Will Charging Cables Ever Have a Single Standardzed Port? (msn.com) 194
The Atlantic complains that our chaos of different plug types "was supposed to end, with USB-C as our savior."
But part of the problem is what they call "the second circle of our cable hell: My USB-C may not be the same as yours. And the USB-C you bought two years ago may not be the same as the one you got today. And that means it might not do what you now assume it can."
A lack of standardization is not the problem here. The industry has designed, named, and rolled out a parade of standards that pertain to USB and all its cousins. Some of those standards live inside other standards. For example, USB 3.2 Gen 1 is also known as USB 3.0, even though it's numbered 3.2. (What? Yes.) And both of these might be applied to cables with USB-A connectors, or USB-B, or USB-Micro B, or — why not? — USB-C. The variations stretch on and on toward the horizon.
Hope persists that someday, eventually, this hell can be escaped — and that, given sufficient standardization, regulatory intervention, and consumer demand, a winner will emerge in the battle of the plugs. But the dream of having a universal cable is always and forever doomed, because cables, like humankind itself, are subject to the curse of time, the most brutal standard of them all. At any given moment, people use devices they bought last week alongside those they've owned for years; they use the old plugs in rental cars or airport-gate-lounge seats; they buy new gadgets with even better capabilities that demand new and different (if similar-looking) cables. Even if Apple puts a USB-C port in every new device, and so does every other manufacturer, that doesn't mean that they will do everything you will expect cables to do in the future. Inevitably, you will find yourself needing new ones.
Back in 1998, the New York Times told me, "If you make your move to U.S.B. now, you can be sure that your new devices will have a port to plug into." I was ready! I'm still ready. But alas, a port to plug into has never been enough.
Obligatory XKCD.
Hope persists that someday, eventually, this hell can be escaped — and that, given sufficient standardization, regulatory intervention, and consumer demand, a winner will emerge in the battle of the plugs. But the dream of having a universal cable is always and forever doomed, because cables, like humankind itself, are subject to the curse of time, the most brutal standard of them all. At any given moment, people use devices they bought last week alongside those they've owned for years; they use the old plugs in rental cars or airport-gate-lounge seats; they buy new gadgets with even better capabilities that demand new and different (if similar-looking) cables. Even if Apple puts a USB-C port in every new device, and so does every other manufacturer, that doesn't mean that they will do everything you will expect cables to do in the future. Inevitably, you will find yourself needing new ones.
Back in 1998, the New York Times told me, "If you make your move to U.S.B. now, you can be sure that your new devices will have a port to plug into." I was ready! I'm still ready. But alas, a port to plug into has never been enough.
Obligatory XKCD.
I wouldn't mind if they just color coded them (Score:5, Insightful)
Color code the variants, plug and jack. USB-C could be fine if we knew what capability each port was in terms of speed class, and power offered.
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>"I wouldn't mind if they just color coded them"
You know, I clicked here to comment the same thing and you beat me to it. Call it by whatever backwards, confusing, inconsistent, stupid version/name you want, but we would then know what green, red, blue, purple, yellow, etc really is.
Although that really only works for color matching. Still not great for trying to figure out if green will be backwards compatible with red or forward compatible with yellow. Theoretically, they are all compatible, they ju
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>"And how is color coding the cables going to help if you're color blind?"
I suppose they could put braille on the end as well?
And how is that going to help if they have no fingers...
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And how is that going to help if they have no fingers
Rub the cable against other highly sensitive parts of their body?
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And how is that going to help if they have no fingers
Rub the cable against other highly sensitive parts of their body?
This is hardly the place for shaming people with that particular kink.
USB-C is for dildos. (Score:2)
USB-C is also for dildos.
But which speed do they use ?
Those are color coded also.
Re:I wouldn't mind if they just color coded them (Score:5, Insightful)
>"I wouldn't mind if they just color coded them"
You know, I clicked here to comment the same thing and you beat me to it. Call it by whatever backwards, confusing, inconsistent, stupid version/name you want, but we would then know what green, red, blue, purple, yellow, etc really is.
