• @Imgonnatrythis
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    1676 months ago

    Ha. I like the vga part but the part that makes your usb - c connector look like an old fashioned proprietary apple lightening connector is just too much!

    • @[email protected]
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      6 months ago

      Am I missing something? That’s Apple’s proprietary connector, all right. But it’s not “old-fashioned” in that it’s still currently used for new devices (at least for iPads in the US).

      Left: USB-C connector
      Right: Apple Lightning connector

      And USB-C has the wires on the inside (which then goes inside the port on the device). So, unless I’m mistaken, they weren’t trying to look like anything other than the VGA part, because this connector wouldn’t work for anything other than an Apple device…

      • @[email protected]
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        226 months ago

        I believe the joke is calling Apple old fashioned for still sticking to a proprietary cable and/or calling proprietary cables old-fashioned in general. But also, Apple will be switching the iPhone cables to USB-C next gen iirc, so maybe it’s also old fashioned that way?

      • 🐍🩶🐢
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        36 months ago

        Huh? Both my M1 air and iPad Pro only use USB-C. Do some of the iPads still use Apple’s lightning? These are the only two apple products I own, so I have never had any other connector. Except for a couple random items (stupid mouse), everything I own can use the same charger. Packing and traveling is so much easier.

          • 🐍🩶🐢
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            25 months ago

            I knew the phones and older devices had not, but I didn’t think there were newish models of the iPads that hadn’t switched to USB-C like the Pro line did.

            I seriously love it. I can use the USB4/Thunderbolt ports to connect to my Dell monitor that includes PD (power delivery) and have 1 cable for everything. All of the ports for a keyboard, flash drives, Ethernet, whatever are on the monitor.

            • @[email protected]
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              5 months ago

              Ah, yeah that’s true. I know we get used to only the absolute newest things being the norm, but… they still sell the Lightning models all over the world. Even in the US, this is straight from their website:

              (In case it’s not obvious, the USB-C port is on the wall charger. The actual iPad has the Lightning connector.)

        • @[email protected]
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          35 months ago

          It’s progress! I believe that’s the only regular iPad that has ever come with USB-C. Thank the EU, which required it! Gens 1-9 had the proprietary Lightning connector…

          • @[email protected]
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            15 months ago

            It’s actually kind of a pain because we have so many lightning cables set up where the old iPad (RIP) and our older phones charge.

            I’m also a little dubious of the longevity of usb-c ports. 2 of the 4 on my MacBook are less that reliable when plugged into the charger.

            Hopefully the iPad works out. The last one lasted us almost 10 years.

      • @[email protected]
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        16 months ago

        You could put a sticker on the left one and (from the right angle) make it look like the right one.

          • Baby Shoggoth [she/her]
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            15 months ago

            That one is a rectangle inside a rectangle. The one in the OP looks like a capsule shape inside a rectangle, more like a usbc connector, so i assumed it was an intentional add by the the person who made the thing as another layer on top of the joke.

            But yeah it could also be just someone trying to be clever while whining about usbc not being adopted by iphones sooner, and the icon is off because it’s designed to be made with 3d printer without a high enough level of precision

  • pelya
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    1126 months ago

    It’s not the same without two little screws jangling about

    • @[email protected]
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      96 months ago

      I had fuckin bent pins and pins falling out of my vga connector. I had to straighten them and align them. Good times.

    • @[email protected]
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      26 months ago

      You could take the screws out of your iPhone and glue them onto the knobs, it’ll void your AppleCare though.

  • @[email protected]
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    716 months ago

    this is the most comments I’ve seen on lemmy. now i know the community I’m in. God help me.

  • @[email protected]
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    576 months ago

    A power plug, but the three-prong ones like we have in the UK. The two lower prongs would appear to be plugged into the phone, and the top prong would just hover uselessly above the phone.

    Bonus points for following the shape of the plug properly and having the cable come out of the bottom of the wall wart, so the phone can never lat down flat while it’s charging.

  • @[email protected]
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    426 months ago

    An ethernet cable that’s actually wired for a serial port

    looks at network hardware vendors

      • @[email protected]
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        6 months ago

        Lawful good: Please don’t use 8P8C for anything other than 10/100/1000BASE* compatible protocols, especially on network devices. It’s confusing.
        Chaotic good: Please don’t use ethernet cable for anything other than ethernet compatible protocols, especially on ethernet devices.
        Lawful evil: That’s a valid use of Cat5 cable.
        Chaotic evil: Let’s talk about RS-485

        True neutral: Wires are just wires and standards are just standards. In a parallel dimensions, somewhere, cat5 is used for 8-phase delta mains power.

  • @[email protected]
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    296 months ago

    At first I thought it was great standard connector. It turns out to be non-standard garbage.

      • @[email protected]
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        116 months ago

        Why two different and incompatible options?

        Or, more generally, why can’t I ever read some USB spec and get out with less questions than I had in the beginning?

        • @[email protected]
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          146 months ago

          Probably for the same reason why they decided to rename USB 3.0.

          I guess they had a liquor cabinet in the room where they held their meeting

        • @[email protected]
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          96 months ago

          Because for some reason, the USBIF has been hit over and over again with the stupid stick ever since USB2 came out.

        • @[email protected]
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          66 months ago

          These are for niche needs. For most applications neither is necessary. If needed and space is constrained the single pin variant allows additional connectors to be packed together on a single PCB. The dual pin option doesn’t, it takes up space that could be used for additional connectors.

          • @[email protected]
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            46 months ago

            I se no advantage at all for the dual pin design.

            It looks exactly like what I imagined by screw-lock USB connector, but the single pin seems to be a really inspired design somebody had and made the entire committee angry for some reason.

