USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible
USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible
Someday we'll look back and laugh (or cry) at our early USB struggles.
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Making USB reversible to begin with would have necessitated twice as many wires and twice as many circuits, and would have doubled the cost. Bhatt says his team was aware at the time of the frustration that a rectangular design could have, versus a round connector. But in an effort to keep it as cheap as possible, the decision was made to go with a design that, in theory, would give users a 50/50 chance of plugging it in correctly (you can up the odds by looking at the inside first, or identifying the logo).
I was there when we had lots of "round" connectors like Din connectors but also lots of proprietary ones.
That was way worse, trying for the eleventh time to put it in correctly without looking as it's under/on the backside in a jungle of other cables, and not damaging any of the fragile 7 pins... gargl.
Yeah. I will always hate USB A and went a bit overboard on switching as much as possible to USB C the moment it was even kind of viable.
But... if USB A is the "This marvel movie is the worst movie ever made" of complaining, people would lose their god damned minds if they ever had to deal with ps/2 (a direct to dvd movie starring mel gibson) or some of the serial style plugs that were rectangular instead of trapezoidal and had asymmetrical pins (a recording of an improv group)
ps/2
Isn't that coming back for mechanical keyboard enthusiasts?
More "retro hardware" enthusiasts.
From a keyboard perspective? Cherry Blues are too mainstream. Everyone now needs one of those god awful ibm keyboards from the 70s (?). Because how can you type a screenplay if people in the Starbucks three towns over can't hear you?
But that has mostly manifested as switch modding and new designs. Because ergonomics and layout matter a lot too. I mean. how can you get anything done if you aren't rocking at least TKL?
But there are people who have access to older hardware. Either because they had it in the basement for 30 years or because they got gouged on ebay. But the USB->PS/2 adapters have been on the market basically forever. Not in huge quantities but they are also dirt cheap to make so more or less any store that sells "electronics" has a few collecting dust.
But it also more or less has the same problem facing "retro" consoles. Old "indestructible" NESes are... mostly dead. It is increasingly hard to find working models and a lot of those end up getting torn apart for parts. It is why we are seeing a growing acceptance of emulator runs in the speedrun community and a push to "vet" the FPGA solutions.
And same with the classic typewriter style keyboards. A lot of them just have broken switches or damaged electronics from decades of cigarette smoke and so forth and are parted out or completely unsalvageable.
USB->PS/2 adapters
That caused a flashback, as I haven't seen those in years (but I know I have a few still somewhere lol). It also made me think...I can not recall ever having to do the "1-2-3" tries when hooking a USB mouse or keyboard into those before I plugged it all into the back of the PC. Which makes me lean towards blaming the socket installation and lack of reference for a lot of the woes, not the cord or flashdrive (which you can see).
The trick with DIN connectors was to try to insert them gently while rotating them. Once you got the notch lined up they would very clearly drop into the socket at which point you could apply more pressure to fully seat them. It was only a problem if you were jamming them in full force while rotating because you could exert enough pressure to force it into the socket even with the key notch misaligned crushing the pins. I never once had a problem inserting a DIN connector, something I absolutely can't say about USB-A.
Wow I'd forgotten about the old keyboard and mouse ports, they were such a faff to plug in without looking.
would give users a 50/50 chance of plugging it in correctly
Sometimes it's more 33% or even 10%.
I have my doubts. I think that a jack-like (circular) connector wouldn't require twice as many wires and circuits. Actually absolutely the same amount. The connector itself would require more metal to make.
And the chance of correctly plugging that in would be like 99/100 (1/100 for breaking it).