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Then they should be labeled appropriately, and preferably use different form factors. There's no excuse from having identical-looking ports that do different th

Then they should be labeled appropriately, and preferably use different form factors. There's no excuse from having identical-looking ports that do different things.

JonathonW 9y ago
That appears to be kind of the point of USB-C-- identical-looking ports which may or may not actually do the same thing. A given USB-C port might be a host port; might be a device port; might be capable of serving in both roles; might support video (over HDMI or DP or some combination of the two) or might not; might support Thunderbolt or might not; might support high-voltage/high-current power delivery or might not... and all on the same connector, so good luck trying to figure out what supports what without looking at manuals.
- macintux 9y ago
  Same problem applies to USB-C cables. Understandable why (want to spend $100 for every cable you buy?) but intensely frustrating.
- ansible 9y ago
  I see it as one of the big failings of USB standards in recent years. USB used to be simple, and they worked so hard to make it so that whatever plug could be plugged into whatever compatible socket. Then we had USB on-the-go, and issues with then a micro-A port isn't just a micro-A port. And now we have USB-C and Thunderbolt. Ugh.
klodolph 9y ago
We’re well past that point. USB is explicitly designed to have ports with different capabilities, right from day one. Even with USB 1.1 you couldn’t treat all ports equally, since there’s no difference between a port that can give 100mA and one that can give 500mA.
- perl4ever 9y ago
  The nice thing about universal things is that there's so many different kinds.
duncan_bayne 9y ago
But that would spoil the symmetry! No, seriously, that sort of thinking is baked into Apple's DNA. Jobs once tried to intervene in memory bus layout on aesthetic grounds. https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=PC_Board_Esthetics.txt https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&stor... "But look at the memory chips. That's ugly. The lines are too close together."
- whywhywhywhy 9y ago
  Surprised more haven't noticed how symmetry had become one of the guiding principles behind all Apple industrial design of recent years. This ideology has damaged things that used to work fine like the keyboard arrow keys just for the hope of symmetry as visual harmony.
marshray 9y ago
Don't worry! You'll be able to tell them apart by the slightly different logo embossed in black plastic on black plastic lettering on the back of the device.
- timb07 9y ago
  And there's a black button with black lettering which lights up black if you press it which tells you not to press it again.

Then they should be labeled appropriately, and preferably use different form factors. There's no excuse from having identical-looking ports that do different things.

JonathonW 9y ago

That appears to be kind of the point of USB-C-- identical-looking ports which may or may not actually do the same thing. A given USB-C port might be a host port; might be a device port; might be capable of serving in both roles; might support video (over HDMI or DP or some combination of the two) or might not; might support Thunderbolt or might not; might support high-voltage/high-current power delivery or might not... and all on the same connector, so good luck trying to figure out what supports what without looking at manuals.

macintux 9y ago
Same problem applies to USB-C cables. Understandable why (want to spend $100 for every cable you buy?) but intensely frustrating.
ansible 9y ago
I see it as one of the big failings of USB standards in recent years. USB used to be simple, and they worked so hard to make it so that whatever plug could be plugged into whatever compatible socket. Then we had USB on-the-go, and issues with then a micro-A port isn't just a micro-A port. And now we have USB-C and Thunderbolt. Ugh.

klodolph 9y ago

We’re well past that point. USB is explicitly designed to have ports with different capabilities, right from day one. Even with USB 1.1 you couldn’t treat all ports equally, since there’s no difference between a port that can give 100mA and one that can give 500mA.

perl4ever 9y ago
The nice thing about universal things is that there's so many different kinds.

duncan_bayne 9y ago

But that would spoil the symmetry! No, seriously, that sort of thinking is baked into Apple's DNA. Jobs once tried to intervene in memory bus layout on aesthetic grounds. https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=PC_Board_Esthetics.txt https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&stor... "But look at the memory chips. That's ugly. The lines are too close together."

whywhywhywhy 9y ago
Surprised more haven't noticed how symmetry had become one of the guiding principles behind all Apple industrial design of recent years. This ideology has damaged things that used to work fine like the keyboard arrow keys just for the hope of symmetry as visual harmony.

marshray 9y ago

Don't worry! You'll be able to tell them apart by the slightly different logo embossed in black plastic on black plastic lettering on the back of the device.

timb07 9y ago
And there's a black button with black lettering which lights up black if you press it which tells you not to press it again.