One USB Type-C to Connect them All

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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We can all agree that having different standards is bad...Mmmmk. This is a good read over at Digitimes if you are wondering about all the new connection standards surround USB and what is to become of those.

First of all, the USB 3.2 specification was finalized and announced in September 2017. This latest standard maximizes the potential of existing cables by enabling the development of hosts and devices to support two lanes of SuperSpeed USB or two lanes of SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps, for a maximum performance of 20 Gbps.

Ravencraft said optimistically the three key elements of USB - SuperSpeed USB 20 Gbps data transmission rate, USB charging, and single-cable ease of use with USB Type-C(TW) - are making USB the best physical wiring interface for electronics. The silicon IP vendors, chip makers, testing certification laboratories and equipment suppliers are working together to provide the solutions for optimizing business and to further accelerate the adoption of USB technologies.
 
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Type-C is idiot proof, mostly. I have a moronic coworker that damaged his PC by jamming his keyboard's USB plug upside down into his PC, somehow jammed it in and pulled out the whole USB socket when he couldn't figure out why his keyboard isn't working.
 
The "single cable full performance docking station" is getting near. However, i'm not sure it is needed except for a small crowd.
 
I wonder if USB 3.2 will require new drivers, or if it'll function with its increased transfer rates via USB 3.0 drivers.
 
going through a closet here at work the other day one of the kids pulls out a cable and asks.. "whats this??" clearly not knowing..

when i told him it was an old parallel port printer cable.. he laughed.



one thing i really like about USB is how soooo many devices use it nowadays. Very handy.
 
The 100W charging ability seems a bit optimistic given the size of the cables and connectors. At 5v that's 20A and even at the new 20V standard, you get 5A. Seems like a recipe for more fires dues to cheap knockoff cables and connectors.

Otherwise sounds good IF the connectors don't care which way you put them in. I have way less then 50% first try success rate on the old cables.


katanaD said:
going through a closet here at work the other day one of the kids pulls out a cable and asks.. "whats this??" clearly not knowing..

when i told him it was an old parallel port printer cable.. he laughed.



one thing i really like about USB is how soooo many devices use it nowadays. Very handy.
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What, no IEEE-488 cables?
 
Dead Parrot said:
The 100W charging ability seems a bit optimistic given the size of the cables and connectors. At 5v that's 20A and even at the new 20V standard, you get 5A. Seems like a recipe for more fires dues to cheap knockoff cables and connectors.

Otherwise sounds good IF the connectors don't care which way you put them in. I have way less then 50% first try success rate on the old cables.

What, no IEEE-488 cables?
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they do not do 5v 20A.

They increase the voltage, phones charge at 9 volts or something nowadays that way the cable can be as thin as it was but almost 2x the power ;)

USB 3.1 allows 20Volt**, I do not remember usb-c cable spec but lets do normal good old usb with 2 amp max current for typical chargers.

2x5 = 10 watt.
2x20 = 40 watts.

that's how they solve it, USB-C have different cable standards I'm fairly certain about and thus increasing ampere capability to give us 100W

usb 3.2 might have even larger voltage, wouldn't surprise me if 50V will come on usb for charging and special ports for dockings.
 
Love having a USB-C connector on my phone has been so convenient, and it's a damn sight more robust than the flimsy micro-USB connector of the past. I'm looking forward to the C connector becoming mainstream.
 
nutzo said:
By the time most new devices are finally coming with these new USB 3.2 ports, they will announce USB 4.0 with a new, even better/faster connector.
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That seems unlikely. USB's physical connector only changed recently. USB 1.0 was designed in 1996 and I saw it on motherboards from at least as far back as 1998. So for the bulk of two decades, the connector was externally unchanged. There is no reason to think USB Type-C will be supplanted anytime soon.
 
USB-C port on my cell phone is garbage. The cable falls out with no effort, and to actually have a valid connection, I have to apply force with a rubber band. I haven't abused my phone, the spec just sucks and is prone to wear out in less than a year. There was nothing wrong with the dimensions of the previous USB sizes, and I never had them break on me. They just needed to be updated for better speeds and electrical power.
 
Can we still have power eSATA?.....

TangledThornz said:
Type-C is idiot proof, mostly. I have a moronic coworker that damaged his PC by jamming his keyboard's USB plug upside down into his PC, somehow jammed it in and pulled out the whole USB socket when he couldn't figure out why his keyboard isn't working.
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*FACEPALM, do you have secret Santa for the holidays? You can give him one of these.
Hate to ask his wife/girl friend how many times she had to tell him, "wrong hole".
 