The RJ-45 plug has been the Ethernet standard for a while now. Cables come in every color you can imagine. Today, you have no idea if you’re plugging into a Cat3 port or a Cat6 port until you plug in and negotiate the speed. But the point is you can still plug in.
Is this more a physical interface standards issue, or..other? Sounds like we could get there with USB-C. Then what.
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The CAT is usually printed on the cable itself. I don't know why USB cable manufacturers don't print their capabilities on the cable itself.
I resorted to buying a USB tester that can read the e-marker from a cable and tell you what it is capable of, in terms of data transfer rate and power handling capability.
It might have been a waste of money though, because high quality cables that can handle 5A and/or 40Gbps are not very expensive now so I just bought a few of them.
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How does color coding help when purple cables also work on green devices?
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Answer, it doesn't.
It also doesn't help when things are backwards compatible, eg. when purple cables also work on green devices.
If you're going to put something on a cable it should be a number. The number on the cable should be the same, or higher than, the number on the device.
None is really necessary though. USB-C just needs a bit more time to stabilize.
"240W is enough for anybody", kinda.
(it's almost at the point where you need to start worrying about your mains AC cables too...)
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How does color coding help when purple cables also work on green devices?
The only possible response to the above is this [youtu.be].
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USB 3.0 5 Gbps A ports are lined in blue, and the cable connectors are too.
USB 3.0 10 Gbps A ports are lined in red, and I assume the cable connectors are too (I haven't seen a 10 Gbps device yet).
The problem here is both ports and cables can vary connection speed, how much power they can handle, and feature set. There's just way too many possible combinations to make a clear scheme.
Re: I wouldn't mind if they just color coded them (Score:3)
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USB 3.0 10 Gbps A ports are lined in red, and I assume the cable connectors are too (I haven't seen a 10 Gbps device yet).
Hard drives typically have a 10 Gbps USB-B port + cable on one end, and can have USB-C on the other hand, 5 Gbps will slow down even quite slow SSD drives. 10 Gbps goes up to 1200 MB/sec which is a huge difference to 600 MB/sec.
CCS, Tesla, GB-T (Score:2)
We have CCS1, CCS-2, Tesla, GB-T
and a whole lot of upcoming megawatt standards.
At least, Chademo is gone.
Why all of this hate ?
Standardize on one.
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Devices are supposed to adapt the cable. If it is only capable of 65W, the device should reduce the charge rate to match that. Ditto if the charger itself can only do 30W.
The issue is that this kind of intelligence costs a little bit of money. Not a lot these days, but still more than the old "13.5V DC adapter and resistor" chargers.
It is getting cheaper all the time though, and with Programmable Power Supply (PPS) capability it might actually be the cheapest option for battery charging now. Off-the-shelf P
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Yep, fancy cables cost more money - more copper in them.
You simply can't expect everybody to buy the most expensive possible cable.
So ... some cables will charge your laptop more slowly? Seems like a first world problem to me.
(and certainly MUCH less of a problem then every single laptop having a completely different plug/charger that needs a special order if you want to replace it)
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The cables are quiet cheap. I got a couple of them that I use at 20Gbps without issue from AliExpress, 1.5m, about 2.50 Euro each.
For charging they are similarly priced for very high power ones. The cheap high power ones tend to only support USB 2.0 for data transfer. I tested at 100W, so not the 240W they claim, to be fair.
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I buy on Aliexpress, too. They're WAY cheaper and I never had a problem.
I don't own anything that can charge at 240W either but the amps are the same (5A) so there shouldn't be any problem.
It's only the voltage that goes up...
Re:I wouldn't mind if they just color coded them (Score:4, Insightful)
Nah, USB-C works.
Or can work, there's just some catching up to do by the cable manufactures.
What's the worst that can happen right now, that your phone charges slower?
