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I'm a USB-C Maximalist

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Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#231

Post by greggsy »

Telaneo wrote: post #174

It's been a joy to not need to bring 3 chargers along when I travel. I think the only thing we're missing to make the USB-C experience perfect is cable labelling. It's unreasonable to make every cable perform to the max spec, but if we could standardise on some labelling or colours for cables that are charging-only, 480 mbit (usb 2 speed), 5 Gbit (usb 3 speed), 10 GB (usb 3.1 speed), 20 GB (usb 3.2 speed), plus whate…

I went down the rabbit hole of cable testers, and concluded that that thicker and stiffer almost always meant ‘better’ support for higher speed and charge rates.

Anything braided is almost always junk.

I don’t have a requirement for anything over 90w though, so I can generally get away with using whatever I have lying around.

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#232

Post by rescbr »

qurren wrote: post #182
Gigachad wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

40gbps is an insane data rate that requires shielding, precision, and testing. There is no way you are getting that for $2. That said, outside of connecting a laptop to your monitor, you don't need a 40gbps cable.

> 40gbps is an insane data rate that requires shielding, precision, and testing. There is no way you are getting that for $2. I dunno, Cat8 is 40gbps and pretty cheap. DOCSIS 4.0 does 10Gbps on some really ancient cables. I'm sure Cat9 will do even better, at least the cat people and the doc people are trying harder than the USB people. Unifi even has a PoE-over-coax solution. Add some Anker GaN shit and I'm sure it…

You can trade-off cable shielding for electronics power and corresponding heat to encode/decode stuff.

Ethernet is notoriously power hungry, but I bet you can use a phone cable and still get tens of Gb over a very short range.

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#233

Post by Narishma »

acheron wrote: post #229
rootusrootus wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah maybe USB-D will get it right. But probably not. I had such high hopes for USB-C. Now I keep a couple USB-C to USB-A adapters lying around to force the charger (which is just a normal home outlet with a couple built-in USB-C ports) to speak old school USB-A charging instead of trying to negotiate PD with a shitty device that did not implement USB-C correctly. Yes that's the fault of the manufacturer. But the wil…

Unfortunately the EU has written USB-C into law, so there will never be a USB-D. I guess we should be glad they didn’t do this 30 years ago, or we’d still be using PS/2 connectors.

Law is not immutable. It will be changed if/when there is a need to.

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#234

Post by skinfaxi »

firloop wrote: post #227
gumby wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I scan the emarker on every USB C that comes into the house and add a p-touch label. I chuck out power-only and ultra baseline (60 W/USB 2 cables) with no marker or resistors. Power-only cables could be handy when traveling as they are essentially a condom, but they can only charge slowly and I always have a better cable with me. I wouldn’t mind a PD aware charge-only device but inquire require some MITM circuitry an…

Some cheaper devices I have (e.g. rechargeable LED light strip) _only_ charge via power-only cables. Was maddening when I realized I had thrown out all but one of the cables that can charge it.

Some manufacturers don't want to do the power negotiation aspect which is the cause of this, I believe.

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#235

Post by pzmarzly »

hereme888 wrote: post #188
Telaneo wrote: post #174

It's been a joy to not need to bring 3 chargers along when I travel. I think the only thing we're missing to make the USB-C experience perfect is cable labelling. It's unreasonable to make every cable perform to the max spec, but if we could standardise on some labelling or colours for cables that are charging-only, 480 mbit (usb 2 speed), 5 Gbit (usb 3 speed), 10 GB (usb 3.1 speed), 20 GB (usb 3.2 speed), plus whate…

Wasn't there a push at some point to enforce some sort of spec labeling for USB-C cables? Or was that a fantasy in my head?

That's what Thunderbolt 4 and 5 cables essentially are - USB-C cables with guarantees on speeds and PD power.

