5 ms·

I'm fine with devices offering different capabilities. But the cables should be marked clearly... I have one of the chinese drawing tablets, which has a convolu

by fock 4y ago

I'm fine with devices offering different capabilities. But the cables should be marked clearly... I have one of the chinese drawing tablets, which has a convoluted "to USB-C" adapter. Apparently you can also drive it with USB-C directly, however only a manufacturer-provided cable (supershort) fits the port. Noone know what cable you can use alternately...

maccard 4y ago
> But the cables should be marked clearly... How about by using different ports? Imagine if instead of playing whack a mole with 4 usb-c ports on my laptop, 2 usb c ports on my monitor and a bag of cables, I could plug a cable that fits into the port it fits into?
- masklinn 4y ago
  > How about by using different ports? That would just be worse: the port being backwards compatible is a feature, being able to plug a 5Gbps device into a 20G-capable-port is a good thing, so is being able to plug a self-powered device into a PD-capable port. The issue is the difficulty of matching the cable with the device (and port) to ensure the upper bounds match. Obviously you could get the highest-rated cables but there are tradeoffs in length and flexibility, using a 2x2 PD 3.1 cable to plug in a keyboard is just a waste of money and simply results in lower convenience (as the 2x2 PD 3.1 cable will be shorter and more rigid than a USB 2.0 low-power cable). That could be an argument for "different ports" being backwards-compatible "poka-yoke" (mistake-proofing) ports, but historically these have had really shitty design (e.g. m.2 tabs are plain misdesigned) and they would have required significantly increasing the size of the plugs to make room for the hardware features.
  - maccard 4y ago
    > That would just be worse I disagree. In my cable/charger box I have 4 USB-c chargers with 4 USB-c cables, and they're not interchangeable for all intents and purposes. I've ended up sharpieing what device they belong to rather than reading the specs printed on the back of the charger, because otherwise I end up trickle charging devices (and thankfully I don't use a USB c dock, or I would be in all sorts of hurt. > The issue is the difficulty of matching the cable with the device (and port) to ensure the upper bounds match. If that were the only problem then sure I would agree that things are worse, however in the real world manufacturers ship both devices and cables that are missing features, underperform, and are labelled as "USB 3"
    - nicoburns 4y ago
      A legal mandate that they had to be different colours where be the best way I think.
      - Forgeties79 4y ago
        Works well for USB3.0 vs. 2.0/1.0 that’s for sure. Legally mandated I’m not sure, but yeah, colors for sure.
        nicoburns 4y ago
        Yeah, I was imagining more like trademark law or something rather anything usb-specific.
salamandersauce 4y ago
Huion? I've heard sanded down (so they fit in the port) USB C cables that support DP output works.
- fock 4y ago
  yes. And unfortunately it seems that the "port" extenders you can buy don't support DP and after I bought a seemingly DP-capable cable of AMZ and sanded it down (it didn't work) I stopped.
specialist 4y ago
I'd like an easy way to query, diagnose USB cords. They now contain their own chips. Right? So there's gotta be some kind of POST. Right? If so, I should be able to ask the cord what it can do, if it thinks its broken, etc.
fomine3 4y ago
Some crap devices from China only accept specific voltage for charging (with bundled charger) without PD negotiation, despite they use USB Type-C port.
Kye 4y ago
For what it's worth, my Huion tablet (non-screen) had what seemed to be a standard USB-C cable on both ends. Good to know if you ever wanted to try a different Chinese brand.

by fock 4y ago

maccard 4y ago

> But the cables should be marked clearly... How about by using different ports? Imagine if instead of playing whack a mole with 4 usb-c ports on my laptop, 2 usb c ports on my monitor and a bag of cables, I could plug a cable that fits into the port it fits into?

masklinn 4y ago
> How about by using different ports? That would just be worse: the port being backwards compatible is a feature, being able to plug a 5Gbps device into a 20G-capable-port is a good thing, so is being able to plug a self-powered device into a PD-capable port. The issue is the difficulty of matching the cable with the device (and port) to ensure the upper bounds match. Obviously you could get the highest-rated cables but there are tradeoffs in length and flexibility, using a 2x2 PD 3.1 cable to plug in a keyboard is just a waste of money and simply results in lower convenience (as the 2x2 PD 3.1 cable will be shorter and more rigid than a USB 2.0 low-power cable). That could be an argument for "different ports" being backwards-compatible "poka-yoke" (mistake-proofing) ports, but historically these have had really shitty design (e.g. m.2 tabs are plain misdesigned) and they would have required significantly increasing the size of the plugs to make room for the hardware features.
- maccard 4y ago
  > That would just be worse I disagree. In my cable/charger box I have 4 USB-c chargers with 4 USB-c cables, and they're not interchangeable for all intents and purposes. I've ended up sharpieing what device they belong to rather than reading the specs printed on the back of the charger, because otherwise I end up trickle charging devices (and thankfully I don't use a USB c dock, or I would be in all sorts of hurt. > The issue is the difficulty of matching the cable with the device (and port) to ensure the upper bounds match. If that were the only problem then sure I would agree that things are worse, however in the real world manufacturers ship both devices and cables that are missing features, underperform, and are labelled as "USB 3"
  - nicoburns 4y ago
    A legal mandate that they had to be different colours where be the best way I think.
    - Forgeties79 4y ago
      Works well for USB3.0 vs. 2.0/1.0 that’s for sure. Legally mandated I’m not sure, but yeah, colors for sure.
      - nicoburns 4y ago
        Yeah, I was imagining more like trademark law or something rather anything usb-specific.

salamandersauce 4y ago

Huion? I've heard sanded down (so they fit in the port) USB C cables that support DP output works.

fock 4y ago
yes. And unfortunately it seems that the "port" extenders you can buy don't support DP and after I bought a seemingly DP-capable cable of AMZ and sanded it down (it didn't work) I stopped.

specialist 4y ago

I'd like an easy way to query, diagnose USB cords. They now contain their own chips. Right? So there's gotta be some kind of POST. Right? If so, I should be able to ask the cord what it can do, if it thinks its broken, etc.

fomine3 4y ago

Some crap devices from China only accept specific voltage for charging (with bundled charger) without PD negotiation, despite they use USB Type-C port.

Kye 4y ago

For what it's worth, my Huion tablet (non-screen) had what seemed to be a standard USB-C cable on both ends. Good to know if you ever wanted to try a different Chinese brand.