12 ms·

I disagree. What we have now is so much better than what we used to have. Better labeling would be a nice improvement, but I'll still take the current state of

I disagree. What we have now is so much better than what we used to have. Better labeling would be a nice improvement, but I'll still take the current state of things over what we used to have.

bombcar 4y ago
What we have works better “in general”. But when it fails in specific cases it’s a real pain to diagnose. I immediately order a thunder bolt cable direct from apple the moment I smell any issues, which often fixes it.
- AdamN 4y ago
  Seems like it's really easy to diagnose - problem with comms over a cable? 1/ is it seated correctly, 2/ are there any obvious defects, 3/ are the specs of the cable and the ports aligned? Having incompatible ports means 3/ disappears but since many cables support multiple specs, it's nice to often have a win when connecting two devices over a cable rather than simply being blocked because the connector isn't compatible physically.
  - happyopossum 4y ago
    > 3/ are the specs of the cable and the ports aligned? This is basically impossible to diagnose as ports and cables are not marked with their supported specs.
    - pbronez 4y ago
      HDMI has the same mess. Ports don’t tell you much.
  - mmis1000 4y ago
    There are actually dedicated detector for detecting charger compatibility or faulty cable. And they are surprisingly not that expensive (rage from 20 to 40 usd depends on spec and vendor). Something like, test the cable and get a resistance of 0.6Ω ? Let's just toss it away. This will definitely fail the usb protocol and stop devices from working properly when charge at full speed. I actually found a few problematic cables with that. These are pretty hard to find out normally because they only fail when charges at full speed (cause the voltage to drop too much) and transmits data at same time. Or test a charger that labels fast charging but don't actually get any at all? The resistance changes a lot when you touched the cable(probably the connection between board and plug breaks)? Toss it away. They are broken or fake, why bother keep them.
    - paulmd 4y ago
      got a brand/model name to look for on amazon or whatever?
      - Rediscover 4y ago
        USB C tester, KJ-KayJI 2 in 1
- dan-robertson 4y ago
  Yeah it was much easier to diagnose ‘wrong cable’ failures before because of the obvious signs of whittling on the connector. (Although even in the USB-C world there are legitimate uses for connector-whittling when there is too much plastic and it stops you from using the next port over).
ChuckNorris89 4y ago
>What we have now is so much better than what we used to have. Agree. People are looking at the past with rose tinted glasses or haven't lived through the '90s - '00 tech. Every phone and electronic gadget had their own proprietary dock, cable and connector for data and charging. Even many phones had proprietary connectors for headphones instead of the 3.5mm jack. It was a nightmare. You're phone is running out of battery while you're at the bar/on vacation? Then good luck finding someone with the same Motorola charger. Want to transfer your photos to your PC and your 50pin Sony Ericsson data cable is acting up? Good luck finding a cheap replacement on a short notice. Want to plug in the phone's memory card in your laptop instead? Well, if your laptop doesn't support Sony's proprietary Memory Stick Pro Duo, then you're shit out of luck. And even those proprietary connectors had plenty of issues, and manufacturers weren't even consistent, changing their connectors every few years instead of sticking with one for the long run. What we have today has certainly teething issues, but we're on the right path.
- KronisLV 4y ago
  > You're phone is running out of battery while you're at the bar/on vacation? Then good luck finding someone with the same Motorola charger. Curiously, many Nokia phones in the same generation seemed to use the same charger form factor, at least when I last checked. Contrast this to me recently finding myself with an Android phone that has USB Type C and only a Nintendo Switch charger. I mean, it looks like it fits and both of them are the same form factor, right? So technically it should charge the phone, too. Except that it didn't (personal experience) and some online claimed that certain phone and charger combinations might cause them to (temporarily) stop working. Ergo, instead of seeing that a Motorola charger won't work for my Nokia device, I was left wondering about whether it's even safe to share the charger given that the connectors do fit. Furthermore, I've seen cases where a USB cable actually doesn't carry data and can only be used for charging, with no clear/apparent indications of this, neither when buying it or when looking at it. The world would be much simpler if one plug had one spec, with no deviations from it being permissible. If it fits, it should work.
  - ChuckNorris89 4y ago
philistine 4y ago
Let's start by not naming something USB4 2.0. Can anyone explain how that can be a good idea?
crazygringo 4y ago
Exactly. I don't want to go back to computers with 10 different types of ports. Everything moving to USB-C is just fantastic. It does suck that there are necessarily so many cable types (basically boiling down to no/low/hi data x no/lo/hi power) with no obvious good labeling system except for reading specs on a box. But it's also not an issue for most people since most devices come with their own cable. My laptop came with an appropriate expensive USB-C power delivery cord, my USB lamp came with a cheapo one, my expensive monitor came with an appropriate expensive high-data Thunderbolt cable. And the manufacturers usually sell or recommend the appropriate longer length cable if you need that. The issues only arise when you're trying to do more complicated things like use a USB hub, or run extremely long distances. The fact that USB hubs work at all still often seems like a minor miracle to me...
- cal85 4y ago
  > I don't want to go back to computers with 10 different types of ports … not an issue for most people since most devices come with their own cable What is the value of all the ports being the same if you can’t mix and match cables?
  - paulmd 4y ago
    even if you could, what is the value-add of all the ports being usb-c to begin with? what is my printer going to do with a displayport and pcie channel? obviously it doesn't need to implement those, but, it worked just fine with a USB Type-A 10gbps connector, what is the value-add of pushing that to USB-C at all?
  - crazygringo 4y ago
    Easy -- that my laptop or desktop just has 2-4 thin, high-quality USB-C ports that I can plug anything into. I can plug 2 devices in of the same type, without worrying about there being only 1 port of that type. I don't have to hunt for which port is where. I don't have to worry that this one model of laptop is missing that one type of port because there's only space for 7 on the side with the ports. I could keep going...
  - 4y ago
userbinator 4y ago
I still think the USB 2.0 era was the peak.