Re: I wouldn't mind if they just color coded them (Score:2)
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So... something takes longer to do? It still works though.
In your highly specialized life-or-death case you could own a $3 SD card reader that doesn't need a cable.
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Won't work for color blind people.
Honestly two things are required. Put 1-3 dots on side of the USB-C cable:
One dot = Standards compliant eq to USB 1.x 12Mbps 500mA
Two dot = Standards compliant eq to USB 2.x 480Mbps 900mA
Three dot = Standards compliant eq to USB 3.x(TB3) 10Gbps/PD 240 Watts
Four dot = Standards compliant eq to USB 4.x(TB4) 40Gbps/PD 240 Watts
If it doesn't met the spec, it doesn't have the dot for that USB version. USB 3 and USB 4 capable cables must also support TB if it's USB-C, because tha
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Let's say red cables are the fastest, and blue ones are the most powerful. How do you colour code a fast, and powerful one? How will Apple put colours on theirs (because you know they're going to resist!)
Whatever you decide, you can bet 100% that Amazon will be full of cables all claiming to be the fastest, or the most powerful, or all the colours of the rainbow, yet not be compliant with any of it. Whatever cable you buy, it might work with your Android, it might work with your iPhone, but it won't work wi
Re: I wouldn't mind if they just color coded them (Score:2)
AT layout started out using full size DIN connector for keyboard, for those of us old enough. Not 2 PS/2 connectors, though some AT mobis did have them. I think by the time USB became widespread, many motherboards were ATX already.
Problem, variance in abilities over same port. (Score:3, Informative)
Does your USB-C port support Thunderbolt or not? What kind, which is important because later Thunderbolt can carry a lot of voltage... I think it's on the new Mac mini the thunderbolt USB-C are all on the back, but none on the front (even though there is USB-C on the front).
In theory it's a better world I guess when all connectors are just USB-C. In reality for users though, it sure seems prone to issues.
There is already one known case of revision - for a bit some Macbook Pros charged only over a USB-C port. But they (WISLEY) reverted back to the beloved MagSafe connector for primary power supply, even though I believe you can still charge via USB-C....
I guess maybe a higher end data connection like Thunderbolt over USB-C still makes some sense as probably anyone actually needing Thunderbolt will know what they are doing... but I am 100% sure mistakes will be made and some consumers will be getting a fraction of the data speed they could have from port confusion.
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Thunderbolt isn't even compatible with itself.
USB-C charging for laptops is the worst idea ever. The connector is too sensitive. 3 to 5 years is the lifetime for it, then it's worn out at my workplace.
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>"The connector is too sensitive. 3 to 5 years is the lifetime for it, then it's worn out at my workplace."
Which is why I use magnetic cables/dongles on almost all my equipment. These will almost guarantee no damage to the ports, while also making connection effortless, and they have lights on them so they are easy to find. My phone/device, I just point it at the cable and the cable almost leaps up and connects to it like magic. If the tiny dongle is somehow damaged, just pop in a new one. I converte
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I've been using them for years too on phones mostly. But i do wish there was an actual USB standardized for these.
About 2/3rds of the ones i've bought from amazon over the years have failed within a few weeks of use. The rest have lasted years, but are discontinued, so it's always a crap shoot afaict to get new ones
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It is a crap shoot, agreed. I got lucky. I only had one dongle fail that wasn't from being dropped on it (of which there was one other), even after many years of use. No cable ever failed. I did have to switch everything out when I got my first USB C device, because that system was discontinued and so I couldn't get (nor did they have) USB-C dongles. Anyway, was only something like $60 for several cables and a dozen various dongles.
Re:Problem, variance in abilities over same port. (Score:5, Informative)
The minimum 10k plug/unplug cycles rating is anyway WELL above any barrel connector would have. And rightfully so, as the leaf springs that keep the connector in are in the barrel connector from the laptop side, while for USB-C they are in the connector from the cable side.