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#236

Post by [deleted] »

qurren wrote: post #186
Aurornis wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I break about 1 USB-C plug a week. They are simply not designed well for real people who do real things in the world, including physical work, exercise, hiking, woodworking, biking, and the like. They are designed by someone in a corporate office who just never gets out to see the real world. I do everything on your list. I also have young children who grab and play with things. Our household breaks 1 USB-C plug pe…

Fully ruggedized is in fact what I want and what I consider truly consumer grade. > which is not something you're going to get on affordable consumer devices Not true. 1990s connectors hardly ever broke for me. They were all super rugged. I've dropped several-kilogram objects onto VGA connectors, SCSI connectors, and DC barrel jacks and nothing ever happened.

[deleted]

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#237

Post by mjevans »

qurren wrote: post #186
Aurornis wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I break about 1 USB-C plug a week. They are simply not designed well for real people who do real things in the world, including physical work, exercise, hiking, woodworking, biking, and the like. They are designed by someone in a corporate office who just never gets out to see the real world. I do everything on your list. I also have young children who grab and play with things. Our household breaks 1 USB-C plug pe…

Fully ruggedized is in fact what I want and what I consider truly consumer grade. > which is not something you're going to get on affordable consumer devices Not true. 1990s connectors hardly ever broke for me. They were all super rugged. I've dropped several-kilogram objects onto VGA connectors, SCSI connectors, and DC barrel jacks and nothing ever happened.

I buy the DC barrel jacks, those I've had inordinate problems on the inside of devices as they wear out but never on the power plug itself.

VGA connectors? I've bent the shield on more than one VGA or DVI cable, and it's a nightmare to get a pin straight enough if you happen to bend one... but possible sometimes.

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#238

Post by vel0city »

qurren wrote: post #186
Aurornis wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I break about 1 USB-C plug a week. They are simply not designed well for real people who do real things in the world, including physical work, exercise, hiking, woodworking, biking, and the like. They are designed by someone in a corporate office who just never gets out to see the real world. I do everything on your list. I also have young children who grab and play with things. Our household breaks 1 USB-C plug pe…

Fully ruggedized is in fact what I want and what I consider truly consumer grade. > which is not something you're going to get on affordable consumer devices Not true. 1990s connectors hardly ever broke for me. They were all super rugged. I've dropped several-kilogram objects onto VGA connectors, SCSI connectors, and DC barrel jacks and nothing ever happened.

I've destroyed lots of barrel jacks over the years. I wouldn't normally consider them that rugged.

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#239

Post by Gigachad »

qurren wrote: post #223
Dylan16807 wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is no point to connector standardization if any cable can't do any function. I completely disagree. When the only difference between cables is max speed, that's still a huge improvement over a nest of different cable types, half of which are custom. And it's easy to get into a position where all your USB-C cables differ only by max speed.

Which is worse because they all look sort of the same, but they are not the same. It's even worse for non-techies, who don't understand what a gbps or a watt is, and who will leave a 1-star review, or worse, trash their cable, because their cable was "slow" but was meant for 240W PD but only supported USB 2.0. They purchased it initially because it had 5 stars. Ideally, there should only be "5 star" USB cables, and t…

USB 2.0 cables can be thinner, more flexible, longer, and cheaper. You could decide to only ever use thunderbolt cables for everything, but you'd be paying $40-$100 for a cable as thick as a mains power cord and doesn't offer any benefit at all to charging your phone.

We need better labeling rather than making every single USB cable a 40gbit thunderbolt cable.

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#240

Post by renata »

wwalexander wrote: post #146
rogerrogerr wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re. toothbrush, I have to take the opportunity to give Philips credit for the Sonicare electric toothbrushes they made ~15 years ago. That thing just keeps trucking, it’s incredible. I go on 2 week trips and don’t even bring the charger, and have no worries about it dying. It must have been crazy overspecced, I expected it to be a 5-year disposable piece of non-serviceable tech.

If only Philips would support USB-C for their OneBlade electric razors, instead of a USB-A to proprietary figure 8 barrel plug cable.

I got a no-name USB adapter for mine and it hasn't killed it in the couple of years I've had it, that's the one I take for travel. You can search for "USB QP2520" to find one.
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