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[-] HeartyOfGlass@lemm.ee 25 points 1 year ago

Fuck firewire. Glad it's dead. USB C is the best thing to happen to peripherals since the mouse.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago

USB C is the best thing to happen to peripherals since the mouse.

I would agree with you if there were a simple way to tell what the USB-C cable I have in my hand can be used for without knowing beforehand. Otherwise, for example, I don't know whether the USB-C cable will charge my device or not. There should have been a simple way to label them for usage that was baked into the standard. As it is, the concept is terrific, but the execution can be extremely frustrating.

[-] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Buying a basic, no-frills USB-C cable from a reputable tech manufacturer all but guarantees that it'll work for essentially any purpose. Of course the shoddy pack-in cables included with a cheap device purchase won't work well.

I replaced every USB-C-to-C or -A-to-C cable and brick in my house and carry bag with a very low cost Anker cable (except the ones that came with my Google products, those are fine), and now anything charges on any cable.

You wouldn't say that a razor sucked just because the cheap replacement blades you bought at the dollar store nicked your face, or that a pan was too confusing because the dog food you cooked in it didn't taste good. So too it is not the fault of USB-C that poorly manufactured charging bricks and cables exist. The standard still works; in fact, it works so well that unethical companies are flooding the market with crap.

[-] HeartyOfGlass@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

Hey that's a fair point. Funny how often good ideas are kneecapped by crap executions.

[-] NobodyElse@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago

I’m pretty sure the phrase “kneecapped by crap executions” is in the USB working groups’s charter. It’s like one of their core guiding principles.

[-] db2@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

If anyone disagrees with this, the original USB spec was for a reversible connector and the only reason we didn't get to have that the whole time was because they wanted to increase profit margins.

[-] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 year ago

USB has always been reversible. In fact you have to reverse it at least 3 times before it'll FUCKING PLUG IN.

[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That’s the reason Apple released the Lightning connector. They pushed for several features for USB around 2010, including a reversible connector, but the USB-IF refused. Apple wanted USB-C, but couldn’t wait for the USB-IF to come to an agreement so they could replace the dated 20-pin connector.

[-] rumba@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 year ago

Burn all the USBC cables with fire except PD. The top PD cable does everything the lower cable does.

[-] Janovich@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

IDK I’ve had PD cables that looked good for a while but turns out their data rate was basically USB2. It seems no matter what rule of thumb I try there are always weird caveats.

No, I’m not bitter, why would you ask that?

[-] ripcord@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

There are many PD cables that are bad for doing data.

[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Correct. The other commenter is giving bad advice.

Both power delivery and bandwidth are backwards compatible, but they are independent specifications on USB-C cables. You can even get PD capable USB-C cables that don’t transmit data at all.

Also, that’s not true for Thunderbolt cables. Each of the 5 versions have specific data and power delivery minimum and maximum specifications.

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[-] shatteredsword@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

You forgot thunderbolt and usb4 exists now

[-] kalleboo@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

True but pretty much the only devices that need those are high-end SSDs and laptop docks and in both cases you just leave the cable with the device rather than pulling it out of your generic cables drawer.

[-] rumba@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 year ago

You forgot thunderbolt and usb4 exists now

You can buy a single cable that does 40GB and USB4 and charges at 240w.

[-] zarenki@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

There should have been a simple way to label them for usage that was baked into the standard.

There is. USB IF provides an assortment of logos and guidelines for ports and cables to clearly mark data speed (like "10Gbps"), power output (like "100W" or "5A"), whether the port is used for charging (battery icon), etc. But most manufacturers choose not to actually use them for ports.

Cables I've seen usually are a bit better about labeling. I have some from Anker and ugreen that say "SS”, "10Gbps", or "100W". If they don't label the power it's probably 3A and if they don't label the data speed it's usually USB 2.0, though I have seen a couple cables that support 3.0 and don't label it.

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[-] viking@infosec.pub 4 points 1 year ago

I agree with USB-C, but there are still a million USB-A devices I need to use, and I can't be bothered to buy adapters for all of them. And a USB hub is annoying.

Plus, having 1-2 USB-C ports only is never gonna be enough. If they are serious about it, why not have 5?

[-] HeartyOfGlass@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, I'd love at least one USB A type cause most of the peripherals I own use that.

[-] iopq@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I bought some adaptors in China for around $0.50 each. It really isn't that big of a deal

[-] viking@infosec.pub 1 points 1 year ago

It really is a big deal for me, they stick out too far and are making the whole setup flimsy.

[-] iopq@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Then just buy a framework like I did and switch ports whenever you feel like it

[-] viking@infosec.pub 1 points 1 year ago

That's still only 3 simultaneously if I saw that right. My old Lenovo laptop had 3 USB-A 2.0 ports, 2 x USB-A 3.0, RJ45 and HDMI. That was gold. Everything that comes now is a bloody chore.

[-] iopq@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

You can have 6 ports of any kind you like on the framework 16

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[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Nah, USB-A was the best since it replaced serial ports (esp PS/2, which was much harder to plug in) and outlived/outclassed FireWire. USB-C is the best thing since HDM (screw you VGA amd DVI), which was the best since USB-A.

[-] jerkface@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

I hated when mice became the primary interface to computers, and I still do.

[-] Infomatics90@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago

tell me you use i3 without telling me you use i3

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this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2024
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