3 ms·

3 sounds like a doozy. Is there any way that the average person can learn to tell these apart once they are out of the packaging, or is it really just a guess a

by abakker 10y ago

3 sounds like a doozy. Is there any way that the average person can learn to tell these apart once they are out of the packaging, or is it really just a guess and check?

lvh 10y ago
My understanding is that Thunderbolt 3 cables should have the Thunderbolt logo on them.
- otterley 10y ago
  It's not a Thunderbolt issue. It's about supporting "DisplayPort Alternate Mode." This particular monitor doesn't support Thunderbolt.
- hyperbovine 10y ago
  Steve would be pissed.
- qyv 10y ago
  And herein lies the rub of USB-C: It isn't a universal logical interface, it is a multi-use physical connector. By overloading the port's logical functions you introduce incompatible physical configurations.
  - eridius 10y ago
    There have always been charge-only USB cables, they're just not all that common (I believe many mice come with those for charging, but I don't know where else you'd get one). I agree that it is a problem for Apple to be shipping a charge-only USB-C cable, both because this significantly increases the number of charge-only cables in the wild, and because this is probably the first USB-C cable that their customers will have and it's confusing if it doesn't actually act as a generic USB-C cable.
    - falcolas 10y ago
      FWIW, the only time I've seen charge-only USB cables is when they are permanently attached to a charging brick.
      - eridius 10y ago
        I'm pretty sure I have a charge-only Mini USB cable lying around in a drawer somewhere that came with an old mouse years ago.
        timdierks 10y ago
        Charge-only Mini USB connectors are a different question. They're possible to build, but non-compliant. Charge-only USB C cables are part of the standard. The difference is that you can only blame cable confusion problems on the standard in the latter case.
- andrewpe 10y ago
  The cables or ends should almost be colored blue. It might help if there was a color code to all the cables and ports
  - FireBeyond 10y ago
    Kinda like how Apple's USB3 ports are not colored blue, for aesthetics... ?
benguild 10y ago
2 and 3 are both doozies. #2 makes that setup basically unusable.

by abakker 10y ago

3 sounds like a doozy. Is there any way that the average person can learn to tell these apart once they are out of the packaging, or is it really just a guess and check?

lvh 10y ago

My understanding is that Thunderbolt 3 cables should have the Thunderbolt logo on them.

otterley 10y ago
It's not a Thunderbolt issue. It's about supporting "DisplayPort Alternate Mode." This particular monitor doesn't support Thunderbolt.
hyperbovine 10y ago
Steve would be pissed.
qyv 10y ago
And herein lies the rub of USB-C: It isn't a universal logical interface, it is a multi-use physical connector. By overloading the port's logical functions you introduce incompatible physical configurations.
- eridius 10y ago
  There have always been charge-only USB cables, they're just not all that common (I believe many mice come with those for charging, but I don't know where else you'd get one). I agree that it is a problem for Apple to be shipping a charge-only USB-C cable, both because this significantly increases the number of charge-only cables in the wild, and because this is probably the first USB-C cable that their customers will have and it's confusing if it doesn't actually act as a generic USB-C cable.
  - falcolas 10y ago
    FWIW, the only time I've seen charge-only USB cables is when they are permanently attached to a charging brick.
    - eridius 10y ago
      I'm pretty sure I have a charge-only Mini USB cable lying around in a drawer somewhere that came with an old mouse years ago.
      - timdierks 10y ago
        Charge-only Mini USB connectors are a different question. They're possible to build, but non-compliant. Charge-only USB C cables are part of the standard. The difference is that you can only blame cable confusion problems on the standard in the latter case.
andrewpe 10y ago
The cables or ends should almost be colored blue. It might help if there was a color code to all the cables and ports
- FireBeyond 10y ago
  Kinda like how Apple's USB3 ports are not colored blue, for aesthetics... ?

benguild 10y ago

2 and 3 are both doozies. #2 makes that setup basically unusable.