Cable labeling could fix 99% of the issues with USB-C compat. The solution should never be blaming consumer for buying the wrong cable. Crappy two-wire charge-only cables are perfectly fine for something like a night desk lamp. Keep the poor cables, they are okay, just tell me if that's the case.
> Cable labeling could fix 99% of the issues with USB-C compat.
Labelling is a poor band-aid on the root problem - consumer cables which look identical and fit identically should work wherever they fit.
There should never have been a power-only spec for USB-C socket dimensions.
If a cable supports both power and data, it must fit in all sockets. If a cable supports only power it must not fit into a power and data socket. If a cable supports only data, it should not fit into a power and data socket.
It is possible to have designed the sockets under these constraints, with the caveat that they only go in one way. I feel that that would have been a better trade-off. Making them reversible means that you cannot have a design which enforces cable type.
So since my vape (example, i dont vape) has a power and data slot for charging and firmware updates, i should be limited to only using dual purpose cables day to day rather than a power only cable?
> So since my vape (example, i dont vape) has a power and data slot for charging and firmware updates, i should be limited to only using dual purpose cables day to day rather than a power only cable?
Well, yes.
Why can't you use a power+data cable for the vape (or whichever appliance takes both)? What's the deal-breaker here?
The alternative is labeling, or plugging cables in to see if they do what you want them to do.
Is the same true for my laptop? Or soldering plate? Both take over 150w of power. Buying a power and data cable is expensive compared to just power, and the length of cable is severely limited...or the data speed impaired significantly. How slow does the data have to be for it to be non compliant?
> If a cable supports only power it must not fit into a power and data socket
That's even more confusing than the current state of affairs. If my phone has power and data socket, then I cannot use power only cable to only charge it? Presumably with the charger that has power only socket. So I need a cable with two different ends anyway. Just go micro-USB at this point :)
Funnily enough, there is a 100% overkill way to solve such issues. Just use super expensive certified TB cables. Well... plus a A-to-C adapter for noncompliant devices, I guess.
Same thing with PNG. Just call the format with new additions it PNGX, so the user can clearly see that the reason their software can’t display the image is not a file corruption.
This is just pretending that if you have a cat and a dog in two bags and you call it “a bag”, it’s one and the same thing…
Two wire cables are not in the specification, just like A-to-A cables aren't. The whole charging above 100mA with resistor hacks wasn't in the standard either until they had to grandfather it in. The implementers forum isn't responsible for non-members breaking their spec.
