FARK.com: (6959277) Much like your Mom, here is a USB hub that does not care how you stick it in

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		Much like your Mom, here is a USB hub that does not care how you stick it in (gizmodo.com)		47
		More: Fail, USB

• • •

7967 clicks; posted to Fandom » on 23 Feb 2012 at 9:18 PM (11 years ago) | Favorite | share:

47 Comments (+0 »)

View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest

Candygram4Mongo

2012-02-23 9:14:12 PM

They always say they don't care how you stick it in, until you do...

libranoelrose

2012-02-23 9:23:32 PM

This is a funny headline.

Rossi_84

2012-02-23 9:30:00 PM

It will still take me 4 tries to get it in correct.

xaveth

2012-02-23 9:32:49 PM

Well??? Is it in yet?

fusillade762

2012-02-23 9:35:51 PM

That would be handy for the back of a tower, but I don't see how it helps when you can simply pick the thing up and look. Is it for blind people, perhaps?

I_Am_Weasel

2012-02-23 9:36:07 PM

See. I would think that just having the top of the USB cable a different colour than the bottom.

Why the hell not!?

neuroflare

2012-02-23 9:37:08 PM

The Weeners in the article is totally true

Shadyman

2012-02-23 9:42:09 PM

neuroflare: The Weeners in the article is totally true

Heh, you just got weeners'd.

treesloth

2012-02-23 9:53:13 PM

Shadyman: neuroflare: The Weeners in the article is totally true

Heh, you just got weeners'd.

MUCH LIKE YOUR MOM!!!

/monodirectional port... giggity!

taurusowner

2012-02-23 9:53:49 PM

Why not just make the next USB square and able to work on all sides?

Likewise make the other ends square as well. And ditch proprietary connectors. Make one square computer/charger-side connector, and then make a USB-S for phones and tiny gadgets. USB-M for cameras, ipods, etc. and USB-L for printers and other peripherals. All square, all the same configuration, and insertable on all sides; just different sizes of the same thing. Take it a step further and make the USB-L size the same as the computer/charger side.

WhyteRaven74

2012-02-23 9:58:48 PM

BTW USB devices can be daisy chained, ever seen a USB device with two ports so you can daisy chain another device to it?

hitmanric

2012-02-23 10:00:46 PM

WhyteRaven74: BTW USB devices can be daisy chained, ever seen a USB device with two ports so you can daisy chain another device to it?

Don't most newer keyboards have this feature?

Fluorescent Testicle

2012-02-23 10:06:37 PM

Wait, why the fail tag? Those damn cables exist in their own dimension.

WhyteRaven74

2012-02-23 10:12:06 PM

hitmanric: Don't most newer keyboards have this feature?

Yeah, you're right, it is becoming more common among keyboards, but USB has been around how long? Part of what makes it so awesome is that you can daisy chain a huge number of devices together, but good luck until recently finding something that would let you do that.

tsakali

2012-02-23 10:21:45 PM

no HERO tag?!

this thing is awesome for low lighting situations.

ShawnDoc

2012-02-23 10:22:39 PM

WhyteRaven74: Yeah, you're right, it is becoming more common among keyboards, but USB has been around how long? Part of what makes it so awesome is that you can daisy chain a huge number of devices together, but good luck until recently finding something that would let you do that.

In order to daisy chain they need a chip that supports a hub. Most end devices don't have hub functionality. So instead you daisy chain hubs until you get the number of ports you need for your devices.

Another problem is power, most devices drawing power from a port won't be able to "pass through" enough power to the next one if you daisy chain them directly, unless that device also has a separate power adapter.

Tobin_Lam

2012-02-23 10:51:27 PM

hitmanric: WhyteRaven74: BTW USB devices can be daisy chained, ever seen a USB device with two ports so you can daisy chain another device to it?

Don't most newer keyboards have this feature?

Keyboards that came with the original iMac did. It isn't new but it isn't common.

Old enough to know better

2012-02-23 11:00:46 PM

taurusowner: Why not just make the next USB square and able to work on all sides?

