6 ms·

What was the case of the microcontroller detecting the counterfeit cable? I don't think I've ever heard of this.

by elldoubleyew 7y ago

dnautics 7y ago
Network switches do something like this iirc.
sjruckle 7y ago
Probably referring to FTDI-Gate, which is where FTDI shipped a driver that bricked counterfeit usb-serial converters.
DoingIsLearning 7y ago
I am not sure about a case with cables. But there was a semi famous case of FTDI USB drivers purposefully bricking fake USB counterfeit chips. It was not that uncommon if you bought a cheap USB to serial or USB to TTL dongle online.
lostlogin 7y ago
iPhones do this for the charging cable. They don’t brick as such, they just don’t charge. Sooner or later that gives you a brick.
- manicdee 7y ago
  I would prefer that cheap “charging” cables not turn into house fires thank you.
orev 7y ago
APC does this on UPSes. It’s an extremely bad practice that drives people crazy. They use a standard connector, like serial, RJ45, or USB, but with a non-standard pinout and give you a custom cable. God help you if you throw that cable in a box with other standard cables. And if you plug a standard cable into this non-standard port, the UPS panics and completely shuts down, including anything you have connected to it. APC devices are generally pretty good, except for this infuriating and dangerous “feature”. It’s almost 2020, and vendors still have this ridiculous idea that they can lock you into their proprietary ecosystem by doing stuff like this.
- bashinator 7y ago
  I actually know why this is a thing! Originally, APC UPS's used RTS/CTS flow control on the RS-232 connector for communication with the host PC. They wanted to maintain this compatibility (which used a nonstandard wiring) when they later added the Smart-UPS protocol. That said, there's absolutely zero reason to keep maintaining this ancient and dangerous option.
- oakwhiz 7y ago
  I think they call this cable an RJ50 cable, although I'm not sure if it's the same one that you're referring to.

What was the case of the microcontroller detecting the counterfeit cable? I don't think I've ever heard of this.

dnautics 7y ago

Network switches do something like this iirc.

sjruckle 7y ago

Probably referring to FTDI-Gate, which is where FTDI shipped a driver that bricked counterfeit usb-serial converters.

DoingIsLearning 7y ago

I am not sure about a case with cables. But there was a semi famous case of FTDI USB drivers purposefully bricking fake USB counterfeit chips. It was not that uncommon if you bought a cheap USB to serial or USB to TTL dongle online.

lostlogin 7y ago

iPhones do this for the charging cable. They don’t brick as such, they just don’t charge. Sooner or later that gives you a brick.

manicdee 7y ago
I would prefer that cheap “charging” cables not turn into house fires thank you.

orev 7y ago

APC does this on UPSes. It’s an extremely bad practice that drives people crazy. They use a standard connector, like serial, RJ45, or USB, but with a non-standard pinout and give you a custom cable. God help you if you throw that cable in a box with other standard cables. And if you plug a standard cable into this non-standard port, the UPS panics and completely shuts down, including anything you have connected to it. APC devices are generally pretty good, except for this infuriating and dangerous “feature”. It’s almost 2020, and vendors still have this ridiculous idea that they can lock you into their proprietary ecosystem by doing stuff like this.

bashinator 7y ago
I actually know why this is a thing! Originally, APC UPS's used RTS/CTS flow control on the RS-232 connector for communication with the host PC. They wanted to maintain this compatibility (which used a nonstandard wiring) when they later added the Smart-UPS protocol. That said, there's absolutely zero reason to keep maintaining this ancient and dangerous option.
oakwhiz 7y ago
I think they call this cable an RJ50 cable, although I'm not sure if it's the same one that you're referring to.