If the plug actually complies with the spec, and has the metal shroud as it is supposed to, it works fine, and will not go in backwards. It's making USB connectors which are just a piece of PC board that's the problem. Looking at you, Yubikey.
USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible (2019)
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Re: USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible (2019)
#162>But in an effort to keep it as cheap as possible, the decision was made to go with a design that, in theory, would give users a 50/50 chance of plugging it in correctly (you can up the odds by looking at the inside first, or identifying the logo). I despise this "design decision." Literally bakes in the 50% of the time you plug it in the wrong orientation and lose seconds of your life. Who cares if the sands of time…
All I can say is that before USB 1.0, the myriad of connections on a PC motherboard were ridiculous. USB was leaps and bounds better beyond PS/2, and VGA and various serial and parallel ports would require you to physically screw in the plug. Just look at: https://www.electronicshub.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Po... It was a nightmare. And virtually none of those ports would self-install drivers when a device was…
Agreed. Everyone forgets how awful it was and even though USB wasn't perfect, it was a huge improvement over the status quo. For that, I can forgive the inventors for making a mistake. Nobody's perfect. The travesty is that it took so long to correct the issue.
Re: USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible (2019)
#163This page was difficult to read on my mobile due to ads. Here is a link to the source of the interview mentioned in the headline: https://text.npr.org/2019/06/21/734451600/ever-plugged-a-usb...
@dang can we update the src?
Re: USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible (2019)
#164My take on USB-A: aside from audio connectors that have axial symmetry (and have no meaningful orientation), I never used any reversible computer cables prior to USB-C, and that’s not the main issue. Nor is it the axis of symmetry of the casing allowing failed upside down plugin attempts.
The shitty part of USB-A is that the tactile feedback of being slightly misaligned is identical to it being upside down. My experience tells me no amount of vigorous jiggling or extreme self-confidence will ever allow for consistent average 1.5 attempt plugins.
All the standards before USB were in my memory even less user-friendly — trying in vain to reach behind a heavy computer and unscrew the two jammed retaining bolts holding in a serial, parallel, scsi, vga, or DVI plug with slippery bent plastic jacketed heads. Almost zero clearance from the plug case, that really did suck. Screw it in slightly loser next time, now you’ve got a flickering monitor, dummy.
And ps2/mini-din connectors sucked too - having the connector off-center or at the wrong rotation also felt quite indistinguishable.
Re: USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible (2019)
#165I 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 standard is also just terrible even if followed to the letter. The connectors are just too fragile for a day-to-day interconnect, and a fire risk when higher currents are involved. I've now had to replace 2 USB-C host ports (on expensive Apple devices, where an "official" repair would cost ~50% of the value of the device) despite taking reasonable care of my devices (under which care no other connectors ever fail…
Are you using Apple, or major-vendor cables? Im curious because delamination of a pin on 2 separate ports implies something catching/dragging on it, maybe there is something either poorly designed, or simply mangled in the end of one of your cables.
Re: USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible (2019)
#166It 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.
The fact that the inventor doesn't see this obvious fact honestly boggles the mind.
Low-level (electrical/logical) protocol design and connector design seem like pretty different skills!
Re: USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible (2019)
#167I still am more annoyed by it being the same width as an RJ-45 connector. Worse than not being able to plug it in is having it plug in and not work.
As annoying as this has been when it happened to me, I also have wondered if they did it on purpose to make it easier for assemblers. If the tooling needed for USB, Ethernet, and eSATA are all the same size you can save cost through reuse.
Re: USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible (2019)
#168It 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.
Counterpoint: I knew a few people awhile back that wrecked FireWire audio gear because they forced the connecter in backward and powered it on
Even now i do a small repair shop as a side business. Broken hdmi connectors because someone forced the connector in upside down isn’t exactly common but it’s not exactly rare either. Some people think stuff really needs to be forced together, apparently
Re: USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible (2019)
#169It 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.
When I was a teenager, I had a Windows machine I used for 3D animation and an iPod. I needed to charge the iPod and my mom was calling "dinner!" so I plugged it in quickly and ran off to eat.
When I came back, I realized the Windows machine had a cheap Firewire socket that didn't enforce the orientation. I had plugged in my iPod upsidedown.
I don't remember what it fried. I don't remember the iPod dying, so I'm guessing that socket never worked again.
Re: USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible (2019)
#170I 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 had to do a double take after reading this comment to make sure I wasn't reading an old thread from 2014 or something. USB-C has been out for years now and neither of these predictions have come to pass. Your comment aged poorly before you even finished writing it. USB-C isn't without its problems, but neither of those are one of them.
New iphone ships with a beautiful braided USB-C cable that's charge only. I'm going to cannibalize the usb-c cable from my external nvme drive if I ever want to plug the new phone in. Some usb-c cables are 100W compliant, many are not. None of them are clearly labeled.