Earlier quoted context omitted.
The USB symbol goes on top, IIRC. Edit: ninja'd by an enormous amount of people elsewhere in the thread, gah.
This is not always true, and not all ports are horizontal anyway.
Isn't it part of the standard?
USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible (2019)
371–380 of 544 posts
Re: USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible (2019)
#372Earlier quoted context omitted.
4. Is it capable of charging this device? 5. Is it capable of charging devices when plugged into this charger? 6. If it can charge this combination of things, what wattage can it charge at?
4. Yes, all USB-C to USB-C cables can charge at a minimum of 60W which should be sufficient to charge almost anything 5. It depends, but the output capacity is printed on the power supply[0]. (Compare to USB-A, where the most you could do is 12W.) 6. The minimum of the cable (60W for any cable, 100W for some cables, 240W for a very few[1]) and the charger [0] Annoyingly, this problem is compounded when using a power…
That’s incorrect on all three counts.
Some “low wattage” specification USB-C devices are compliant with USB-C but are only compatible with USB-A power bricks because thet require 5V:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/c3q4s6/why_do...
Some USB-C cables are only 31 watts, and some devices can’t charge with less than 60W:
https://www.macworld.com/article/234030/how-to-tell-whether-...
Example brands from the above two links include JBL, Schooshe, and Apple.
I’ve hit similar problems with all my USB-C devices.
Re: USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible (2019)
#373Earlier quoted context omitted.
To help visualize: 1: GND 2: DATA +/- 3: VCC 4: DATA +/- 5: GND
Can't that square metal be used as ground?
You don’t always want the shield coupled to the signal ground. If it’s coupled on both sides then you can have all kinds of fun problems. Ideally, the shield should be connected to the ground on one end
Re: USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible (2019)
#374> Making USB reversible to begin with would have necessitated twice as many wires and twice as many circuits, and would have doubled the cost. This is... not correct. You can make USB reversible with 1 extra pin and 1 extra wire. Grounds on pins 1 and 5, data on pins 2 and 4, and VCC on pin 3. Then have those pins on both sides of the plug and a socket with a single set of contacts on one side. That's BASICALLY what…
Ugh, when I read that line I immediately came here to comment, but you beat me to it.
I really really really hope that this was just an error by the journalist, and not Bhatt essentially lying to justify the choice.
Re: USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible (2019)
#375> Making USB reversible to begin with would have necessitated twice as many wires and twice as many circuits, and would have doubled the cost. This is... not correct. You can make USB reversible with 1 extra pin and 1 extra wire. Grounds on pins 1 and 5, data on pins 2 and 4, and VCC on pin 3. Then have those pins on both sides of the plug and a socket with a single set of contacts on one side. That's BASICALLY what…
The problem with USB-a isn't that it's non reversible, it's that it's non-reversible _and_ rectangular, so it's not clear at a glance which way round it should go. All they had to do was make the connector have a non-symmetrical shape so that it's immediately obvious which way round it goes when you pick it up - you could do it without even looking. Think of how much time we'd have collectively saved with this minor…
I guess it would be easier with the larger size of the USB-A connector, but I still struggle to plug in micro-USB cables sometimes, as it's still difficult to figure out its orientation at a glance.
Re: USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible (2019)
#376Earlier quoted context omitted.
To help visualize: 1: GND 2: DATA +/- 3: VCC 4: DATA +/- 5: GND
With that pinout you'd end up with one orientation being full/high-speed and the other being low speed. Edit: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_communications#Signaling_s...
Would be an acceptable tradeoff.
Re: USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible (2019)
#377I don't know if this is common but I've encountered an issue with two different devices with the latest reversible USBs that it would only charge if I plugged it in one way and not the other. I would plug my phone and I had to check the screen to see if it was charging or not; if not, I had to unplug, turn the connector around and plug back in the other way. I remember longing for the older micro USB where the right orientation was obvious. Obviously my phone port must had been damaged; but I suspect that because this happened to me with two different phones, it may be related to fragility of the new ports due to smaller wires or something... Anyone else had this issue?
Re: USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible (2019)
#378Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Using electronics needs a drivers license like equivalent. I bet everyone seriously wishes there were a "seriously honestly just not a fucking idiot" license. The fact that we know which way a connector goes puts us in a whole different league from the rest of the population; most people are so braindead stupid that they can't even fathom being smarter. Sometimes I wonder if being neurodivergent is even worth it. D…
The issue isn't knowing which way a connector goes; the problem is that some people act like gorillas and try to use brute force to force connectors into place, and then don't understand why it's broken. Normal people will try to push a plug in with a normal amount of force, find it doesn't fit, then realize they're doing it wrong and try something different. (Or in the case of USB-A, turn it over and try again, find…
I have many broken and beat-up things, but at least those resulted from rage and not lack of motor control.
Re: USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible (2019)
#379Earlier quoted context omitted.
"I have to buy a totally different cable" is something that most of us with over 20 devices with USB-C ports on them have probably experienced, only it's worse than that as it's more like "I have to buy several different totally different cables and try to remember to return the ones that also don't work". For a time at work, our desks had different docking stations for employees with Mac laptops or HP laptops. USB-C…
So whats your solution? We all get that this is imperfect, the question is can the solution be improved upon within the constraints, and if not, what constraints should change? Because USB-C does a lot and touches a lot of things, I think there's a tendency to place the blame on it (and specifically its cables) for any circumstance where 'plug does not work as expected', which I agree is a frustrating problem that is…
There isn't a particularly Pareto-better solution (other than better labeling, as you suggest).
One of the things I find particularly aggravating though is the discussion that goes approximately "it's outrageous that I should have to buy a new cable for my device " followed almost immediately by "yeah, it turns out I have to buy a new cable for my device ..."
Re: USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible (2019)
#380My 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 experi…
At least PS/2 cables were mostly made with "keyed" rubber jackets where one side was flat and the other rounded, so in the dark you could tell which way was up. (Though, that keyboard and mouse were different ports was stupid, so it loses points there)
But then you have to remember the orientation of the port itself!
That sounds silly, but I forgot a non-trivial number of times.