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Teardown: A Generic 7-Port USB 3.0 Hub That Wasn't

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Re: Teardown: A Generic 7-Port USB 3.0 Hub That Wasn't

#21

Post by okramcivokram »

lostlogin wrote: post #18
ddtaylor wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the opposite problem actually I think. I have these small nano teensy USB things that are programmable similar to Arduino, but they have a poor negotiation at start. I was using these to automate keyboard activity, so when plugged in they appear as a USB HID. This crappy 7 port hub is one of the only ones that "works" to reprogram the chips over USB. Direct connections and other hubs cause it to always appear a…

> I was using these to automate keyboard activity, I’m interested.

You can check my own project doing the same. It's a one key keyboard that also can be set to jiggle the mouse a bit.

https://github.com/markomarkovic/nena-ilo-lili

Re: Teardown: A Generic 7-Port USB 3.0 Hub That Wasn't

#22

Post by bayindirh »

lostlogin wrote: post #17
avhception wrote: post #7

Well, of course there is the "buy cheap, get trash, duh!" talking point. But if I pay more, who's to say I'll get a better product? The OEM or some middleman or whoever might just pocket the difference and push crap anyway. Well-known brands have done this as well, either intentionally or because they got shafted by their supplier as well.

The stance ‘all hubs are trash’ has served me well.

I managed to get a couple of good ones. While they're more like docking stations, Kingston's, now discontinued, Nucleum and UGreen's wares are all good.

If you go higher level, of course there's Thunderbolt docks, but you can't make them cheaply, so they're generally good.

Re: Teardown: A Generic 7-Port USB 3.0 Hub That Wasn't

#23

Post by ddtaylor »

lostlogin wrote: post #18
ddtaylor wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the opposite problem actually I think. I have these small nano teensy USB things that are programmable similar to Arduino, but they have a poor negotiation at start. I was using these to automate keyboard activity, so when plugged in they appear as a USB HID. This crappy 7 port hub is one of the only ones that "works" to reprogram the chips over USB. Direct connections and other hubs cause it to always appear a…

> I was using these to automate keyboard activity, I’m interested.

I was automatong pressing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in a loop with a knob to adjust the loop time. This was to protest Path of Exile potion management requiring you to constantly press that for hours near end game. Also, to be clear, this is not a good potion strategy in terms of being competitive, it's a survival mechanism.

Re: Teardown: A Generic 7-Port USB 3.0 Hub That Wasn't

#24

Post by Cthulhu_ »

teiferer wrote: post #10

$5 USD. What did you expect? Always surprises me when people pay essentially nothing for a product and then complain about quality.

I mean yeah you get what you pay for. The main issue I think is false advertising; there's only so much you can do for foreign webshops, but if this were on e.g. Amazon, then Amazon should be pulled up on it (that is, huge fines so they don't do it again).

EU is cracking down on foreign webshops at least, setting rules for advertising, increasing import taxes to avoid flooding the local market with many individual packages that circumvent spot checks for basic electronic safety and (EM) emissions (what the FCC looks out for as well), etc.

Re: Teardown: A Generic 7-Port USB 3.0 Hub That Wasn't

#25

Post by Tade0 »

avhception wrote: post #7

Well, of course there is the "buy cheap, get trash, duh!" talking point. But if I pay more, who's to say I'll get a better product? The OEM or some middleman or whoever might just pocket the difference and push crap anyway. Well-known brands have done this as well, either intentionally or because they got shafted by their supplier as well.

The other day my bicycle light gave out, so I took it apart - was not the most expensive option, but also not the cheapest.

It was advertised as having a 2600mAh battery, but when I opened it up, inside there was a 1700mAh cell. Also no sign of purported weatherproofing, as the lens was not even glued in.

I have a 2000mAh cell in the same form factor (approximately 500Wh/l, so believable) on its way from China, which makes me wonder how did they come up with that 2600mAh figure.

Re: Teardown: A Generic 7-Port USB 3.0 Hub That Wasn't

#26

Post by pjc50 »

avhception wrote: post #7

Well, of course there is the "buy cheap, get trash, duh!" talking point. But if I pay more, who's to say I'll get a better product? The OEM or some middleman or whoever might just pocket the difference and push crap anyway. Well-known brands have done this as well, either intentionally or because they got shafted by their supplier as well.

This has been a problem for a while. It's Akerloff "market for lemons" applied to technology. Sometimes however you gamble and win, discovering that the Chinese device actually is really good for the price. Occasionally even better, when you discover that some anti-feature like DRM is either not implemented or trivially turned off.

Re: Teardown: A Generic 7-Port USB 3.0 Hub That Wasn't

#28

Post by Klaster_1 »

ddtaylor wrote: post #23
lostlogin wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I was using these to automate keyboard activity, I’m interested.

I was automatong pressing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in a loop with a knob to adjust the loop time. This was to protest Path of Exile potion management requiring you to constantly press that for hours near end game. Also, to be clear, this is not a good potion strategy in terms of being competitive, it's a survival mechanism.

I'm curios why go HW route versus programming a keeb/mouse/ahk macro? For example, that one time I had a build in Diablo 4 where I needed to constantly rotate abilities to maintain it, which I solved with a macro on repeat that was toggled on/off with a button press. Does PoE discourage macro/ahk use?

Re: Teardown: A Generic 7-Port USB 3.0 Hub That Wasn't

#29

Post by muvlon »

avhception wrote: post #7

Well, of course there is the "buy cheap, get trash, duh!" talking point. But if I pay more, who's to say I'll get a better product? The OEM or some middleman or whoever might just pocket the difference and push crap anyway. Well-known brands have done this as well, either intentionally or because they got shafted by their supplier as well.

I've definitely realized this in a couple of markets: Buy cheap, get trash. Buy expensive, get expensive trash with better marketing. Working with power tools from various brands has made me realize they all cheap out in the same ways. Plastic gears where there used to be metal, undersized motor drivers that fry themselves under sustained load, trigger switches that start misbehaving or die completely after a few months.

Also, all of the brands (cheap or expensive) will sometimes mess up the cost-cutting and make something reliable by accident. Buying cheap gives me more chances to get lucky in this way.

Re: Teardown: A Generic 7-Port USB 3.0 Hub That Wasn't

#30

Post by askvictor »

lostlogin wrote: post #17
avhception wrote: post #7

Well, of course there is the "buy cheap, get trash, duh!" talking point. But if I pay more, who's to say I'll get a better product? The OEM or some middleman or whoever might just pocket the difference and push crap anyway. Well-known brands have done this as well, either intentionally or because they got shafted by their supplier as well.

The stance ‘all hubs are trash’ has served me well.

I've generally found that the more expensive, branded USB C hubs are more trash than the cheap generics
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