use these logos on your products and packaging if you actually pay for certification. Most USB devices/charges/etc aren't certified today, I don't see this new logo scheme changing that.

Certification costs money, and you might fail. No consumer really cares (or probably no consumer understands) what buying a "certified" USB thing even means.

If your existing USB things don't have the red white and blue USB logo on them, they're not certified. Info: https://www.usb.org/logo-license

Re: New USB-C logos make picking USB cables, chargers less confusing

#154
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A 2m cable with 100W charging (the highest currently, but not for long) and video using Thunderbolt 3 is £70 inc sales tax, it's also stiffer and heavier than other cables. How many of those do you plan to just have lying around for convenience? My XPS 15 already takes more power than that so has its own charger with a physical USB C connector (but also accepts standard USB C chargers with lower wattage). The next ve…

> A 2m cable with 100W charging (the highest currently, but not for long) and video using Thunderbolt 3 is £70 inc sales tax, it's also stiffer and heavier than other cables. How many of those do you plan to just have lying around for convenience? I would get 5 if I could be sure they really will work reliably with every device in every case possible and the standard won't change in a couple of months. I almost feel…

That's one option, but not everyone has £350 to spend on cables. (Especially when next year they'll all no longer be the full-featured-est around, there will be some newer thing only newer cables do).

Re: New USB-C logos make picking USB cables, chargers less confusing

#155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Finally, a clear logo showing if a cable supports 240W. Trademark law never stopped dodgy Amazon cable sellers before though.

You can send back a cable that doesn't match a well established spec, you'll have lost about an hour of your life. It's harder to return a cable that had some numbers but not really matching what you're trying to do with them, and arguing back and forth about wether your iPhone 14 was supposed to transfer data at full speed with their "high speed" "iPhone serial A23XXXX~A324XXXX supported" cable. And you'll already h…

Assuming 2 day shipping, you probably lose ~2 real hours of time, but have no working cable for at least 4 days.

- a few minutes to order the cable

- 2 days for the cable to arrive

- ~2 hours to realize it does not work, complain, initiative a refund, print a return label, and drop it off at a post office

- another 2 days to wait for the next cable.

Re: New USB-C logos make picking USB cables, chargers less confusing

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a 20V DC barrel jack case, so you don’t plug in a device with 4 ohms of resistance to a $2.99 charger spec’d (and only capable) to only deliver 20W of power. (Realistically, not every one of those chargers will have a current limiting supply inside.)

I think you've rebutted your own point there, laptops cost hunders or thousands, whats with $2.99 power supply? You spill coffee on the laptop and the power brick burns your house down? I shorted many laptop power supplies while using them to test LED's strips, all of them seemed to have current limiting.

I don't think that the only (or even most common) source of power supplies in people's houses are from the OEMs of laptops.

In an alternative timeline where DC barrel jacks were the standard form factor, you'd have just as many sellers of the cheapest possible power supply in that form factor as you do in the USB-A form factor today. Engineering choices have to take into account the reasonably foreseeable uses and misuses of a design. In this case, having current relating to the barrel diameter seems reasonable. (A phone might prioritize thin-ness and doesn't need a lot of power. A 100W piece of desktop/benchtop gear or a laptop can better afford the increased diameter of the higher current supply. Not to mention that it gives a somewhat intuitive sense to non-engineers.)

Re: New USB-C logos make picking USB cables, chargers less confusing

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was never that simple. Your serial cables had peripheral or null-modem (I have a serial cable marked "MIDI" I have no idea what is different). Parallel port cables could be SCSI cables instead. Some cables didn't have all pins wired to save money. With PS/2 ports you had to get the mouse and keyboard the right way around despite having the same port.

It got pretty simple for a while when old serial & parallel ports were phased out in favor of USB. Also VGA worked for a very long time even after DVI and HDMI appeared on the scene. (I never had as much trouble with connecting displays as I do today)

DVI was something special, though. The fun of DVI-A vs DVI-D vs DVI-I, then single vs double link.
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