Likewise make the other ends square as well. And ditch proprietary connectors. Make one square computer/charger-side connector, and then make a USB-S for phones and tiny gadgets. USB-M for cameras, ipods, etc. and USB-L for printers and other peripherals. All square, all the same configuration, and insertable on all sides; just different sizes of the same thing. Take it a step further and make the USB-L size the same as the computer/charger side.

farking THIS! I've currently got a pile of cables on the floor by my desk to transfer data or recharge my camera, mp3 player, rechargeable usb flashlight, and DS. Its farking rediculous.

And don't even get me started on why we need 30 different sizes of watch batteries! *Hurumph!*

AnEvilGuest

2012-02-23 11:11:01 PM

I put tiny dots of "this side up" red electrical tape on my usb connectors

it's the only way I can avoid doing the flip the connector around multiple times trying to plug things in

it lets me just jiggle it a bit and push a little harder with confidence when it wont go in easily

imfallen_angel

2012-02-23 11:19:35 PM

WhyteRaven74: BTW USB devices can be daisy chained, ever seen a USB device with two ports so you can daisy chain another device to it?

Printers... fairly common.

RoyBatty

2012-02-23 11:23:26 PM

WhyteRaven74: BTW USB devices can be daisy chained, ever seen a USB device with two ports so you can daisy chain another device to it?

ShawnDoc: WhyteRaven74: Yeah, you're right, it is becoming more common among keyboards, but USB has been around how long? Part of what makes it so awesome is that you can daisy chain a huge number of devices together, but good luck until recently finding something that would let you do that.

In order to daisy chain they need a chip that supports a hub. Most end devices don't have hub functionality. So instead you daisy chain hubs until you get the number of ports you need for your devices.

Another problem is power, most devices drawing power from a port won't be able to "pass through" enough power to the next one if you daisy chain them directly, unless that device also has a separate power adapter.

That's really interesting.

You two seem to know a lot about daisy chains.

fusillade762

2012-02-24 12:12:06 AM

tsakali: no HERO tag?!

this thing is awesome for low lighting situations.

You know what's even better for low lighting situations?

[image from ngshopping.com too old to be available]

dickfreckle

2012-02-24 12:50:35 AM

USB ports are the thing that taught me that life is fundamentally unfair. Sure, I have a 50/50 shot, but it STILL takes three tries to get that farker in there.

limboslam

2012-02-24 2:17:35 AM

That'll save me a whole 0.020 seconds of my time.

Gordon Bennett

2012-02-24 2:18:00 AM

WhyteRaven74: BTW USB devices can be daisy chained, ever seen a USB device with two ports so you can daisy chain another device to it?

That was the beauty of the 3DO. Every controller has a controller port on it. There is only one port on the console itself but it allows up to eight controllers to be attached.

austerity101

2012-02-24 3:09:49 AM

taurusowner: Why not just make the next USB square and able to work on all sides?

Why not just make it round?

profplump

2012-02-24 3:17:32 AM

WhyteRaven74: BTW USB devices can be daisy chained

You can chain USB devices to each other, but they don't have a shared electrical bus or simple signal repeater as seen in FireWire or MIDI or SCSI or the like -- all devices which typically have two or more identical, signal-connected ports to allow for easy daisy-chains.

Instead each USB connection must have exactly one host and exactly one slave device. If you'd like to connect more than one slave to the same host port you need a USB hub, which presents itself as a single slave to the host and then provides any number of signal-isolated host ports for connection to downstream slave devices.

Today USB hub chips aren't terribly expensive, but they're still a lot more expensive than a simple shared electrical bus. There's also the issue of providing downstream power; that's not a strict limitation but given the 10W/port maximum rating for USB it doesn't take a lot of downstream bus-powered devices to overwhelm a host port. Most other chain-able connections either use higher voltage power or do not provide power with the data connection.

