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this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2023
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Except it's a proprietary piece of junk stuck on USB 3.1 (and I love my thunderbolt connectors too much to let it slide), that can't offer proper power delivery because of power pin literally burning out.
The only thing they did good is fixing the need to check cable orientation before inserting it (yes, you don't have to try three times, you can just actually use your eyes, USB-A connector's orientations can easily be told apart just by two square thingies on each of it's sides).
But as USB-C came out two years later, it wiped the floor with lightning. Anyone saying otherwise is either insane, didn't read the specs or purposefully misleading you. And only now Apple is switching over. Freaking 7 years later. Though, not because they realize how inferior their connector is, but because they were made to.
Speaking as an Apple user - I am heavily invested in their ecosystem - I am extremely happy that Lightning is on death’s door. I fully agree with the EU and I am very grateful to them for forcing Apple’s hand.
That being said, your point about USB-A falls apart when you consider any situation where your vision is even partially obstructed. Such as; back of the computer, back of your monitors, a dock unless you’re holding it, etc etc.
What I’m hoping will happen:
A lad can dream…
You don't need to check female port orientation, it's always the same, pins inside the port are looking at the board the connector is soldered to. Of course, unless manufacturer decided to do something funny, but no standard is protected from that.
Except for USB-C, which doesn’t care about orientation.
Sure.
I’m not sure I understand your point. You can make a USB stick that fries your hardware too, that doesn’t mean Kingston is going to make all of their pen drives fry your hardware.
Is this some kind of “acshully I’m technically correct because it’s theoretically possible” thing?
The point is that manufacturers can screw up standards and being a symmetrical connector does not cure idiocy in the heads if some people. Yes, the standard explicitly says you have to short opposing data lines for 2.0, but that does not mean everybody will comply with it. (The author of the video is not an idiot, they just demonstrated that it's possible)
The most common example of this I can think of right away is male-male connectors with type A USB. They are explicitly prohibited, yet many manufacturers create them and use in their products.
That's why I said that no standard can protect you, you're just relying on people not being dumb and actually reading the paper you published.
Right, I see your point, thank you for clarifying :)
That being said, unlike the male-to-male example, where I personally don’t understand why the spec prohibits it, I think it’s pretty obvious why consumers want USB-C. The Internet is awash with memes about inserting USB three times, etc.
I think there’s a vast difference between “why is male-male banned? Heck it, I’ll create one as it serves our use case” and “I’m going to negate the only consumer-facing advantage USB-C has for no real reason”. Yes I know C has many other benefits but the common denominator doesn’t care about any of that.
If you have two devices with female USB A ports that both provide power via said ports, connecting them with male-male cable ~~will create a short circut. Best case scenario: a current protecting fuse breaks the circuit. Worst case: both processors on both motherboards are dead.~~ Better not think you can connect two computers with that evil thing. That's why type B connector exists, it's about the same size, but it never connects to a port that provides power.
Aha I see, thank you for explaining :)
A slight word of correction, looked at the pinning again, it won't short circuit them, but one will try to charge the other. It will still be a fire hazard, just not as violent.
Yeah, but I'm fucking stupid and can never remember that shit. Bet ya didn't think of that huh???
You can't fix stupid.
Except they could, by making USB-C standard. Now even though I'm dumb as fuck I never have to remember plug orientation!
Don't worry, I'm quite sure your kind will find something to trip over eventually. No thing can be fully dumb-proof.