Is it normal for a laptop to not provide 12V on SATA?

In article op.0ffg1bnewdg98l@glass, Commander Kinsey
wrote:

I now have a phone that uses a USB-C connector. It's a lot easier to
connect than micro USB-B.

The micro **** should never have been invented. I wonder how many
phones are thrown away because the flimsy charging socket has broken.

Maybe the mini-B was too thick for modern thin devices.

Maybe the devices are too thin to be sensible. If something has a
requirement to plug it into something else, it has to have a fair sized plug
that won't break with average daily use. If we have to have wafer thin
phones, then make them charge by induction or something. You just can't fit
a sensible sized plug on a phone.

cables are used for much more than just charging, including copying
content to and from a device, firmware updates if it's bricked, mobile
app development, tethering and more.

In article ,
123456789 wrote:


If we have to have wafer thin phones,
then make them charge by induction or
something. You just can't fit a sensible
sized plug on a phone.

Wireless charging is great. My last two
phones have had it. Prediction: Phones
of the future will have no holes at all...

one android phone already does just that, other than for the microphone.

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbrea...8/meizu-zero-p
hone-trends-hole-ports-buttons

On 03/02/2020 17:01, Commander Kinsey wrote:
DAVID!!!!* Which way up are your Mac ones?* I don't have any

https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/produc...-to-usb-cable?

The 'trident' is on the side with the 'gap'.

HTH

On Mon, 03 Feb 2020 17:33:12 -0000, Paul wrote:

Commander Kinsey wrote:
On Mon, 03 Feb 2020 13:48:42 -0000, NY wrote:

"Commander Kinsey" wrote in message
newsp.0fdp61w9wdg98l@glass...
You know, I suggested this when USB first came out (bloody annoying
having
to try twice to plug a USB plug in - there's no way to tell which way up
it goes without peering inside the socket and the plug) and everyone
said
it would be impossible to do.... I should have patented it.

Anker used to put their logo consistently on one side of the micro USB
plugs
on their cables. I quickly learned that the logo should face me when I
have
the screen of my phone towards me. But the most recent plugs that I
ordered
from them don't have their logo on (nor the standard USB logo) so there
isn't that to help you work out which way round to put the plug.

Most PCs had them like that when USB first came out, the logo on the
top. Then I worked in a place that had Apple Macs. They all faced
down. Nowadays I think it's pot luck which way round they go. Mind
you, I just checked my main desktop (homebuilt, Corsair case with
Gigabyte motherboard) and my laptop (Acer) and both have them all logo
up (or in the case of the back of the tower, what would have been up in
a horizontal case). Maybe it's Apple that got me mixed up forever more.

DAVID!!!! Which way up are your Mac ones? I don't have any

The consistency of the position of the USB tab,
is defined by the available connectors for sale.

These are typically right-angle connectors affixed to the surface
of a PCB. The same approach is used on the I/O plate area,
where the planar is the motherboard, as is used on PCI or
PCI Express plugin cards, where the card PCB is the planar.

There is no particular reason for those "stack" connectors
to be designed two different ways. One way suffices.

If you look at SATA, the connector on a planar is always
oriented the "one way". When they introduced right-angle cabling
to solve the "this bumps into the door" problem,
they were careful to make both right-angle and left-angle
connectors. This means if a stack connector for SATA was
involved (like my new machine uses), you can use a right-angle
for the top connector and a straight for the bottom connector.
And if you were dealing with SATA drives, there could be
situations where a left angle (cable pointing upwards), is
good for the very lowest SATA drive. That's so the angular
connector would not bump into the bottom of the
computer case.

Er.... the right angle end of the cable goes on the drive. Why would you use a right angle on the board?

Summary: Planar-mounted connectors take one form.

Cablings are created, to deal with the fuss,
with sufficient options existing to dodge overhanging
hardware bits and pieces.

Straight peripheral connectors work "most of the time".

The backs of TV sets may have cable makers provide
"right" or "left" angled connectors, so the TV can be
shoved against the wall. Maybe for VESA bracket mounts
or the like. The "hump" for a VESA bracket, may provide
sufficient clearance for cabling at the back. The angle
type for the connector, being selected so the cable
hangs down to reduce stress on the cable.

It really isn't random. There's a pattern. Engage
your pattern matcher.

I believe USB.org also has labeling requirements for
devices, where the logo goes, what symbol to use and so on.
USB.org is better than some standards bodies (those standards
bodies being unbelievable lazy). Things have gotten a little
out of control at USB.org in the last few years (marketing
monkeys run amok when picking names for stuff), but historically
they were a respectable organization.

So how come I distinctly remember Macs having the USB connectors upside down? I always knew which way to orientate them before I used Macs.

In article op.0ffkf4axwdg98l@glass, Commander Kinsey
wrote:


So how come I distinctly remember Macs having the USB connectors upside down?

they don't.

I always knew which way to orientate them before I used Macs.

there are plenty of pcs that do the same thing.

there is no standard for which way a usb socket must be oriented.

that's one reason why usb-c was designed to be reversible.

In article , David
wrote:

DAVID!!!!* Which way up are your Mac ones?* I don't have any


https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/produc...ctor-to-usb-ca
ble?

The 'trident' is on the side with the 'gap'.

that's an obsolete cable.

HTH

it doesn't.