Believe it or not, this one-device-per-port limitation was billed as a design feature when USB was released, and it's the reason we have the stupid A/B connector types. It was supposed to prevent you from mis-connecting things. It's also the reason you can't use USB to connect two computer to each other, and the reason you need "USB-to-Go" support to be able to use the same port to connect a keyboard to your phone as you do to connect your phone to a computer.

merkey88

2012-02-24 3:24:29 AM

neuroflare: The Weeners in the article is totally true

They definitely have spin of 1/2.

moothemagiccow

2012-02-24 3:41:52 AM

why are all you peeners fantasizing about port shapes when you know WSB is coming

taurusowner

2012-02-24 4:07:10 AM

austerity101: taurusowner: Why not just make the next USB square and able to work on all sides?

Why not just make it round?

Touche' salesman.

rikkards

2012-02-24 5:44:19 AM

dickfreckle: USB ports are the thing that taught me that life is fundamentally unfair. Sure, I have a 50/50 shot, but it STILL takes three tries to get that farker in there.

USB ports was the first thing that taught me that sometimes USB as a standard was flawed. The second thing was when I realized that it can't keep up the data rate and was only burstable. I was on the side of Firewire at the beginning. Unfortunately like blu-ray, the inferior standard won

rikkards

2012-02-24 5:48:45 AM

profplump: WhyteRaven74:

Believe it or not, this one-device-per-port limitation was billed as a design feature when USB was released, and it's the reason we have the stupid A/B connector types. It was supposed to prevent you from mis-connecting things. It's also the reason you can't use USB to connect two computer to each other, and the reason you need "USB-to-Go" support to be able to use the same port to connect a keyboard to your phone as you do to connect your phone to a computer.

Okaaay...
Link (new window)
USB has always had the ability to do networking. Actually it looks like that is how the Rim Playbook communicates to the host machine when plugged in (imo was a stupid way of doing it)

profplump

2012-02-24 6:13:10 AM

rikkards: USB has always had the ability to do networking. Actually it looks like that is how the Rim Playbook communicates to the host machine when plugged in (imo was a stupid way of doing it)

No, it doesn't. If it did you could just connect a cable (with the TX/RX lines swapped if the electrical design requires such things) between the two hosts, like you can with serial ports or Ethernet or FireWire other any other peer-to-peer connection.

What you linked to was a device that acts as a USB NIC (slave device) on each of two separate USB connections and forwards Ethernet frames between the two busses. It does not link the two busses using the USB protocol; there is no provision in USB to provide such bridging. Even the page you linked to specifically notes that you cannot simply connect two USB hosts together.

Some recent mobile devices, like the Playbook, have added the ability to switch between host and slave modes, to allow a single port to complete both functions, but only one at a time. That's the USB-on-the-go bit I was talking about before. Even with that mode switching capability USB still requires exactly one host per bus, and exactly one host and one slave per connection.

Pimple

2012-02-24 7:21:12 AM

There was an article a year or so ago about Microsoft making it so you can put batteries in either way. WHERE THE fark IS THAT?!

LordOfThePings

2012-02-24 7:45:55 AM

AnEvilGuest: it lets me just jiggle it a bit and push a little harder with confidence when it wont go in easily

Insert "your mom" joke here.

Sasquach

2012-02-24 7:52:02 AM

Old enough to know better: taurusowner: Why not just make the next USB square and able to work on all sides?

Likewise make the other ends square as well. And ditch proprietary connectors. Make one square computer/charger-side connector, and then make a USB-S for phones and tiny gadgets. USB-M for cameras, ipods, etc. and USB-L for printers and other peripherals. All square, all the same configuration, and insertable on all sides; just different sizes of the same thing. Take it a step further and make the USB-L size the same as the computer/charger side.

farking THIS! I've currently got a pile of cables on the floor by my desk to transfer data or recharge my camera, mp3 player, rechargeable usb flashlight, and DS. Its farking rediculous.

And don't even get me started on why we need 30 different sizes of watch batteries! *Hurumph!*

Alt text: "Fortunately, the charging one has been solved now that we've all standardized on mini-USB. Or is it micro-USB? Shiat.

ArcadianRefugee

2012-02-24 7:52:46 AM

This seems like a solution in search of a problem. Either that, or people really are dumber than I had thought.

