USB Design Idiocy

[Boerseun]

I like the idea of USB devices. It works very well.

 

BUT...

 

Why, for the love of dog, did they design the bloody plugs like they did? If they gave it a kind of triangular shape (like the original USB plugs) you can't stuff it up when plugging in. But now, the rectangular plug needs to be fondled and squeezed in the murky back of a computer for frustrating minutes on end before realizing that the damn thing is upside down.

 

Is there any good reason for this frustrating design? Front connectivity is no hassle, 'cause you can see what side must go up. But whenever I need to plug a USB cable into the back of my box, I have to shift the whole thing to get in there. All my other plugs I can fit in on touch alone.

 

Does this strike anybody as irritating as it does me?

[Chacmool]

Very frustrating indeed. I think the designers should have learnt from nature how to put a plug into a hole in a way that fits properly... :)

[Jay-qu]

I have wondered why it is that it couldnt be designed to plug both ways..

 

and Boerseun you can get extension cables so you dont have to dive down into a mess of cables :)

[Turtle]

I have wondered why it is that it couldnt be designed to plug both ways..

 

and Boerseun you can get extension cables so you dont have to dive down into a mess of cables ;)

Good call on the cable extensions.:) ;)

Now to your question. In order to have any quadrilateral plug/socket reversible along one axis, you either have to make them bigger & add extra blanks , or have a central common pin & duplicate the leads on either side of it. Both options require more material than plugs as we have them. It is more economical to label the plug & socket & provide an initial set of instructions...& sell adapter cables.:eek2:

[Mercedes Benzene]

Am I the only one who doesn't care that USB cables are designed the way they are?

I don't have any problems with them. :eek2:

If you don't like USB, you could always use another serial connection like firewire, or at least get a firewire adapter for your USB cables.:)

 

I couldn't possibly imagine a world without USB.

[Jay-qu]

Im not saying it isnt good, or that I hate it, I just thought that it wouldnt be all that hard to have it be able to plug in either way - take a speaker/mic plug and socket, circular and can go in any way, I do realise there is a big diff as USB has something like 4pins and a speaker one has 2, but you get my point.

[ronthepon]

Now we have USBs... I hated the old COM ports... the horrible and bulky concepts. USB ports are situated in the wrong places for most computers.

 

I, personally have used duct tape and extention cables to transfer the ports to a comfortable postion.

 

But when the USB does get horrible is when you recieve terrible electric shocks from them. Anybody had that yet?

[Mercedes Benzene]

But when the USB does get horrible is when you recieve terrible electric shocks from them. Anybody had that yet?

 

No... I don't normally do such creative work with my USB ports...:eek2: :)

 

...I generally use the USB ports on the FRONT of my computer...

...or I use FireWire.

[ronthepon]

Or, basically you have properly grounded electrical outlets.

[Mercedes Benzene]

Or, basically you have properly grounded electrical outlets

 

yeah... that too. :eek2:

[Jay-qu]

USB does carry a very small voltage that can power/charge devices, but I have never heard of anyone been shocked by one before..

 

Only time I have ever been shocked was when I stuck my finger in a light bulb socket out of curiosity (when I was very young) :edizzy:

[Tormod]

ut now, the rectangular plug needs to be fondled and squeezed in the murky back of a computer for frustrating minutes on end before realizing that the damn thing is upside down.

 

How about getting a USB hub... :edizzy:

[alexander]

I have wondered why it is that it couldnt be designed to plug both ways..

 

There are actually quite many reasons

 

yes the plug can be designed to plug in both ways, but there are problems with that:

the pinout of the usb plug goes as follows:

+5 VDC

D+

D-

GND

 

ok, lets start with reversing the power, since some devices run on power provided by usb, think about what kinds of crazy systems would have to get designed where you can reverse power and ground and still get functionality... needless to say that if you reverse power on any usb appliances you have.... well, they wont work

 

then come D+ and D-, and these work kinda crazily, as the difference between them dictates whether or not there is a signal (1) or no signal (0), reversing those would mean that you would have to have 2 different sets of USB drivers or one that would be about twice the size. And there is more overhead, as the only way to find out which driver (or rather layout) to use, would be sending a special sequence of 1ns and 0s before each transaction....

 

in short, it would be a pain in the butt to actually make a plug that could be used both ways...

 

and if you dont like USB, use firewire :cup:

[Boerseun]

Same reason you have to use cross-over network cables.

 

My bug with USB is simply the physical design, not the concept. You can never tell when the little bit on the inside should be on the top, or the bottom. Now, if only they cave the plug and the socket a bit of a curve towards one side, then you can never get it wrong...

[alexander]

if there was no USB, how could you hack a 30 dollar video camera from CVS and make it a reusable digital video camera?

[alexander]

the reference to crossover network cables is cool, but this would mean that you would have to build in the crossover detection into the usb cards.. making them a bit more expensive, also that still does not solve the power issue

[Jay-qu]

because of the 4 connections it would be too cumbersome to use the same design as the audio ones yes? but in theory possible..