Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I stopped trusting USB-C cable labels and started testing them

makeuseof.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 272 posts

Re: I stopped trusting USB-C cable labels and started testing them

#131

Post by kuboble »

stouset wrote: post #82
ryandrake wrote: post #70

> But I shouldn't have had to do any of this. It's time cables came with a label of their own, or some sort of color coding. There shouldn't even need to be a label. A USB-C cable should be a USB-C cable should be a USB-C cable. There should be a single connectivity/performance spec, and if the cable meets it, it can be called a USB-C cable, and if it doesn't, it should have to be marketed as USB-JUNK or something. T…

> There shouldn't even need to be a label. A USB-C cable should be a USB-C cable should be a USB-C cable. Then USB is forever frozen in time, unless we start using new connectors. This was the tradeoff we got when standardizing on one connector. The protocol versions change (USB, USB-PD, Thunderbolt), the cables that go between each connector change based on the needs of the spec they supports. But the connectors sta…

> now we’re living in the hell we asked for

N=1, but my quality of life has greatly improved. Literally all devices I use daily (laptop, phone, mp3 player, Bluetooth speaker, headphones) I charge from a single cable.

I'm still grateful for this unification every time I charge my phone via the laptop charger.

Re: I stopped trusting USB-C cable labels and started testing them

#132

Post by JR1427 »

HDBaseT wrote: post #33
xbmcuser wrote: post #2

LTT has created true spec cables with the actual spec mentioned on the cables but they can not keep up with demand despite being expensive get sold out as soon as new stock comes in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfovjw7Ts_U&t=974s

I have a few of these cables, pretty decent although I think the USB-C ports are a bit too thin? They feel lose in multiple of my devices

Multiple people I know, and myself included, have experience failure of their USB-C port on their phones.

I don't think they are really durable enough.

Re: I stopped trusting USB-C cable labels and started testing them

#134

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

XYen0n wrote: post #87
ryandrake wrote: post #70

> But I shouldn't have had to do any of this. It's time cables came with a label of their own, or some sort of color coding. There shouldn't even need to be a label. A USB-C cable should be a USB-C cable should be a USB-C cable. There should be a single connectivity/performance spec, and if the cable meets it, it can be called a USB-C cable, and if it doesn't, it should have to be marketed as USB-JUNK or something. T…

USB-C is just a connector. A cable can be a USB-C connector USB 3.0, power delivery 3.1 cable, or it can be a USB-C connector Thunderbolt 4 cable, or it can be a USB-C connector DisplayPort 1.4 cable.

IIRC you can also run USB 2.0 over a c port

Re: I stopped trusting USB-C cable labels and started testing them

#135

Post by Latty »

ryandrake wrote: post #70

> But I shouldn't have had to do any of this. It's time cables came with a label of their own, or some sort of color coding. There shouldn't even need to be a label. A USB-C cable should be a USB-C cable should be a USB-C cable. There should be a single connectivity/performance spec, and if the cable meets it, it can be called a USB-C cable, and if it doesn't, it should have to be marketed as USB-JUNK or something. T…

Do people really not remember the hell of every device having it's own cable which was incompatible with all the others? Going around to a friend's house and finding out, no, they don't have the cable that can charge your phone.

It is a strict improvement to be able to transfer data or charge at degraded speeds, compared to not being able to plug it in at all. Wanting all your cables to end up entirely incompatible just because you don't want to bother checking labels (modern cables come with clear ones, I have ones that clearly say 40Gbps/240w on them) is, frankly, silly.

Re: I stopped trusting USB-C cable labels and started testing them

#137

Post by Yujf »

stouset wrote: post #82
ryandrake wrote: post #70

> But I shouldn't have had to do any of this. It's time cables came with a label of their own, or some sort of color coding. There shouldn't even need to be a label. A USB-C cable should be a USB-C cable should be a USB-C cable. There should be a single connectivity/performance spec, and if the cable meets it, it can be called a USB-C cable, and if it doesn't, it should have to be marketed as USB-JUNK or something. T…

> There shouldn't even need to be a label. A USB-C cable should be a USB-C cable should be a USB-C cable. Then USB is forever frozen in time, unless we start using new connectors. This was the tradeoff we got when standardizing on one connector. The protocol versions change (USB, USB-PD, Thunderbolt), the cables that go between each connector change based on the needs of the spec they supports. But the connectors sta…

There is no hell. Just buy a couple of good cables and life is nice

Re: I stopped trusting USB-C cable labels and started testing them

#138

Post by mrheosuper »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #134
XYen0n wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USB-C is just a connector. A cable can be a USB-C connector USB 3.0, power delivery 3.1 cable, or it can be a USB-C connector Thunderbolt 4 cable, or it can be a USB-C connector DisplayPort 1.4 cable.

IIRC you can also run USB 2.0 over a c port

You can have power-only cable (no data transfer) because the PD protocol does not use any usb data wires.

Re: I stopped trusting USB-C cable labels and started testing them

#139

Post by riffraff »

kuboble wrote: post #131
stouset wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There shouldn't even need to be a label. A USB-C cable should be a USB-C cable should be a USB-C cable. Then USB is forever frozen in time, unless we start using new connectors. This was the tradeoff we got when standardizing on one connector. The protocol versions change (USB, USB-PD, Thunderbolt), the cables that go between each connector change based on the needs of the spec they supports. But the connectors sta…

> now we’re living in the hell we asked for N=1, but my quality of life has greatly improved. Literally all devices I use daily (laptop, phone, mp3 player, Bluetooth speaker, headphones) I charge from a single cable. I'm still grateful for this unification every time I charge my phone via the laptop charger.

I'm also happy we have a single connector but, n=1, I have a couple things that will not work with all cables.

I have no idea why, nor have I bothered to find out, I just marked the cables they came with (which are USB-A to USB-C) same as GP did.

Re: I stopped trusting USB-C cable labels and started testing them

#140

Post by LiamPowell »

krzyk wrote: post #136

Is there a similar one that could test also max data transmission available on given cable?

At a minimum, if plugging it in to a device and measuring waveforms is good enough for your application, you need an oscilloscope with 10 GHz bandwidth or so (don't quote me on that, I don't remember the max speed used by USB). Scopes at that level require a whole lot of R&D and very expensive components so they're really not something you'd want to buy to check your own cables.

If you're talking about reading the e-marker then you can just plug it in to a device and use an app. Google will help you find one for your platform.

Post reply on HN