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
    152•4 months 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?

    • @[email protected]
      104•4 months 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.

      • @[email protected]
        5•4 months 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.

        • @[email protected]
          13•4 months 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?

      • @jcgA
        2•3 months 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.

    • Snot FlickermanEnglish
      30•4 months 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
        27•4 months ago

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

    • DacoTaco
      22•4 months ago

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

    • @[email protected]
      12•4 months ago

      Both ends of a USB cable are generally male (unless you’re talking about an extender). Generally the type B end (in mini, micro, or full configuration) would be the client though I have seen a couple of clients use Mini or Micro A.

    • @[email protected]
      8•4 months ago

      Yeah we’ve been going by primary-secondary where I am for the just 6 to 7 years now but I don’t think a universally agreed replacement for the terms exists yet.

    • @[email protected]
      5•4 months ago

      Mechanics are still trying to figure that out with the “master cylinder” and “slave cylinder”