5 ms·

Color isn't sufficient, IMO. There's way too many possible combinations of speed and power. It's not nearly as simple as USB 3.0. They should just force every

Color isn't sufficient, IMO. There's way too many possible combinations of speed and power. It's not nearly as simple as USB 3.0. They should just force every connector and cable to have a label on it that says the speed and power. Then, you'll always know for sure.

ianburrell 4y ago
There aren't that many combinations. For speed, there is standard USB2, USB3, USB4/Thunderbolt. For USB3 speeds, using the existing logos would work. For power, there is standard 3A, and 5A. Each of those except the default would have a color. Most cables wouldn't have any color, most of rest would have one color, and at most two colors. Many of the combinations aren't used, like 5A is almost always used with USB2 charging cable.
- LorenPechtel 4y ago
  I was going to object to this but then I see you actually got it right but just unclear. Do it with stripes--one for speed, one for power.
- Night_Thastus 4y ago
  For speeds, you are correct, there aren't too many: USB 3 speeds: 5, 10, 20 Gb/s USB 4 speeds: 40, 80 Gb/s But for power, it's all over the place. Every single cable and connector seems to have its own idea of what they want to do. It could be anywhere from: * 5V@100mA=0.5W (low power, with no power delivery standard) * 48V@5A=240W With a good dozen options in-between those two. The only unambiguous way is to just label them. One for speed in Gb/s, one for power in watts. Easy.
  - ianburrell 4y ago
    The power level is negotiated by the devices with Power Delivery. The cables only support 3A or 5A. The 3A cables can go up to 60W. The 5A cables are emarked so devices can recognize them and go to 100W. I hadn't realized there are new EPR cables that go up to 240W, I guess that is third kind.
  - shagie 4y ago
    > The only unambiguous way is to just label them. One for speed in Gb/s, one for power in watts. Easy. They're trying - https://www.kensington.com/news/docking-connectivity-blog/usb-c-demystified/ https://www.kensington.com/news/docking-connectivity-blog/us... and https://mms.businesswire.com/media/20210930005098/en/911442/5/New+USB+Image_for_PR_FINAL_v2+%281%29.jpg?download=1&_gl=1*ojgku8*_ga*MTU1MjU3Nzk4Mi4xNjc3NzA2NjUx*_ga_ZQWF70T3FK*MTY3NzcwNjY1MS4xLjAuMTY3NzcwNjY1MS42MC4wLjA https://mms.businesswire.com/media/20210930005098/en/911442/.... It's nice that there are so many standards to chose from though. https://xkcd.com/927/ https://xkcd.com/927/
error503 4y ago
I think it's not so much that there are too many combinations of capabilities, but more that it is hard to express the device/host constraints in a user-friendly way. Does a 'red' stripe mean my 'green' device will or will not work? Or, confusing things further, work fine but maybe not be able to pull enough power to (fast) charge or have degraded capabilities like full speed data but no display. IMO this is something that should be handled by the host / software and a clear nomenclature for capabilities. Notify the user if there are missing, required capabilities or performance is degraded and that they need to upgrade the cable to achieve X. As long as the cable meets the minimum USB spec this should be achievable fairly easily. Where a marking is absolutely needed though is 'charging only' cables with no data lines. These are infuriating.

ianburrell 4y ago

There aren't that many combinations. For speed, there is standard USB2, USB3, USB4/Thunderbolt. For USB3 speeds, using the existing logos would work. For power, there is standard 3A, and 5A. Each of those except the default would have a color. Most cables wouldn't have any color, most of rest would have one color, and at most two colors. Many of the combinations aren't used, like 5A is almost always used with USB2 charging cable.

LorenPechtel 4y ago
I was going to object to this but then I see you actually got it right but just unclear. Do it with stripes--one for speed, one for power.
Night_Thastus 4y ago
For speeds, you are correct, there aren't too many: USB 3 speeds: 5, 10, 20 Gb/s USB 4 speeds: 40, 80 Gb/s But for power, it's all over the place. Every single cable and connector seems to have its own idea of what they want to do. It could be anywhere from: * 5V@100mA=0.5W (low power, with no power delivery standard) * 48V@5A=240W With a good dozen options in-between those two. The only unambiguous way is to just label them. One for speed in Gb/s, one for power in watts. Easy.
- ianburrell 4y ago
  The power level is negotiated by the devices with Power Delivery. The cables only support 3A or 5A. The 3A cables can go up to 60W. The 5A cables are emarked so devices can recognize them and go to 100W. I hadn't realized there are new EPR cables that go up to 240W, I guess that is third kind.
- shagie 4y ago
  > The only unambiguous way is to just label them. One for speed in Gb/s, one for power in watts. Easy. They're trying - https://www.kensington.com/news/docking-connectivity-blog/usb-c-demystified/ https://www.kensington.com/news/docking-connectivity-blog/us... and https://mms.businesswire.com/media/20210930005098/en/911442/5/New+USB+Image_for_PR_FINAL_v2+%281%29.jpg?download=1&_gl=1*ojgku8*_ga*MTU1MjU3Nzk4Mi4xNjc3NzA2NjUx*_ga_ZQWF70T3FK*MTY3NzcwNjY1MS4xLjAuMTY3NzcwNjY1MS42MC4wLjA https://mms.businesswire.com/media/20210930005098/en/911442/.... It's nice that there are so many standards to chose from though. https://xkcd.com/927/ https://xkcd.com/927/

error503 4y ago

I think it's not so much that there are too many combinations of capabilities, but more that it is hard to express the device/host constraints in a user-friendly way. Does a 'red' stripe mean my 'green' device will or will not work? Or, confusing things further, work fine but maybe not be able to pull enough power to (fast) charge or have degraded capabilities like full speed data but no display. IMO this is something that should be handled by the host / software and a clear nomenclature for capabilities. Notify the user if there are missing, required capabilities or performance is degraded and that they need to upgrade the cable to achieve X. As long as the cable meets the minimum USB spec this should be achievable fairly easily. Where a marking is absolutely needed though is 'charging only' cables with no data lines. These are infuriating.