Explaining USB: From 1.0 to USB4 V2.0
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- Опубліковано 6 чер 2024
- USB connectors and specifications tutorial, including USB 1.1, USB 2.0, USB 3.2, USB4 Version 1.0, and USB4 Version 2.0. Video also covers USB DP (DisplayPort), USB PD (power delivery), as well as the USB Type-A, Type-B, Mini-B, Micro-B, USB-C and nine other connectors. :)
Information for this video was primarily sourced from specifications included in the Document Library made available by the USB Implementers Forum at: www.usb.org/
CORRECTION: Note that in the initial graphic showing all connectors and standards (c. 00:34 in the video) the labels Mini-A SS, Mini-B SS and Mini-AB SS should be Micro-A SS, Micro-B SS and Micro-AB SS. You can see a corrected version of the graphic here: www.explainingcomputers.com/i...
Everything is correctly labelled elsewhere in the video where each connector is covered in depth. My apologies. This video was reviewed and corrected four times before upload, but this still crept through the checking process. :(
Inevitably, as always, I also had to decide what to leave out, as well as what to include. Given the number of USB specifications and revisions that exist -- for example, there have now been 17 just for power delivery -- the only sure way to check anything for certain is to look at the instruction manual or online specification for your particular device. This said, right now, if you need the highest specification, go for a device with USB4 ports, and purchase USB power cables that support 100W -- or 240W if you can get hold of them. :)
If you enjoy this video, you may like my episodes:
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• Explaining SSDs: Form ...
Explaining PCIe Slots:
• Explaining PCIe Slots
Explaining File Systems (NTFS, exFAT, FAT32 & more):
• Explaining File System...
Explaining SD Cards (2020 Update):
• Explaining SD Cards: 2...
For additional ExplainingComputers videos and other content, you can become a channel member here:
/ @explainingcomputers
More videos on computing and related topics can be found at / explainingcomputers
You may also like my ExplainingTheFuture channel at: / explainingthefuture
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:09 Connectors & Specifications
01:48 USB Chronology (inc USB 1.1 & USB 2.0)
04:32 USB OTG
05:25 USB 3.0
07:38 USB Confusion (USB 3.1 & 3.2)
10:00 USB DP (DisplayPort)
10:23 USB4
11:41 USB PD (power delivery)
13:37 Wrap
#USB4 #USB-C #USB3.2 #ExplainingComputers - Наука та технологія
The USB world is a mess, yet you managed to deliver a very clear and informative video. Nice job !
Yep. It's still clear as mud in some ways, but that's the clearest and most up-to-date explanation I've seen. Leave it to Chris to cut through the confusion, esp. regarding the insane name change of a spec after it was already in use.
USB 3 alone is very confusing! The graph was very helpful, though. The channel, as a whole, has been so helpful in learning about computers (technology, in general) as a consumer.
@@dustinlouder Absolutely !! We've been P-C'ing" for nearly a HALF CENTURY and "they" STILL struggle with the BASICS !
In the begining, one of the purposes (if not the main) was to have ONE standard connector to replace ALL existing ones (DBx/DBxx, Parallel cables, proprietary connector, ... ) and now, there're dozen of different cables, no standard and even companies fighting against standardisation such as Apple.
I agree too.The colour is the problem & mixing the speeds of the blue colour. Read my submission. It means change colour change connector and item to suit.
CORRECTION: Note that in the initial graphic showing all connectors and standards (c. 00:34 in the video) the labels Mini-A SS, Mini-B SS and Mini-AB SS should be Micro-A SS, Micro-B SS and Micro-AB SS. You can see a corrected version of the chart here: www.explainingcomputers.com/images/USB_Connectors_Specs_CORRECTED.jpg
Everything is correctly labelled elsewhere in the video where each connector is covered in depth. My apologies. This video was reviewed and corrected four times before upload, but this still crept through the checking process. :(
Bit of work creating these USB ID matrices. Thanks. 🙏
Micro or mini, almost the same. No need to worry 😃
just a "small" mistake
How fitting that a video about USB needs corrections and amendments.
It's confusing even you!!!
As a mechanical design engineer for 43 years, I was forced into learning about computers to stay current and relevant. I soon learned that the nice thing about standards are that there are so many of them to chose from 😉😂🤣😆😁
Yup! Why do simple if... ;-D
“The good thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from.”
― Andrew S. Tanenbaum
That reminds me of the RS232 standard. It wasn't standard
Wow. You're one of those old-school guys, you had to do drafting by hand with a slide rule! Much respect. Most of the CAD tools these days are so complex, it feels like knowing the software is really the hard part.
@@malcolmstonebridge7933 Tanenbaum is one of my heroes. Brilliant computer scientist.
