41–50 of 544 posts
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…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> There's going to be video-only cables 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: wo…
> From my understanding I think that is not technically possible because to pass video they need the data lines but maybe I'm mistaken? Counterexample: The Meta Quest link cables use a USB-C style connector but internally are very different from a regular cable.
> 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.
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…
From the article: “Bhatt's idea for the USB was inspired by his own experience as a user dealing with tech frustrations far beyond the scope of a get-it-wrong-the-first-time cable.” Exactly what made USB so awesome when it first came out. I guess you had to be there.
It just had to be non-symmetrical on the Z-axis, that's all. Like an HDMI connector.
Or displayport. Personally I find hdmi almost as annoying as usb, though I can’t explain why that happens!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> From my understanding I think that is not technically possible because to pass video they need the data lines but maybe I'm mistaken? Counterexample: The Meta Quest link cables use a USB-C style connector but internally are very different from a regular cable.
and that can happen with literally every cable, people have abused USB-A and RJ45 for many decades...
It didn't really need to go in either way. It just needed to not be rotationally symmetrical while only going in one way. Firewire only went in one way but it was never an issue because it's shape conveyed a clear orientation.
I agree that there was more that could have been done to signal correct orientation. But an additional wrinkle is that the orientation of the port itself was not static. On laptops and desktops, it was horizontal. On certain other devices, it was vertical. Often these ports were in hard-to-reach or hard-to-see places, and having to reconcile the orientation in each case probably added to the frustration.
One of my earliest experiences with USB was back in the day where I had a PC without any USB front ports that were free. So I grabbed my USB thumb drive and reached around the back of the PC tower and plugged it in without looking. USB didn't show up in the O/S. Thought maybe it wasn't formatted correctly and went through some diagnostics. Eventually went for the remove it / plug it back in technique. Had a look at t…
I guess you trade one annoyance (how to plug them in) for another annoyance (too thick for a wallet/keychain).
I thought the tongue should have a little bump on the right or left, so if you're upside down you can tell straight away because the connector will want to angle over, rather than wiggling and wondering and doing the standard 3 tries thing.