I disagree. What we have now is so much better than what we used to have. Better labeling would be a nice improvement, but I'll still take the current state of things over what we used to have.

bombcar 4y ago

What we have works better “in general”. But when it fails in specific cases it’s a real pain to diagnose. I immediately order a thunder bolt cable direct from apple the moment I smell any issues, which often fixes it.

AdamN 4y ago
Seems like it's really easy to diagnose - problem with comms over a cable? 1/ is it seated correctly, 2/ are there any obvious defects, 3/ are the specs of the cable and the ports aligned? Having incompatible ports means 3/ disappears but since many cables support multiple specs, it's nice to often have a win when connecting two devices over a cable rather than simply being blocked because the connector isn't compatible physically.
- happyopossum 4y ago
  > 3/ are the specs of the cable and the ports aligned? This is basically impossible to diagnose as ports and cables are not marked with their supported specs.
  - pbronez 4y ago
    HDMI has the same mess. Ports don’t tell you much.
- mmis1000 4y ago
  There are actually dedicated detector for detecting charger compatibility or faulty cable. And they are surprisingly not that expensive (rage from 20 to 40 usd depends on spec and vendor). Something like, test the cable and get a resistance of 0.6Ω ? Let's just toss it away. This will definitely fail the usb protocol and stop devices from working properly when charge at full speed. I actually found a few problematic cables with that. These are pretty hard to find out normally because they only fail when charges at full speed (cause the voltage to drop too much) and transmits data at same time. Or test a charger that labels fast charging but don't actually get any at all? The resistance changes a lot when you touched the cable(probably the connection between board and plug breaks)? Toss it away. They are broken or fake, why bother keep them.
  - paulmd 4y ago
    got a brand/model name to look for on amazon or whatever?
    - Rediscover 4y ago
      USB C tester, KJ-KayJI 2 in 1
dan-robertson 4y ago
Yeah it was much easier to diagnose ‘wrong cable’ failures before because of the obvious signs of whittling on the connector. (Although even in the USB-C world there are legitimate uses for connector-whittling when there is too much plastic and it stops you from using the next port over).