            • @[email protected]
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              96 months ago

              The single pin only resists force. Two pins resist torques being applied to the usb connector. The single pin does resist torque but it uses the connector potentially damaging the PCB.

          • @[email protected]
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            16 months ago

            But why not make a dual screw design by adding one more screw to the bottom of the current single screw one? Would be more compact and allow them to be more cross compatible.

            • @[email protected]
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              16 months ago

              PCB are designed with things on top of them. Typically they are mounted with the bottom of the PCB at the bottom of a case. So following normal conventions there wouldn’t be a place for the bottom screw to go into something. Unless you used a bespoke case. It’s much easier to have the two screw design place the screws above the PCB.

              It may seem like a minor change, but it costs substantial more in design time and effort. New folded steel cases and injection moulded cases would have to be developed. Designers would use a different port, or worse deploy their own two horizontal screw design. There would then be several two screw designs (metric/imperial/very close/very far etc).

              Anyone with the niche need of the two screw vertical design would likely rotate the whole connector or use a flex cable to join the connector to the main board.

        • @[email protected]
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          16 months ago

          Because USB is pretty much neither universal or standardized, just the same shape and somewhat compatible

      • @Imgonnatrythis
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        86 months ago

        25pin serial cable and ain’t nobody at work gonna steal my phone charger no more.

      • @[email protected]
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        26 months ago

        Cant do it, the BNC connector is not large enough to house a USBc end, even the Apple one which is the smallest I have. I would have to enlarge the BNC to a near comical size. Now if we removed the moulded housing it could be done, but it would have to be made on a bare PCB/Cable/Connector to be the right size.

    • @[email protected]
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      36 months ago

      Jack or Plug? if plug, would you want it to look like its plugged in, so just the retention tab and back half are sticking out?

  • @[email protected]
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    6 months ago

    Side note, does anyone know some sort of cable sleeve similar to this that instead grabs onto the device and stabilizes the port?

    As much as I like type-C, the ports on my laptop have worn down significantly and aren’t always stable

    • @[email protected]
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      156 months ago

      Depends on what you mean by stable.

      It’s likely dust in the port. If you gently clean it out with a toothpick or other small flat instrument you will get it to seat better. If dust is the issue, you should see some lint at the bottom of the port.

      • @[email protected]
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        56 months ago

        Sorry for not being clear, I’m not talking about connection stability, I mean the type-c port (female) becomes flimsy over the years and doesn’t hold the connector (male) securely anymore

        • @[email protected]
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          6 months ago

          Neither are they. If there’s dust or fuzz down in there, it doesn’t physically seat correctly, and ends up being wobbly.

          • @[email protected]
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            36 months ago

            This isn’t usually the cause. If the cable isn’t inserting fully then yes it can be dust and that often helps the problem, but the retention mechanism itself wears out over time leading to the cable slipping out easily and depending on the design things can get wobbly. I work with electronics for a living and with laptops more often than not it’s the latter category with dust not being too common of an issue since they aren’t kept in pockets. Phones on the other hand it’s usually dust, but I don’t interact with many USB C phones old enough for wear to be an issue.

        • @[email protected]
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          16 months ago

          Have you tried a different cable? With usb c it should be the cable that becomes flimsy and not the port.

    • @[email protected]
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      76 months ago

      Personally I have the opinion that usb-c should be a connector for mobile devices only and there should be something with the size of a type a or b for stationary stuff. The size makes the connector too flimsy

    • @[email protected]
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      56 months ago

      Yes, but they typically require that the side on the laptop is also prepared for it. Look for example how the usb ports on toughbooks look. They have a screw next to them.

    • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet
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      36 months ago

      USB-C has been really fragile for me. Cables tend to only last a couple of months on my phone. People say it is a robust connector type, so idk if my phone is defective and destroying them, or if people are being overly generous about the connector resilience.

      • @[email protected]
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        56 months ago

        My question is on the cables. I learned way too quickly that the quality of the cables matters a ton with USB C.

        I haven’t had any problems with USB C cables failing other than the one one of my kids chewed on

      • @[email protected]
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        26 months ago

        I’ve had mine for like 4 years at this point and they are still perfect. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say you are either buying cheap shit or are abusive as fuck with your cables.

        • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet
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          16 months ago

          Your limb has snapped, and you are injured.

          Neither of those things are true, but I think my phone port might be frying them. I already had to return 1 Pixel 7 Pro for a dead port that burned up a cable on its way out.

          • 🐍🩶🐢
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            26 months ago

            Have you tried using a different charger? What about your other devices? Do you have issues with them? I wonder if the charger is what is damaging them.

      • @[email protected]
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        26 months ago

        I don’t really know why your cables would be falling so fast, but to be fair part of the design of USB C is that, inverting the design of USB A, the connector is on the cable side, in the hope that the cable should be the part that deteriorates first. That way fewer devices get trashed for having dodgy sockets.

      • Ann Archy
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        16 months ago

        Maybe they’re lonely and just want to talk to someone about it.

    • @[email protected]
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      36 months ago

      You can use some of that heat shrink wire wrap to create a stiff cable where you want and how big

  • @[email protected]
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    236 months ago

    Terrible ideas:

    • Garden hose
    • NEMA 10-50 - each “prong” could be a different connector
    • CCS
    • USB-A
    • Quick-connect air coupler
      • @[email protected]
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        26 months ago

        The pro move there would be to physically modify it so that the power is actually going through the ribbon cable. So bulky, yet so thin!

        • Panq
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          36 months ago

          That isn’t even a terrible idea - with that many conductors, you should be able to carry tens of amps. Use two for “Data” (detecting charger) and you’ve got… 21 positive and 21 negative. I’d not be surprised to see that hit 100W without catching fire.