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DejaWiz said:
Love having a USB-C connector on my phone has been so convenient, and it's a damn sight more robust than the flimsy micro-USB connector of the past. I'm looking forward to the C connector becoming mainstream.
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was coming here to say exactly that (more or less) as long as this means micro-usb gets the boot for being used on EVERYTHING or ANYTHING all the better, fk hate that connector, way to easy to break or wear out when it should not be, does not help when various makers "allow" that flimsy ass cable try and suck back 1-2+ amps it will faily given enough time.

cannot tell you how many devices I have had that use this connector (for example most vape box mods use this instead of a standard USB port likely because "it is easier" rather than better in any way shape or form) and have broke many a connector even when being very careful to not bend or jam it in.

here is hoping cable makers (including no brand $ store specials) and USB-IF sort out potential problems of overheating or durability while still keeping them "low cost" I do not know about anyone else, but damnitall if I want or will pay $30+ for a stupid usb cable (of any style) even if it has a fancy sticker saying USB 3.xx certified ^.^
 
I modded my Coolermaster Cosmos 2 front panel so that it now has 4X USB 3.0, 1X Type C and 1 USB 2.0 connector just in case.

However, I am wondering what is the use fro all those since my motherboard already has a buttload of USB Ports at the back including a USB 3.0 Type C connector and a USB 3.0 Type A Gen 2 (10Gbps) connector - yes those exist too.

What external device besides storage could utilize this bandwidth? With that said I was planning to build a NAS for mass storage but the amount of storage I can have inside my "workstation" kinda makes this mute. I can put 6X SATA 12TB disks + 3X NVME + 1X U2 so no point going with external devices. 2X of those disks can be hot swapped and I have installed a box with ON/OFF switches for 4X Sata Devices too.

The only thing requiring more storage is my Blu-Ray collection and even this could be downsized significantly with HandBrake
 
C connector can die in a fire.

Member how all these decades of USB A, the worst an A connector has done is waste a little time.

On the other hand, trying to plug a C in, blind, back of computer, it fit nicely into the A socket next to it, causing a short and PC to reboot.

Die in a fire, C

I member how good the good old A connector has been.

edit: typo
 
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whatevs said:
C connector can die in a fire.

Member how all these decades of USB A, the worst an A connector has done is waste a little time.

On the other hand, trying to plug a C in, blind, back of computer, it fit nicely into the A socket next to it, causing a short and PC to reboot.

Die in a fire, C

I member how good the good old A connector has been.

edit: typo
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Usb c is amzamaz on phone's
 
USB-C > *

My experience has been great with it across multiple devices. I can't stand that tablets are still being released with micro USB though.
 
TangledThornz said:
Type-C is idiot proof, mostly. I have a moronic coworker that damaged his PC by jamming his keyboard's USB plug upside down into his PC, somehow jammed it in and pulled out the whole USB socket when he couldn't figure out why his keyboard isn't working.
Click to expand...

I have done work analyzing returns for my companys products and have found many micro-usb connectors ripped off the pcb and some ripped out of the cable when forced in incorrectly.


Honestly though, this should have been standard LONG ago, reversable connectors are nothing new.
 
Jovian said:
The amount of times I have found USB A plugged into an Ethernet port is sadly high.
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its moronic isn't it... I loath USB (usb-c has me calming down) but I could just about handle the idocracity of melding hardware and protocol layer UNTIL a co-worker came out of the lab.

"Naib, your silly software doesn't work, it doesn't find the unit" ... ( I developed a debug interface that goes to a pod and a pc connects to the pod via usb)
So I go into the lab... he had only reached behind his laptop and stuck it into the RJ45 port... Why the hell did they make the USB dimensions to match that width.. just enough so pushing it is feels like the correct insertion force...
 
Trepidati0n said:
The "single cable full performance docking station" is getting near. However, i'm not sure it is needed except for a small crowd.
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If by "small crowd," you mean practically everyone with a laptop they want to take with them and then sit down at a desk with a keyboard, mouse, and monitor, which is *only* most people with work laptops, and many people with personal laptops, then yeah, I concur.
 
naib said:
...Why the hell did they make the USB dimensions to match that width.. just enough so pushing it is feels like the correct insertion force...
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Probably because on motherboards and other places, having all the ports lined up and utilizing the space efficiently therefore means having them about the same size "makes sense," kinda.
 
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