ChuckNorris89 4y ago

>What we have now is so much better than what we used to have. Agree. People are looking at the past with rose tinted glasses or haven't lived through the '90s - '00 tech. Every phone and electronic gadget had their own proprietary dock, cable and connector for data and charging. Even many phones had proprietary connectors for headphones instead of the 3.5mm jack. It was a nightmare. You're phone is running out of battery while you're at the bar/on vacation? Then good luck finding someone with the same Motorola charger. Want to transfer your photos to your PC and your 50pin Sony Ericsson data cable is acting up? Good luck finding a cheap replacement on a short notice. Want to plug in the phone's memory card in your laptop instead? Well, if your laptop doesn't support Sony's proprietary Memory Stick Pro Duo, then you're shit out of luck. And even those proprietary connectors had plenty of issues, and manufacturers weren't even consistent, changing their connectors every few years instead of sticking with one for the long run. What we have today has certainly teething issues, but we're on the right path.

KronisLV 4y ago
> You're phone is running out of battery while you're at the bar/on vacation? Then good luck finding someone with the same Motorola charger. Curiously, many Nokia phones in the same generation seemed to use the same charger form factor, at least when I last checked. Contrast this to me recently finding myself with an Android phone that has USB Type C and only a Nintendo Switch charger. I mean, it looks like it fits and both of them are the same form factor, right? So technically it should charge the phone, too. Except that it didn't (personal experience) and some online claimed that certain phone and charger combinations might cause them to (temporarily) stop working. Ergo, instead of seeing that a Motorola charger won't work for my Nokia device, I was left wondering about whether it's even safe to share the charger given that the connectors do fit. Furthermore, I've seen cases where a USB cable actually doesn't carry data and can only be used for charging, with no clear/apparent indications of this, neither when buying it or when looking at it. The world would be much simpler if one plug had one spec, with no deviations from it being permissible. If it fits, it should work.
- ChuckNorris89 4y ago

philistine 4y ago

Let's start by not naming something USB4 2.0. Can anyone explain how that can be a good idea?

crazygringo 4y ago

Exactly. I don't want to go back to computers with 10 different types of ports. Everything moving to USB-C is just fantastic. It does suck that there are necessarily so many cable types (basically boiling down to no/low/hi data x no/lo/hi power) with no obvious good labeling system except for reading specs on a box. But it's also not an issue for most people since most devices come with their own cable. My laptop came with an appropriate expensive USB-C power delivery cord, my USB lamp came with a cheapo one, my expensive monitor came with an appropriate expensive high-data Thunderbolt cable. And the manufacturers usually sell or recommend the appropriate longer length cable if you need that. The issues only arise when you're trying to do more complicated things like use a USB hub, or run extremely long distances. The fact that USB hubs work at all still often seems like a minor miracle to me...

cal85 4y ago
> I don't want to go back to computers with 10 different types of ports … not an issue for most people since most devices come with their own cable What is the value of all the ports being the same if you can’t mix and match cables?
- paulmd 4y ago
  even if you could, what is the value-add of all the ports being usb-c to begin with? what is my printer going to do with a displayport and pcie channel? obviously it doesn't need to implement those, but, it worked just fine with a USB Type-A 10gbps connector, what is the value-add of pushing that to USB-C at all?
- crazygringo 4y ago
  Easy -- that my laptop or desktop just has 2-4 thin, high-quality USB-C ports that I can plug anything into. I can plug 2 devices in of the same type, without worrying about there being only 1 port of that type. I don't have to hunt for which port is where. I don't have to worry that this one model of laptop is missing that one type of port because there's only space for 7 on the side with the ports. I could keep going...
- 4y ago

userbinator 4y ago

I still think the USB 2.0 era was the peak.