What's more, the ports are on their own board, from the Framework laptop where you just take them out and put a new one in to even the machine that resembles closer a phone nowadays, the Macbook Air. Even there the USB-Cs are on a board that's $10-$20 on Amazon (and probably $1-$2 on Aliexpress and similar) and it doesn't take 2 minutes to get in and replace it (yes, it's just some screws, no glue no nothing). And as I've had this discussion before YES, probably there are machines that are harder to repair than the Macbook Air but the reason to avoid them would be just that, not how the power connector looks. Heck, even the cheapest Dell Inspiron - we're talking high $200s for a fairly decent machine, including a 120Hz screen(!) - which is WAY less than what costs a freaking KEYBOARD for the better Apple/Samsung/Microsoft tablets (yes, they're well into $300s!) - still has one of the USB-C ports on an I/O board. Granted, there's one on the other side on the motherboard, well, it's still kind of half full glass situation.
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The minimum 10k plug/unplug cycles rating is anyway WELL above any barrel connector would have. And rightfully so, as the leaf springs that keep the connector in are in the barrel connector from the laptop side, while for USB-C they are in the connector from the cable side.
Yep. They put all the delicate parts in the cable. The cable might wear out but the connector should be good for a long, long time.
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The minimum 10k plug/unplug cycles rating is anyway WELL above any barrel connector would have. And rightfully so, as the leaf springs that keep the connector in are in the barrel connector from the laptop side, while for USB-C they are in the connector from the cable side.
Unfortunately reality disagrees with you. We have barrel connector charges floating around still that are 10+ years and don't have any issues while the USB-C connectors ages like there's no tomorrow. Broken casings, no communication with the docking station it connects to and wires starting to get exposed where the cable enters the connector.
You might get 10k plug/unplug in a perfect environment with no dust and straight plug/unplug and that the computer never moves around on the desk while it's connected.
S
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Thunderbolt isn't even compatible with itself.
USB-C charging for laptops is the worst idea ever. The connector is too sensitive. 3 to 5 years is the lifetime for it, then it's worn out at my workplace.
They're actually WAY more robust than barrel connectors, despite their size.
Re: Problem, variance in abilities over same port. (Score:3)
USB-C is still a lot better than many previous USB standard connectors such as micro USB 2.0 . Or the micro USB 3.0 variant that should never have seen the light of day.
Highly fragile MicroUSB (Score:5, Insightful)
>> the highly fragile - and not fit for purpose - USB-C connector
You're clearly confusing with Micro-USB (B)
USB-C is much much much more robust.
But I agree, it has some weakness it would be better if they would have halved the number of pins.
Re: Problem, variance in abilities over same port. (Score:2, Insightful)
Itâ(TM)s just malicious at this point (Score:2, Insightful)
Itâ(TM)s just maliciousness at this point because for fucks sake, 90% of all it has to do is charge or transmit data.
I donâ(TM)t care if it can charge at the fastest rate or transmit data at the fastest rate. It should fall back on some slower rate and while inconvenient it wouldnâ(TM)t be as bad as the absolute nothing that goes now.
Why I canâ(TM)t plug-in an Apple lightning cable that works on an iPhone 8 or 10 but doesnâ(TM)t work on the current iPhone at all is beyond me. Or a m
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Worse, I've actually found at least 1 USB-C cable that was charge only. It took me nearly half an hour to consider that was even a possibility and then searching to find out that was a thing. That cable promptly went into the trash even if it would charge my phone just fine. All cables should always be both charge and data transfer!
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Some people would disagree as they might want to make use of public charging ports/adapters and in those cases a "charge only" cable is good insurance that there will not be any attempts by third-party equipment to access the device contents.
Re: Itâ(TM)s just malicious at this point (Score:2)
Re: Itâ(TM)s just malicious at this point (Score:2)
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Worse, I've actually found at least 1 USB-C cable that was charge only. It took me nearly half an hour to consider that was even a possibility and then searching to find out that was a thing. That cable promptly went into the trash even if it would charge my phone just fine. All cables should always be both charge and data transfer!
