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Um, no? The iMac had an Ethernet port, a phone jack for an internal modem, and TWO FIREWIRE PORTS. And Microphone and Speaker jacks.
They didn't have to double the wiring, just add wiring to the other side of the connector. That is barely 2 cm of wiring, at most. Also, manufacturers could have made the connectors in a way that would clearly show which side is the top and which is the bottom. So none of the issues had to happen but lazy manufacturers and gullible inventors caused all of this on their own.
But I guess it might just have two wires (+5V and ground) and no data wires (I can't check it now because I'm at work).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I, genuinely, have a USB-C cable which will only charge my phone in one orientation. That's worse than Type-A, since I can't even look at the end to see which side has the plastic bar, I just have to try it and obviously it fits, but see if it charges. Which means it takes about 94 attempts because I only realise the other end's not plugged in, or it's turned off at the wall, on the 92nd.
I guess you need to mark the correct sides of the cable (and maybe the port) with a dot from a marker, so you know which way is "up"...
I know everybody is still on the high from USB-C but I'm still going to go on the record it will be one of the biggest disasters in cable history. 1) There's going to be video-only cables; low-voltage only cables; etc and this time everything is usb-c so you can literally only tell which ables work by testing all of the dozen cables instead of the 1-2 USB-As you have. 2) The connector is symmetrical but the pins aren…
The solution is - I guess - to buy plenty of 'good' multipurpose cables and throw anything that doesn't work as expected away.
I know everybody is still on the high from USB-C but I'm still going to go on the record it will be one of the biggest disasters in cable history. 1) There's going to be video-only cables; low-voltage only cables; etc and this time everything is usb-c so you can literally only tell which ables work by testing all of the dozen cables instead of the 1-2 USB-As you have. 2) The connector is symmetrical but the pins aren…
I can certainly see (1) happening, especially with cables that come with the device they are expected to plug into. It already widely happens with fallback to slower bit rate or lower power charging. But (2) seems very unlikely. Most consumers just won't even consider that it has an orientation, and after it fails a few times chuck it in the bin or send it back. If it comes with a device (i.e. printer or monitor come…
> It was in 1998 that USB made some real headway, courtesy of the iMac G3, the first computer to ship with only USB ports for external devices (there were no serial or parallel ports). Um, no? The iMac had an Ethernet port, a phone jack for an internal modem, and TWO FIREWIRE PORTS. And Microphone and Speaker jacks.
They didn't have to double the wiring, just add wiring to the other side of the connector. That is barely 2 cm of wiring, at most. Also, manufacturers could have made the connectors in a way that would clearly show which side is the top and which is the bottom. So none of the issues had to happen but lazy manufacturers and gullible inventors caused all of this on their own.
The spec almost requires manufacturers to do that. https://fabiensanglard.net/usbcheat/usb1.1.pdf, page 81:
“The usb icon is embossed, in a recessed area, on the topside of the USB plug”
“Receptacles should be oriented to allow the Icon on the plug to be visible during the mating process”
So, there must be a tactile and visual indicator (the recessed usb icon) and it should be visible.
They didn’t say “clearly visible”, though.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can certainly see (1) happening, especially with cables that come with the device they are expected to plug into. It already widely happens with fallback to slower bit rate or lower power charging. But (2) seems very unlikely. Most consumers just won't even consider that it has an orientation, and after it fails a few times chuck it in the bin or send it back. If it comes with a device (i.e. printer or monitor come…
I had a USB-C Xiaomi phone that at some point only allowed being plugged in in one orientation. I guess one side failed, but then again, that wasn't the only failing of that phone, nor even close to the most annoying.
It could be that the phone correct determined the orientation but a pin was dirty/broken so it couldn't be used. When flipping the cable around the pin in use changes to one that isn't dirty/broken and so it works fine. USB-C may have a ton of pins but that doesn't mean all of them are needed to charge so flipping it can move a broken pin into the unused pins.
It just had to be non-symmetrical on the Z-axis, that's all. Like an HDMI connector.
I know everybody is still on the high from USB-C but I'm still going to go on the record it will be one of the biggest disasters in cable history. 1) There's going to be video-only cables; low-voltage only cables; etc and this time everything is usb-c so you can literally only tell which ables work by testing all of the dozen cables instead of the 1-2 USB-As you have. 2) The connector is symmetrical but the pins aren…
From my understanding I think that is not technically possible because to pass video they need the data lines but maybe I'm mistaken?
IIUC again even if it did work I think these would be non-compliant. People hell-bent on doing non-compliant things would do it irrespective of any design.
> low-voltage only cables
That's a given due to physical constraints (length, diameter: would you accept that all cables are 0.8m / thick and unbendable). It was so with USB-A too, as well as non-standard power delivery, at the risk of setting things on fire or destroying devices. USB-PD makes it so that you basically can't fry anything or melt a cable, it falls back to the best possible through negotiation. But then again, people hell-bent on doing non-compliant things would do it irrespective of any design.
> literally manufactures are going to cheap out and not do that and you have 1-way USB-C cables without any kind of orientation markers.
Non-compliant for sure. Ah, yes, people hell-bent on doing non-compliant things would do it irrespective of any design.
At least with USB-C+USB-4+USB-PD we get a fighting chance.
> An obviously key'd connector like firewire / ethernet would've solved all of USB-A's flip it thrice problems
Rumour has it that USB-B which is keyed, has five positions due to squareness. FireWire and Ethernet have the same state superpositions as USB-A. Hell I've seen people shove an Ethernet cable the wrong way in and have it fit (breaking the infamous clip in the process). USB-C? I lay it basically flat and clip it in, barely looking at the connector and not even taking a glance at the port. Worst case it needs a few degrees rotation.
