cross-posted from: https://lemmy.cringecollective.io/post/75583

why isn’t it ok? why???

Meme “the number of people who think this is an abomination” over a photo of a USB-A to USB-A cable, “but think this is perfectly acceptable” over a photo of a USB-C to USB-C cable, “makes me sick.”

  • Ekky@sopuli.xyz
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    1 month ago

    Huh, I’m not sure they are comparable.

    Didn’t USB A and USB B use a master-slave relationship in which the male would (generally) always be the slave, whereas USB C uses agreement and discussion to decide the master and slave roles regardless of connector gender.

    Please do correct me if I’m wrong. Also, do we say “agent” now instead of “slave”, or what is the new term?

    • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 month ago

      master/slave could be primary/secondary, primary/subordinate or principle/agent, so you’re correct on that replacement.

      I personally am a big fan of “Mantrap” becoming an “Access Control Vestibule” mostly because it’s fun to say.

      • moonlight@fedia.io
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        1 month ago

        I like controller/peripheral, which is the most descriptive in my opinion. That’s what’s commonly used for SPI.

    • NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de
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      1 month ago

      I think the biggest problem I see with A to A is: who’s delivering power, and who’s receiving it? Maybe if you use it only with the device it came with then it’ll be fine, but if anyone tries to just hook up that cable to two random computers, it might actually cause a short circuit and fry something.

      Whereas Type-C was explicitly made to handle such situations.

      Or a shorter reason: Type-C cable is allowed by the spec while Type-A is not.

      • jcg@halubilo.social
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        1 month ago

        I’ve actually used this to my advantage. I bought some cheap speaker/light combos which basically made the lights dance to the music. The only power connector was a wire that comes straight out of the device and into an outlet. But it did have a USB port for loading music from a USB stick. So naturally I plugged one side of a USB A into the port and the other side into a power bank and it just straight up worked.

      • vext01@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 month ago

        Hrm. I have a keyboard that requires an A to A cable and I think it works with the cable any way around…

        Might be wrong.

        • NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de
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          1 month ago

          It makes sense, if I remember correctly the older USB cable (i.e. everything before Type-C) are passive, so as long as the pins are wired symmetrically it wouldn’t matter which side is which. But whoever made your keyboard really blundered, there is no reason in the world why anyone would do this. There’s so many options: the B connector, mini USB, micro USB. All would make sense to put in the keyboard. A just doesn’t.

          Let me guess: you got it from an ultra cheap online store? AliExpress/Wish/Temu?

    • DacoTaco@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      In the usb world its “host” and “device”, not “master” and “slave”.
      But yes you are right

  • hperrin@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    USB-A male to USB-A male is not in any USB standard (not entirely true, but compliant cables are very rare and don’t connect voltage), and if you plug it into a device it’s not meant for, the behavior is entirely unspecified. It will probably do nothing. But it might fry your USB controller that is not expecting to receive voltage.

    USB-C to USB-C is in the spec, and if you plug in two host devices, they won’t hurt each other. You can actually charge a host device over USB-C, unlike USB-A.

    That’s why it isn’t ok. It’s not the same thing, it’s not in the standard, and it can even be dangerous (to the device).

  • magoosh@feddit.nl
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    1 month ago

    I actually thought this was about rolling up cables: circling on the top and over-under at the bottom

    • JulyTheMonth@lemmy.ml
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      1 month ago

      Yeah just guessing if the cable supports the right usb-c protocol. The port is great. The protocol is horrible you have like 10 different versions of the same protocol. And you have to pray that your cable supports the right one you need.

    • JustCopyingOthers@lemmy.ml
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      1 month ago

      USB-C is an absolute shit-show. Half a dozen types of identical looking cables all with different performance and compatability. They can be power only, USB-2 only, USB 3, 3.1, 5gb, 10gb. Some can carry 5A, others only 3A. Some may support thunderbolt. Cable sellers and manufacturers can/will claim anything.

      For people selling USB-C devices it’s a massive support problem. It looks like the device is defective, but someone may just have swapped out the cable for their phone charger cable and there’s no way of telling.