Unless something has changed recently, I'm pretty sure that any USB-C cable that does not pass the data pins is absolutely not spec-compliant.
Specifically, the USB BC 1.2 spec [emlogic.no] spec allows data pins to be used with resistors to tell downstream devices that they can draw more than 500 mA power. Without passing data pins, that won't work, and the cable will either have to lie and say that it can draw the maximum power (which could overload the charger) or not lie (which would cause a non-PD-capable device to
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Worse, I've actually found at least 1 USB-C cable that was charge only. It took me nearly half an hour to consider that was even a possibility and then searching to find out that was a thing. That cable promptly went into the trash even if it would charge my phone just fine. All cables should always be both charge and data transfer!
Including the USB-C cable in my living room that plugs into an Anker multiport charger! Seriously, MacBooks have one charge only port (which carries USB-C power over a magnetic connector that comes off without damage when you run over the cable). If I buy a charge only cable, and it charges, then I'm happy with that.
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A charge only cable would prevent malicious activity if you were, say, plugging your phone into an unknown port charging. You never know what is on the other end of that port.
portable cable tester (Score:5, Interesting)
I bought a battery powered USB cable tester for both 'A' and 'C' type cables. It has a series of LED lights showing you how the cable is wired internally. The trick was doing some research to see what the connection were applicable to. Did both data and power cables. I was finally able to sort out most of my cables.
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I wish there was an affordable one that could do full testing.
You can get one with LEDs to see which wires are connected. You can get one that reads the e-marker to see what the claimed capabilities are. You can't get an affordable one that actually tests the cable at the rated speed, but you might be better off just using your computer for that because it might depend on your hardware.
Nonsense (Score:2)
Putting data standards aside, USB-C is pretty good at charging. I'm not familiar with these edge cases the author describes where charging doesn't always work with thunderbolt cables (which are a minority of cables sold).
This is not really a "battle of the plugs" like the author claims. We all use USB-C for charging and data and it's generally reverse compatible.
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The quoted part of the article is pretty poor. It's an opinion piece by an author who doesn't seem to know much about the subject. And the Slashdot title is barely related to it.
"Will Charging Cables Ever Have a Single Standardzed Port?"
Assuming they mean charging small electronic devices, yes, it's USB-C. USB-C is the specification for a plug and the port it plugs into.
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Sorry, but the USB-C connector is a lot more sensitive than the old barrel connector on laptops. 3 to 5 years is the lifetime at my workplace.
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That hasn't been my experience. My 2018 laptop with USB C is still going fine without a hint of trouble, but I've seen barrel connectors die in less time than that.
Re: Nonsense (Score:2)
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My main laptops are over 10 years old. Oh oops, the youngest only 8.
Why would I not keep a perfectly well working laptop?
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Are you sure about that? (Score:2)
Oh, you mean the way that household appliances anywhere in the world all use the same plug?
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Most household devices in many country use the same or similar plugs (ground or ungrounded), outside of high power needs.
We even made progress on some 120/220 swappable devices in the computer age.
They already do. (Score:2)
As long as your device uses only the voltages that are marked as required in the standard, and as long as the USB-C connector isn't on a cable that has a USB-A plug on the other end of it, it *should* "just work". The number of times that it has not for me is remarkably close to zero, and by that, I mean that the only devices I've ever seen that don't work are cheap garbage that uses the USB-C connector, but don't include the resistors necessary to tell a proper USB-C charger to provide power. These devi
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"Even charging cables pass data"? How, with only the power wires and no data wires?
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Any "charging cable" I've seen had USB 2.0 data wires, even if it was designed for USB C PD.
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That tends to be true for battery powered devices you plug in and leave to charge, but not so much for things that run off the USB C power, like a laptop.