On 03/02/2020 22:12, nospam wrote:
In article , David
wrote:

DAVID!!!!Â* Which way up are your Mac ones?Â* I don't have any


https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/produc...ctor-to-usb-ca
ble?

The 'trident' is on the side with the 'gap'.

that's an obsolete cable.

Then why is it for sale in the Apple store?

HTH

it doesn't.

If I'd wanted your opinion I'd have given it to you.

Stop lying.

In article , David
wrote:

DAVID!!!!* Which way up are your Mac ones?* I don't have any


https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/produc...nector-to-usb-
ca
ble?

The 'trident' is on the side with the 'gap'.

that's an obsolete cable.

Then why is it for sale in the Apple store?

some people still have old devices.

same reason there are places to buy serial cables, scsi cables, pata
enclosures, etc.

On 03/02/2020 22:52, nospam wrote:
In article , David
wrote:

DAVID!!!!Â* Which way up are your Mac ones?Â* I don't have any


https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/produc...nector-to-usb-
ca
ble?

The 'trident' is on the side with the 'gap'.

that's an obsolete cable.

Then why is it for sale in the Apple store?

some people still have old devices.

same reason there are places to buy serial cables, scsi cables, pata
enclosures, etc.

So the cable is *NOT* obsolete.

Your criticism was uncalled for and unnecessary.

On Mon, 03 Feb 2020 17:38:21 -0000, Mark Lloyd wrote:

On 2/2/20 2:45 PM, nospam wrote:

[snip]

it was commonly used for rs232 serial, but also used for various other
things, including parallel, scsi, video, audio and custom purposes.

There are several connectors in that D series, with different numbers of
pins (numbers in the list are number of pins):

DE9 PC: serial ports on later machines, CGA/MDA/HGC/EGA video connectors

I adapted one of those to take a signal from a tape recorder through an ADC chip. Loaded 450 ZX Spectrum games onto a PC.

DE15 (3-row but same size as DE9) PC VGA video connectors

Still using them right now!

DA15 PC: old (pre-USB) game ports

Those were pretty useful. They took two analog signals (for the better joysticks). You could program them to be used for scientific data collection.

DB25 PC: RS232 on old machines, printer connector, IIRC I've seen one
for SCSI

SCSI had hundreds of connectors, it was ridiculous.

DC37 PC: external connector for floppy drives 3-4 on original PC

DD50 (large 3-row) too big for PC, although I have seen it used once
elsewhere

On Mon, 03 Feb 2020 17:40:15 -0000, Mark Lloyd wrote:

On 2/2/20 2:45 PM, nospam wrote:
In article op.0fdlxmwmwdg98l@glass, Commander Kinsey
wrote:

I now have a phone that uses a USB-C connector. It's a lot easier to
connect than micro USB-B.

The micro **** should never have been invented. I wonder how many phones are
thrown away because the flimsy charging socket has broken.

a lot.

it's one of the worst connectors ever designed.

IIRC that has never happened to me with USB phones. It happened a lot
with the old barrel connectors (happened with laptops too).

Barrel as in a cylinder with just 0V and Vsupp? Those are way easier to fix, usually just bend the internals with a gimlet.

I hated the wider versions of micro USB that Samsung used. Got something equally daft on my Fuji camera. Pins so small one speck of dust stops the connection.

On Mon, 03 Feb 2020 17:43:14 -0000, Mark Lloyd wrote:

On 2/2/20 2:45 PM, nospam wrote:

[snip]

consider a bus-powered usb hub.

the host port can source 500ma, but since the hub has more than one
downstream usb port, that 500ma must be divided up, plus a little for
the hub itself.

I have a couple of little USB-powered fans that need less than 200mA
each, and have used a bus powered hub to operate both from one port.

If in doubt, just plug it in. The worst that will happen is it shuts off till the next reboot (or you restart the port in the device manager).

In article op.0ffqidutwdg98l@glass, Commander Kinsey
wrote:

I hated the wider versions of micro USB that Samsung used. Got something
equally daft on my Fuji camera. Pins so small one speck of dust stops the connection.

that's micro-usb 3, and far more than just samsung uses it.

In article , David
wrote:


https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/produc...connector-to-u
sb-
ca
ble?

The 'trident' is on the side with the 'gap'.

that's an obsolete cable.

Then why is it for sale in the Apple store?

some people still have old devices.

same reason there are places to buy serial cables, scsi cables, pata
enclosures, etc.

So the cable is *NOT* obsolete.

apple hasn't made a device that uses a 30 pin dock connector for nearly
a decade.

Your criticism was uncalled for and unnecessary.

it was entirely appropriate.

On 03/02/2020 23:38, nospam wrote:
In article , David
wrote:


https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/produc...connector-to-u
sb-
ca
ble?

The 'trident' is on the side with the 'gap'.

that's an obsolete cable.

Then why is it for sale in the Apple store?

some people still have old devices.

same reason there are places to buy serial cables, scsi cables, pata
enclosures, etc.

So the cable is *NOT* obsolete.

apple hasn't made a device that uses a 30 pin dock connector for nearly
a decade.

Irrelevant! What is on the OTHER end of the cable?

Your criticism was uncalled for and unnecessary.

it was entirely appropriate.

False - the USB plug shows the 'trident' - clearly visible