Maybe belongs in /c/extremelypopularthoughts
Just get 1 dongle that you have everything plugged into. Ten you only need to plug your laptop into 1 thing. Bam. Super convenient.
Having separate dongles for network, audio, video etc. is even worse than just having specific cables for each
Submitted 7 months ago by dx1@lemmy.world to showerthoughts@lemmy.world
Comments
Terevos@lemm.ee 7 months ago
TeckFire@lemmy.world 7 months ago
What’s more convenient is everything using the same connector, but who knows when/if that will ever come about…
krey@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
Image If you don’t have a dongle, the dongle is basically just hidden inside (a chip on the main board or an extension card). Being able to add dongles is a very easy way to quickly add things like wifi. Otherwise you’d have to open the PC and mount a card and the number of slots inside is also limited. So yeah, builtin is good, but also no, dongles can be better. It’s just a different option.
dx1@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I guess you could use the same argument to say you’re buying less when you buy your laptop. It’s just arbitrary data I/O through USB with the software level interpreting it. They don’t have to ship a DAC or wifi radio or… whatever you call the component that’s part of a GPU that converts to HDMI, instead they offload that to the dongle or peripheral. In effect your device is just slowly being whittled down to a processor to USB bridge.
Kangie@lemmy.srcfiles.zip 7 months ago
Booting up a laptop … that doesn’t have wpa_supplicant etc
If you french fry when you pizza you’re gonna have a bad time.
Seriously though, if you want to use wifi without some sort of supplicant you’ve fucked up.
314xel@lemmy.world 7 months ago
The point was universal dongle with universal BLE / radio protocol. It could still have different encryption keys for each device / manufacturer by upgrading / installing drivers, but at least the radio packet protocol would be the same which would keep the hardware universal. Kind of like how smart home hubs (Zigbee / Bluetooth / 433Hz / etc) work.
But we all know how creating a new “universal” protocol goes from experience (ie USB “standards”).
CoderKat@lemm.ee 7 months ago
You can get laptop “hubs” which usually have a few USB ports, a video connector or two (often HDMI and/or DisplayPort), ethernet, and some will function as a power cable, too (one of mine does and one doesn’t).
spaxxor@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I remember dongle life, they popped up in the very late 90’s and survived until like 2008ish. They sucked then, and they really suck now. And yes, I still think having an all in one USB “dongle” is worse than having built in functionality.
then again, I have a framework, so it’s kinda moot lol.
K4sum1@lemmy.zip 7 months ago
They put the dongle in your laptop
EddoWagt@feddit.nl 7 months ago
I don’t understand why there’s no splitter modules for the framework. I’m sure it’s possible to put 2 USB C ports into 1 module
SauceBossSmokin@lemmy.world 7 months ago
If you’re referring to connecting a computer to the things you mentioned, just get a laptop docking station and you’ll be just fine.
Squizzy@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I’m confused, why do you need audio and video USBs? I’m not even sure what’s meant by that like your computer has no audio without the Dingle?
otter@lemmy.ca 7 months ago
I think the annoyance comes from not having that many ports to begin with. If I had a whole bunch of ports, it wouldn’t matter as much if I had to snap on a usb-c adapter to all the cables.
What is annoying is having to unplug something i need so I can plug in a flash drive
deleted@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Why not using small usbc splitter? Like 7 in 1
Carighan@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Using a dongle to fix your dongle problems. 🤔 (you’re not wrong, just thought it was funny)
BastingChemina@slrpnk.net 7 months ago
You can also have both, all the different ports PLUS one or two USB-C where you can connect a dongle.
intensely_human@lemm.ee 7 months ago
And the old macbooks had so many ports!
Kelsenellenelvial@lemmy.ca 7 months ago
Some of both. I remember a time where it felt like every time I got a new computer it had some different ports because they kept evolving. Modem/Ethernet, firewire 400/800, keyboard/mouse/USB, VGA/DVI/Displsyport(and mini versions of some). Sure, my old computer might have had a lot of different ports, but I might never have used some of them. For something like a laptop, I think 2x USB-C on each side is good for most, plus add hubbing to larger peripherals like HDD enclosures and displays and docks wouldn’t have to be so popular.
I feel like we’re just in the middle of a good transition period. Few years from now almost everything that can will be USB-C, we’re really just waiting out the replacement of all the existing devices and their incompatible ports.