Also, the first mainstream USB C device was the Nintendo Switch. I forget the details, but they got a few bits of the standard wrong. You can *mostly* use their charger on other devices, and use other chargers with the Switch, but there are cases where you run into issues. That skews perspectives.
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The problem is that the standard is complicated, that leads manufacturers to cut costs by making devices that are not 100% compliant.
It's like with PoE - you have the standard and then you have "passive PoE" that may even need a different voltage.
With micro USB it was simple - this pin is power, this pin is ground, you get 5V at whatever current the power supply can provide. Maybe the standard itself was not like that, but in practice it worked like that. There are not many ways how a manufacturer can mess
The great thing about standards... (Score:2)
The truly great thing about standards is that there's always another one just around the corner. </sarc>
Solved by China (Score:5, Interesting)
I only use USB-D (Score:2)
All you people fucking around with old cables need to upgrade. USB-D does everything. No cable will ever be needed after that. I expect v2 to be available by next summer.
Standardzed (Score:2)
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That's the Russian standard.
It will change all the text you type to "Vote for Trump, Vote for Putin"
My Laptop Charger is 230 Watts (Score:2)
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Good for you. USB-PD does 240W (as of now, well as of 2021). Framework has 180W USB-C/PD as standard for their laptop that needs it since more than a year: https://www.theverge.com/2023/... [theverge.com]
Re:My Laptop Charger is 230 Watts (Score:5, Funny)
Bla, blubb. (Score:3, Insightful)
USB-C PD works well. Some assholes obviously feel a need to construct "problems" in order to have a story.
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USB-P, (and USB in general) is a hell of a bloated mess. It kind of works.
Standards? (Score:2)
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I was happy with SCSI-1.
We gained a lot (Score:3)
What is the point of this post? (Score:2, Insightful)
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Henceforth, what the fuck is the point of this post?
Clicky McClickbaitface.
And don’t call me Henceforth.
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Article is shit, title is shit (Score:2)
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The type C port on my current phone, a nothing, has utterly failed and the damn cable falls out if I plug it in. Type C is still superior to anything else we've had prior. I would not want to go back to anything proprietary or micro-B
In my experience there are "charge only" cables around that look almost exactly like USB-C but are a tiny bit smaller. What you say - dropping out of your phone's port - is a clear indication that this is the cable you have.
How about a sensible protocol (Score:2)
It would also be nice, if they would modernize the protocol. The charging station can tell the car how much juice is available. The car then requests this amount (or lower) of power to be delivered. That's great, but the communications uses an old-fashioned analog protocol. This means, practically, that if you have a 3-phase charger, the lowest possible amount that the charger can offer is around 4kw. For solar installations, this is too much: In the Winter, or in the early morning/late afternoon, or if it'
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The Never-Standard. (Score:2)
Those that assume we have it “bad” now with charging ports, didn’t live through the true Proprietary Port era. Not just some cell phones. Damn near every cell phone had its own unique charging port. Multi-pin kinda-locking nightmares. It was damn near a miracle narrowing phones down to the first variants of USB, which naturally no one uses now. Even if we had a single standard 20 years ago, the shitty charging cable died 17 years ago. Would be nice if hardware durability actually jus
Not really a problem (Score:4, Insightful)
This story seems to come up every couple of months. Exactly the same all the time - the USB-C is awful, no one can be certain about connectivity, etc. Sounds like it's completely useless, if you read it, right?
Well, my last three laptops have been USB-C only. Same with my phones. And guess what: It actually works in practice. That may be because the engineers of the stuff I buy have been through the USB-C hell. I don't know if that is the case or not. But as a user, I'm pretty satisfied with it. I have never seen problems with not being able to connect. I have a single USB-C cable to one monitor from the laptop in the office giving me the power, network and video connection in a single cable. And from the first monitor there's a pass-through USB-C to the second monitor.
Stuff does work.
I can't say that everything does, but we are a lot of people in the office and everyone has their own devices. All of us have this experience.
