[0] https://keeb.io/products/trrs-cable
[1] https://docs.splitkb.com/hc/en-us/articles/360010443660-Kyri...
[2] https://www.kingcables.org/products/custom-straight-usb-cabl...
There is a note about a diode across VCC and GND — perhaps that is to prevent this kind of short?
Even from the power consumer side, there is a chance that a single female side contact (eg VCC) may touch two adjacent TRRS sections as the plug is being removed.
If you shove data in the middle, you're never going to short VCC + GND together. your data line shouldn't care about being high (5v) or low (gnd).
So lets imagine what happens to the host port when you unplug a live device. Vcc breaks first, and all other pins shift. D+ and D- are safe to short together or to ground (and I'm pretty sure safe to short to Vcc) so they don't matter much. The shield is physically out of the socket. As the connectors move, you get connections that put Vcc on the device's Data pins, through the device ground to host Data pins. This is equivalent to a large resistor between host Vcc and data pins, which is safe.
As the connector is removed, the device's ground contacts host's Vcc. Nothing happens because all the other pins are physically outside of the socket. There is no circuit, no path for the current to go. The only way it could be a problem is if the device had some external ground connection. That would create a direct short between the host's Vcc and ground.
But (correctly implemented) USB ports can safely tolerate a short from Vcc to ground. If not, it's not complicated or expensive to build protection into the device.
Even if all of the above weren't true, it's still not complicated or expensive to design a port which is tolerant to any kind of short on any pins.
What you're arguing is both not possible and wouldn't be a problem even if it were.
You only turn on actual power when it is firmly connected and you turn it off immediately when there is any signal that it might be disconnecting.
Having to add a bunch of components to implement such a feature isn't really worth it when switching to USB-C also solves the problem, at basically zero cost and effort. It's not spec-compliant of course, but who cares with DIY?
It usually makes more sense to just stick a Pro Micro on each side, and have them talk serial over TRRS. As a bonus, you can connect it to your PC from either half.
it's a good reliable plug if you can cram what you need through it, I can kind of understand why people gravitate towards it in design.
Recently I found myself in the market for a custom keyboard, to my great surprise. Custom as not as DIY but as something different than $10 OTC or even $100 Logitech.
After the hours of watching pics I decided to just see it with my own hands and went to a shop which specialize on them.
And there I confirmed the feeling what I had before - 99% of these keyboards, despite quite advanced tech gone into them on all layers, are not usable, because they are made to stroke the ego of the owner but not for the actual work. This is especially evident by the crammed right cluster which makes typing brackets, curlies and quotes quite a pain, because the Shift key is gutted and nowhere under the right pinky.
Using something else than microUSB or Type-C (for the PC connector) is just a cherry on top.
Despite pushing the envelope in many ways, custom keyboards can also be strangely traditionalist at the same time. Making a PCB is a risky venture and most manufacturers don't want to risk it.
A huge amount of models still use a huge 7u or larger space bar for example when something as small as 4u would suffice, and leave room for much more ergonomic placement of modifiers. (or other improvements like extra keys, keyed gaps etc.)
There's a very good chance that the above poster was looking at staggered layouts if it's their first foray into custom keyboards, and not even considering orthos.
Come up with your own layout and get that custom design made.
Ah, yes, just searching for the wide RShift, on the place where it was for the last 30 years is 'customized for me'. K TNX