Hacker News Reader

Comment by maltalex | Hacker News Reader

TL;DR

- USB-C is a connector and not all ports/cables/hubs support all of its features and modes. So not everything that can be connected using a USB-C will work the same way, or even at all.

- Due to their potential bandwidth demands, computers can’t have very many USB-C ports

- USB-C will be phased out and replaced before settling down

View on HN

One of the folks involved in the original USB standards work once told me that the lack of reversibility (or at least a more obvious indicator of orientation) was the main thing they got wrong with the initial standard.

There are huge indicators. People just jam it till it works.

IE. No user testing.

Unfortunately some devices don't respect the indicator :(

Most people don't know about it anyway, making the c port reversible was a good decision.

The port itself is nice, is in the cube of data rate, power rate, port type that is the problem.

You can have A ports that deliver 20V and 3.1 data rates, and C ports that deliver only 5V and 2.0 data rates, and they are both valid according to spec.

I have a cable that has the indicator on the wrong side.

The Nexus 5 and 7 each had upside-down micro USB ports. I was surprised the 6P didn't put USB-C in sideways or something.

https://media.giphy.com/media/gz945ghj1zMyI/giphy.gif

Why, because they did the same thing as every single other connector before it?

There should be a cutoff point for "designed for idiots" - if you can't plug in a USB cable, you should not be touching anything electric really.

Very few connectors are (look) symmetric but can't be plugged in both directions. It is actually a very big oversight by the design committee because, sadly, most of us are not as sharp as you.

Don't think of it as "designed for idiots", think of it as "reaching for the cable in the dark and trying to get your phone on the charger in the last few moments of consciousness before you fall asleep" and you'll have a better idea of why it's reversible.

The other one was making it the same width as an 8P8C modular jack. The number of times I've put a USB-A connector in the Ethernet jack when reaching blindly behind my computer...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com