Either the story is that we should all hail the great engineers for succeeding with making this work despite the standard, or the story is just wrong. I don't know which one it is. And frankly, I don't care. I'm just happy that I do have the connectivity that this story claims doesn't exist.
USB-C Cables == Incompatible Wiring for Charging (Score:2, Informative)
Headlight Not Charging over Standard USB-C
Ordered some headlights from Amazon with USB-C connectors to standardize to the same connector as my other accessories and chargers only to find out that those Chinesium headlights won't charge on regular USB-C chargers and cables but require their own proprietary USB-C cable connected to USB-A connector to charge. Very annoying when trying to standardize to at least the same connector.
Wrote a negative review and seller contacted me to issue a refund and most likel
Backward compatible (Score:2)
My old USB-A cables do not work.
The real problem is the imagination of engineers. The ob-XKCD is wrong. It should read "let's create the standard that will be the definitive standard" 2 years later... "our old standard is not definitive enough".
Strange charging cable (Score:2)
One end doesnt fit into the USB-C port of my Anker charger. Well, it fits, but it just drops out. The other end doesn't fit into my MacBook's charging port. Same thing, it just falls out. At least is safe, since no connection is every made.
Another device that I bought has a USB-C charging port and a USB-A to USB-C charging
When are we going to agree on 48V for DC power? (Score:2)
It's what all telecommunication equipment uses because it's the best combination of safety and efficiency. Surely it is easier just to deal with that than to negotiate voltage and hope nobody ever fucks up.
USB C connectors used for so much more (Score:2)
I had a nice milled Al LED flashlight that used a USB C port to do its charging. Internally there were two 3.7 vdc Li-ion batteries, so it prolly took 9-12 volt wall wart. Of course, wall warts all look the same %^( so one evening I decided to charge it, found what I thought was the right wall wart, and promptly smoked the charger circuit in the flashlight.
This lack of standardization is an issue for non-compute devices and data transfers as well.
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There is truth to that. Except for connecting flash storage, anything not ancient for most purposes is fast enough on the data side. Will you really notice/care transferring those 50 photos off your camera or phone took 6 seconds instead of 3? And [typically] anything will work for charging, it just might take a lot longer than expected.
I am more annoyed by USB-C vs. Micro-USB vs. Mini-USB because I have devices with all three. USB-C is far superior as a connector, but that doesn't purge me of the old cr
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You notice it if you plug in your laptop while you're working and the remaining charge keeps going down.
The slowest USB 3.0 speed is about 20x the speed of USB 2.0, so yeah, you notice the speed difference transferring files.
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Laptops draining their batteries even when plugged in isn't limited to USB though. It started happening many years ago when manufacturers realized they could ship an under-sized charger and pull power from the battery when system load got too high for it. It might have been Apple that did it first, I forget, but Macbooks were definitely affected.
The other big advantage with USB charging is the one cable dock. Plug in one wire and you have charging and 40Gbps data link to run USB ports, card readers, monitor
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When I travel what I tend to do is charge my phone from my laptop, and the laptop from the wall with a DIY USB C adapter I made using a "PD trigger" from AliExpress.
The phone only needs to charge at 500mA overnight.
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I'm a little surprised that no Chinese manufacturer has come up with a USB C port that can fit in the footprint of common Micro USB connectors, for repairs and retrofitting.
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For all practical purposes for most people USB-C is USB-C. A normal person might not notice that they aren't getting the highest speed transfer they could if they used that USB-C cable instead of this one, but a normal person isn't going to care.
Exactly. USB-C is simply a physical connection and pinout spec, with lots of leeway as to what the pins actually do. There is no requirement to carry data or even provide power; although most cables at least provide power at some power level. Manufacturers can use features such as OTG, and thus you need a special cable and that cheap one from AliExpress may not work but otherwise charge fine; leading people to believe the cable is faulty, since, as you point out, "For all practical purposes for most peop