Author Topic: Argh USB argh! (Read 5289 times)

quixoticgeek · « **on:** 06 June, 2020, 02:24:03 pm »

The U in USB is supposed to stand for universal, for something that's universal, why the fuck are there so many different bloody cables? More over, why is it that no matter how many you buy, you can never find the right kind when you need it?

Argh, so much for Universal

J

rusky · « **Reply #1 on:** 06 June, 2020, 02:27:52 pm »

It's only the electrical side that's universal, not the mechanical

Jurek · « **Reply #2 on:** 06 June, 2020, 02:58:36 pm »

Quote from: quixoticgeek on 06 June, 2020, 02:24:03 pm

The U in USB is supposed to stand for universal, for something that's universal, why the fuck are there so many different bloody cables? More over, why is it that no matter how many you buy, you can never find the right kind when you need it?

Argh, so much for Universal

J

Yes.

Morat · « **Reply #3 on:** 06 June, 2020, 04:51:01 pm »

The original full-sized cable is still current. It's the various small ones that have gone through evolutions as the universal-for-everyone-but-apple standard for phones

ian · « **Reply #4 on:** 06 June, 2020, 08:54:15 pm »

There's some quantum phenomenon with USB that means that whatever orientation of the plug you try, it will initially be wrong. Always.

Ashaman42 · « **Reply #5 on:** 06 June, 2020, 09:00:47 pm »

Except someone made one where the blocking bit shuttles so it's always the right way up. Though I reckon it only really works on portrait sockets and not landscape ones.

Unless, unless it was an April Fools.

BRB.

FifeingEejit · « **Reply #6 on:** 06 June, 2020, 09:19:31 pm »

Quote from: ian on 06 June, 2020, 08:54:15 pm

There's some quantum phenomenon with USB that means that whatever orientation of the plug you try, it will initially be wrong. Always.

USB-C was meant to fix that, but somehow, hasn't

quixoticgeek · « **Reply #7 on:** 06 June, 2020, 10:13:43 pm »

Quote from: ian on 06 June, 2020, 08:54:15 pm

There's some quantum phenomenon with USB that means that whatever orientation of the plug you try, it will initially be wrong. Always.

Yep, that's how I teach people about quantum superposition. Any standard USB-A connector needs rotating 3 times before it will connect.

J

Ham · « **Reply #8 on:** 06 June, 2020, 10:18:43 pm »

There was me thinking you were advertising a pirated usb cable

Diver300 · « **Reply #9 on:** 06 June, 2020, 10:23:15 pm »

Obligatory XKCD:- https://xkcd.com/927/

Pingu · « **Reply #10 on:** 06 June, 2020, 10:32:51 pm »

What happens if you butter a cat and then connect a USB cable to it?

quixoticgeek · « **Reply #11 on:** 06 June, 2020, 10:36:01 pm »

Quote from: Diver300 on 06 June, 2020, 10:23:15 pm

Obligatory XKCD:- https://xkcd.com/927/

I see your xkcd://927, and raise you xkcd://1892 (http://m.xkcd.com/1892/)

J

perpetual dan · « **Reply #12 on:** 06 June, 2020, 11:02:33 pm »

Quote from: ian on 06 June, 2020, 08:54:15 pm

There's some quantum phenomenon with USB that means that whatever orientation of the plug you try, it will initially be wrong. Always.

I found a phone charging USB cable where both ends can work either way round. Magic, I tell you.

FifeingEejit · « **Reply #13 on:** 06 June, 2020, 11:05:58 pm »

I think we all need to pause and remember the predecessors and attempted usurpers.

RS232
SCSI
Centronics
IEEE 1394
etc.

Suddenly USB seems slightly nicer

ian · « **Reply #14 on:** 08 June, 2020, 09:41:12 am »

I'm currently trying to fit a USB cable into the back of a computer. The socket is, as sockets so often are, behind the computer, and the computer is under a desk in the sort of squirrelly space that computers live in. All rather predictable. I did the usual fiddle back there, that customary under-the-sheets USB foreplay – is it that it? – and then the three rotations (if, by any account, you have managed to muddle plugging in a USB cable with foreplay, don't do this). I think it might be in. Or I may have managed to insert into an air vent (so foreplay comments earlier, you may be doing something very wrong if you have).

CommuteTooFar · « **Reply #15 on:** 08 June, 2020, 11:25:33 am »

Quote from: FifeingEejit on 06 June, 2020, 11:05:58 pm

I think we all need to pause and remember the predecessors and attempted usurpers.