Reminds me of those late-night ads for products that no one really needs. At least no normal human.

"Don't you hate it when your knives are too dull?" [Scene: woman somehow smooshing a tomato with the blade of a serrated knife.]
"Or too sharp?" [Scene: man accidentally cutting his hand off with a butter knife.]

sasbazooka

2012-02-24 8:48:29 AM

bart2puck

2012-02-24 9:49:15 AM

limboslam: That'll save me a whole 0.020 seconds of my time.

but, if you plug in 1 million usb things, those .02s will add up...

Cloudchaser Sakonige the Red Wolf

2012-02-24 10:53:40 AM

Anyone know why the things aren't made so it doesn't matter which way the plus is turned? For example, why aren't they made to be round like a headphone jack?

poot_rootbeer

2012-02-24 11:40:52 AM

imfallen_angel: Printers... fairly common.

What's a 'printer'?

Theaetetus

2012-02-24 12:02:19 PM

Cloudchaser Sakonige the Red Wolf: Anyone know why the things aren't made so it doesn't matter which way the plus is turned? For example, why aren't they made to be round like a headphone jack?

Headphone jacks don't carry very much power, so it's less of an issue that you don't make the ground connection first.
They can do round DC power plugs because those only have two connections, an outside and an inside. Make the ground connect first, and you're happy. But with multiple connections, as in a stereo TRS, or a theoretical USB TRRRRS plug, you'd be making and breaking (and crossing) a whole bunch of signal and voltage connections as you plug it in or remove it.

Candygram4Mongo

2012-02-24 12:35:24 PM

Theaetetus: Cloudchaser Sakonige the Red Wolf: Anyone know why the things aren't made so it doesn't matter which way the plus is turned? For example, why aren't they made to be round like a headphone jack?

Headphone jacks don't carry very much power, so it's less of an issue that you don't make the ground connection first.
They can do round DC power plugs because those only have two connections, an outside and an inside. Make the ground connect first, and you're happy. But with multiple connections, as in a stereo TRS, or a theoretical USB TRRRRS plug, you'd be making and breaking (and crossing) a whole bunch of signal and voltage connections as you plug it in or remove it.

The more we try to redesign the USB plug, the more clever its current design appears to be...

imfallen_angel

2012-02-24 12:50:38 PM

poot_rootbeer: imfallen_angel: Printers... fairly common.

What's a 'printer'?

hmm... it's a machine that prints what you see on your screen to paper form. Many of your ancestors used to read from this "paper", and images also used to be in this format, as opposed to simply being loaded on your phone or tablet.

Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets.

You might have seen some images of example of paper in movies, TV shows or while looking at various things, on Amazon or such, for example.

If you go to a museum, they might have some next to the Pyramid exhibits.

Some of these "printers" also have extended capacity, which can be for doing scans, and even Faxes, but you'll have to ask your grandfather about those.

HairBolus

2012-02-24 1:07:32 PM

Design fail

From Wikipedia

USB ports are often closely spaced. Consequentially plugging a device into one port may physically block an adjacent port, particularly when the plug is not part of a cable but is integral to a device such as a USB flash drive. A horizontal array of horizontal sockets may be easy to fabricate, but may cause only two out of four ports to be usable (depending on plug width).

Port arrays in which the port orientation is perpendicular to the array orientation generally have fewer blockage problems. External "Octopus" or "Squid" hubs (with each socket at the end of a very short cable maybe 2 inches long), or "star" hubs (with each port facing in a different direction, as pictured) avoid this problem completely.

// own a GE fail of a hub that has sever port blockage problems.

TiiiMMMaHHH

2012-02-24 1:45:05 PM

WhyteRaven74: BTW USB devices can be daisy chained, ever seen a USB device with two ports so you can daisy chain another device to it?

your mom can be daisy-chained. you know how me and my two male friends know?

dready zim

2012-02-25 2:23:10 PM

TiiiMMMaHHH: your mom can be daisy-chained. you know how me and my two male friends know?

she was in the middle with a strapon up you?

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