There were the early USB plugs that were sort of weird notched trapezoids about 8 mm square. I always thought those were fine.
Comment on USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible
atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
I get why it’s not reversible. But why the hell is it not keyed so that is obvious which orientation is correct? A small, cheap, notch would have worked wonders.
squiblet@kbin.social 10 months ago
Satelllliiiiiiiteeee@kbin.social 10 months ago
I honestly think that FireWire 400 had a better physical design for the connector. It was keyed more dramatically than some of the other connectors people are citing as being both keyed and easy to orient incorrectly. I personally never had issues plugging in FireWire 400 blind.
cheery_coffee@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
I loved FireWire, if we had adopted it instead of USB we’d all be driving flying AI cars by now.
The stuff it could do was really cool, you could network computers, daisy chain it, it could transfer data in real time systems (like digital recording or audio setups), and it was actually designed for power delivery, plus it was much much faster than USS AS B (at the time).
verysoft@kbin.social 10 months ago
The problem for me was never the plug, but the socket. It was obvious to me which side had the connectors, it's the sockets on devices that would be random rotations most of the time.
shalafi@lemmy.world 10 months ago
It kinda is keyed. Seam goes down.
MisterD@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
Until they created upside down Jacks
Amunium@lemmy.world 10 months ago
But does it go right or left, back or forward in other rotations?
shalafi@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Seam goes down. If the slots a
atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
That’s true - I mean to make the keying more obvious. As it stands it’s all internal and difficult to see.
HidingCat@kbin.social 10 months ago
Keying does no good, have you tried fumbling with a serial port connection before? Same difference, and it's keyed too.
What'd have helped is clear markings and plug heads, like how some DIN connectors are done: The orientation simply cannot be missed.
atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
Yeah, it’s orientation I mean more than keying. USB-B was much easier to plug in than A. Orientation is very clear.
TWeaK@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Some USB sticks have the logo on one side, some have it on the other…
dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Almost all connectors in use on computers at the time USB was introduced were already keyed, and a fat lot of good it did us. Ask anyone who tried fumbling around behind a three ton CRT monitor or computer case – even with the keyed connectors, feeling for which side was up, getting anything plugged in without eyes on it was already nigh on impossible.
What the USB A connector did do which was new at the time was introduce a connector that did not have any protruding pins on either the male or female end, and thus theoretically at least could not be damaged by fucking up the insertion. Unlike any of the then-common D-Sub connectors (VGA, serial, parallel) or DIN (PS/2 mouse and keyboard, Apple serial, S-Video, etc.). USB didn’t even have the little clip to breal off like an RJ-45 Ethernet or RJ-11 phone line connector.
lloram239@feddit.de 10 months ago
Gameboy Link cable did that earlier and subsequently inspired the Firewire connector (and also happens to look a little like Type-C with the contacts in the middle).
PupBiru@kbin.social 10 months ago
okay but the clip on rj connectors is a locking mechanism which usb just lacks… break off the clip and they’re relatively equvelent no?
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 10 months ago
No. USB uses friction retention, whereas a clip-retention cable sans clip has real risk of simply falling out.
elbarto777@lemmy.world 10 months ago
This is not true.
Some 80s computers had cassette player interfaces that practically looked like big USB connectors.
www.rarecomputers.com/…/back-picture-c64.jpg
shalafi@lemmy.world 10 months ago
My first computer. Bless you.