RS232
SCSI
Centronics
IEEE 1394
etc.

Suddenly USB seems slightly nicer

I only saw a 'proper' centronics cable once. All those lovely twisted pairs. All the others were cheap press fit parallel ribbon cables.

CommuteTooFar · « **Reply #16 on:** 08 June, 2020, 11:43:48 am »

And the never was. Thunderbolt was supposed to be a stepping stone to Lightening bolt. I believe the Intel engineers could have made but the past five to ten years the company has been led by accountants where previously the board contained engineers including the CEO. Engineers like cool stuff, accountants like to maximise profits (which they have been doing). Lightening bolt was very cool and probably unnecessary

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #17 on:** 08 June, 2020, 11:43:58 am »

I don't see any contradiction in there being many types of Universal Serial Bus. Don't cosmophilosophists tell us there are many universes, it's just they're not sure whether they exist in parallel, concentrically, or in some sort of venn-graph-like overlap of varying proportions.

Also, it's Serial, so there must be a series of them. But it's an odd sort of Bus, doesn't follow any set route.

citoyen · « **Reply #18 on:** 08 June, 2020, 11:51:32 am »

Quote from: Morat on 06 June, 2020, 04:51:01 pm

The original full-sized cable is still current. It's the various small ones that have gone through evolutions as the universal-for-everyone-but-apple standard for phones

As I discovered when looking into this recently, the original A-type plugs are officially deprecated since last year - though I guess it will be some while before they properly fall out of use. And while the latest standard may be the same shape as the original USB-A, they are different internally.

The original B-type that was introduced at the same time is no longer in use, deprecated since 2016. I think my printer is old enough to have a USB-B socket, but we connect to that wirelessly anyway so it doesn't matter that I have no idea where in the house I would find a cable with a USB-B plug...

My wife still uses her old digital camera that has a Mini AB socket.

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #19 on:** 08 June, 2020, 12:51:39 pm »

I don't know to what standards Olympus and Garmin adhere but the plug at the camera end is almost, but not quite, the same size and shape as the plug at the satnav end of the leads connecting said devices to a Babbage-Engine. And neither is like the ubiquitous phone/Kindle USB one. Bah!

FifeingEejit · « **Reply #20 on:** 08 June, 2020, 01:02:35 pm »

Quote from: Cudzoziemiec on 08 June, 2020, 11:43:58 am

I don't see any contradiction in there being many types of Universal Serial Bus. Don't cosmophilosophists tell us there are many universes, it's just they're not sure whether they exist in parallel, concentrically, or in some sort of venn-graph-like overlap of varying proportions.

Also, it's Serial, so there must be a series of them. But it's an odd sort of Bus, doesn't follow any set route.

But surely in Series, one follows the other, therefore USB-A and USB-B should have been fully superseded by USB-C; unless of course this in actually an ORACLE Sequence in which case sequentiality is not guaranteed even less so if you have a RACk of them...

Lightning Phil · « **Reply #21 on:** 08 June, 2020, 01:14:39 pm »

camera having slightly different usb plugs is a pet hate. I really don’t want a drawer fully of usb cables. I’d like to use same cable across multiple devices. Tah.

ian · « **Reply #22 on:** 08 June, 2020, 01:24:57 pm »

Cameras always had the middle-little one (which is better than the really small one, as you can't bloody tell which way it's supposed to be). Printers the big chunky one. I've no idea why or what any of the differences is, other than everyone now has a drawer of USB cables, all different, yet lacking the very one you'll immediately need. Also ones that only work on Wednesdays if you support them just-so, but for some reason you can't throw away.

citoyen · « **Reply #23 on:** 08 June, 2020, 01:29:07 pm »

Cables with USB-A at both ends are also very rare.* I realised this when looking for such a beast the other day.

I suspect there may be a reason for this, and it’s also the same reason why printers use USB-B rather than USB-A.

But I’m not interested enough in the reason to bother finding out.

(I mean, the obvious inference would be that USB cables don’t work the same in both directions, but beyond that, ICBA to find out more.)

*By which I mean full-size A at both ends, rather than Mini A or Micro A at one end.

FifeingEejit · « **Reply #24 on:** 08 June, 2020, 01:36:43 pm »

It'll be something daft in the original idea, like how are people meant to know what end to put where? Ok give them different plugs.

Edit: I foudn a plausible reason:

"Because male A to male A is a very bed idea because someone will use it to plug two computer together and will wonder why they release the magic smoke."
https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/345711-why-do-printers-use-usb-b/