real connectors come with a use and care guide.
https://techpubs.jurassic.nl/manuals/hdwr/enduser/OCTANEMENET_IG/sgi_html/apb.html
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Holy molex, that’s a lotta pins!
What does that connect?
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Is this a GPIB plug? There was a lot of GPIB devices (like stress-testing machines and ridiculously precise voltmeters) at my former workplace, but I’ve never seen one connected to a PC.
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Doesn’t USB 3.0 solve this by allowing DMA?
Yup.
I first saw it on Tektronic desktop computers.
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A friend has an IBM x3850 x5 computer (4 processors, 64 physical cores). These use quite unique QPI connectors and cables to join two units into a single computer with shared RAM and up to 160 physical cores.
QPI is typically an internal bus only laid out on motherboard, and I’ve never seen such thing before. There’s a whole procedure for connecting two units together:
The only problem with that machine is that it’s louder than a vacuum cleaner.
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All the USB needs is a cosmetic direction specific housing. Imagine if every USB plug had a Lego-like single peg hole located slightly off center on its connecting end and every USB compatible port had a corresponding Lego peg. Then by sight and/or feel you could guarantee a correct fit every time. This is a backwards compatible solution since the design change would be purely cosmetic.
Design teams: Engineers should always have an artist or designer working with them, and vice a versa.
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Well… actually… I was remotely involved in the development of USB. The connector problem was identified by many people at plugfests and early in the specification. It is impossible to put in the connector “blind” ie without looking directly at the connector. There is no force holding the connector. There is no tactile feedback of a proper connection. Multiple stacked connectors are even more difficult to manipulate. Even more so, it was identified by members that the connector was much too large and would lead to variations. We also identified the problem with hubs and power supplies leading to even more wires on the desk than simple point to point connections. But, other considerations dominated leading to the current connector. These concerns were not accepted by the powers that dominated the committee.
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If this “inventor” thinks he needed to double the wires in order to make it reversable, he’s a moron. Go cut open any iphone 5/6 charging cable.
Agreed.
USB 3.x solves most of the issues perpetrated by the first 14 years of USB 1 & 2.
When there were so many other competently implemented protocols out there at the USB 1.0 inception, the question is why it took so long for the industry to get things nearly right with USB 3.0. The weight of its low bandwidth origins (usurpation of Access Bus) may have had something to do with it but that’s ancient history.
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I’m sure it wasn’t his “first try”. And they had a team at intel doing it, so I’m pretty sure they realized the possibility that it would be accepted (and implemented) worldwide.
I use a USB to GPIB adapter to connect my WIN10 computer to an agilent/HP circuit card tester designed in the mid-80’s.
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Oh, the irony. A USB-to-GPIB protocol adapter is cheaper (and more convenient) than a GPIB adapter card.
Which adapter did you settle on?
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Agreed. By 3.0, the SCSI standard had accreted too many subtypes for a
comprehensive implementation.
</style=“Northeastern_Hackspeak”>
Feature Bloat + multiple bags_on_the_side = WOMBAT.
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So when Ajay Bhatt passes away (sadly), they will gently lower his casket into the grave, then stop, pull it back up, turn it over and re-lower him the right way!!
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Reversibility… OMG 4 extra wires will double the cost. The little bitty tongue that probably is a 5 cent component of the manufacturing cost will now cost 7 cents. A 25 cent device, (wholesale) will now cost 27 cents and we’ll have to boost the retail price from 2 bucks to 4 bucks. Sounds like a win for the industry!
While I disagree with the premise that the wires would need to be doubled as nonsense (seems like you could use vias or any other number of marginally creative designs to avoid this), seemingly small cost savings can add up really quickly. A penny saved is a huge deal when you’re talking hundreds of millions of units.
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It’s impossible to put a USB connector in correctly even when you’re looking directly at the plug and the socket!
I have a vertical USB port on one side of my car’s Kenwood head-unit, and I can pretty state that I get it the wrong way round 80% of the time!
Pug in the USB cable to your kenwood unit. Look at the cable. Make a note of where the trident logo is in relation to other parts of the head unit.
Remember that for next time.
I have this USB hub for my frequently disconnected accessories.
my mental note is that the logos on the cables face the towards the cable leading to the computer. Let’s see if I remember it next time I plug in a USB drive or exchange the gamepad for the joystick.
I think a dab white-out or nail polish can sometimes make this problem go away. Easier to see than the trident that’s printed so thinly.
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