"USB 2.0 is still fast enough for keyboards, rodents and... "
Absolutely my all time favorite thing I've ever heard
Ha! Glad to see I wasn't the only one who enjoyed the quip.
Easily one of the most confusing topics in the computing world, I'm sure I speak for all of us in thanking you for the effort of creating this video & putting such great detail into this. All the best Chris!
Thanks Niall. :)
Yes Niall you speak for many of Us.... we all are glad
Generally, it is a good idea to speak for yourself and noone else ;)
Have you tried code golfing in Haskell, ASL or Golfscript? There is always something more confusing. ;)
Unfortunately the speed issue is not the whole picture. Try ask how many have had the issue of plugging in an USB memory stick and suddenly both your mice and keyboard is lagging, and start a file copy your system is beeing almost totally unresponsive untill the copy is finnished. There really need to be a better way of telling people how the different usb hubs integrated on the mobo is physically connected. Even people that have a good idea of how the usb is set up and understands that they often share a pcie lane with other perifials, can have a headacke to figure out what is wrong. It's not common for every board to have an actually complete layout of how everything is connected on the board to and from the cpu, which perifials is connected direct to the cpu and which is provided via an external controller on the mobo that gives eg extra sata, nvme, usb connectors via a single pcie lane which leads to these problems that either at best the system itself disables some functionality when plugging one of its services in because the controller can't handle them, or if not you get an unresponsive system.
In fact, that renaming of standards is so contagious, that even HDMI adopted this madness for HDMI 2.1... There's a half bandwidth version which was formerly HDMI 2.0 and a full bandwidth version for 8K60p with HDR support...
The naming standards in tech are what happens when you don't employ women.
802.11 Wifi 0
802.11a Wifi 2
802.11b Wifi 1
802.11g Wifi 3
802.11n Wifi 4
802.11ac Wifi 5
802.11ad
802.11af
802.11-2016
802.11ah
802.11ai
802.11aj
802.11aq
802.11-2020
802.11ax Wifi 6
802.11ax Wifi 6e
802.11be Wifi 7
Xbox
Xbox 360
Xbox One
Xbox Series XIS
Nintendo Gameboy Advance
Nintendo Gameboy Advance Micro
Nintendo Gameboy Advance SP
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo Wii U
Nintendo Wii Mini
Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS Lite
Nintendo DSi
Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Nintendo 3DS
Nintendo 3DS LL/XL
Nintendo 2DS
Nintendo 2DS LL/XL
Apple Macbook Pro (2012)
Apple Macbook Pro (2013)
Apple Macbook Pro (2014)
Apple Macbook Pro (2015)
Apple Macbook Pro (2016)
Apple Macbook Pro (2017)
Apple Macbook Pro (2018)
What happens when you do employ women:
Playstation 1
Playstation 2
Playstation 3
Playstation 4
Playstation 5
The comment about throwing his hands up and sitting in the corner literally made me laugh out loud. Another excellent video that I will be sure to recommend to others.
Thanks. You just saved me a lot of grief. I have an external disk with a damaged Micro USB-B SS connector. I'd not realised that an ordinary Micro USB-B connector could be used. I'm now (slowly) recovering the data from the disk.
This is a good result! :) And you are the second person to comment on this particular point. I can never guess which parts of a video will turn out to be useful.
If the disk is external and the only thing that is damaged is the case's connector, you can buy a new case for a few quid and move the disk in the new one. You'll save your disk and your day.
@@johnphilippatos That was the grief I've avoided. Getting the disk out of the case looked decidedly non-trivial as it was firmly glued shut. It was going to be a matter of using a Dremel to cut it open without damaging the contents. Instead I'll just leave it copying on to a spare laptop and check on it in the morning.
@@Graham_Rule Ok, when you are done with transferring the data, you can always go back and check whether you can still salvage the disk by cutting the case open.
I used to think usb micro b ss was a proprietary connector, it does look very odd next to the other micro and mini connectors
Explaining Computers is an invaluable asset in understanding Computer Technology.
Real world USB speeds seem to vary incredibly and rarely get anywhere near their theoretical limits.
True. Hence I noted a five-times increase in real world speeds for USB 3.0 over 2.0, after an eight-fold theoretical increase! :)
The big difference is that up to USB 2.0 it was a half duplex connection, so data could only travel one way at a time, and this made the practical speed more like 25-30 MB/s than the theoretical 60 MB/s.
From USB 3.0 it became a full duplex connection, so you could get much closer to your theoretical max speed.
And oh, the slow pain when one decides it's not speaking to another and falls back to 1.0 speeds....
@@zorktxandnand3774 A very good point!
@@zorktxandnand3774 But with USB 4 (and Thunderbolt) we are back at barely more than half the speed, around 22-23 Gb/s vs 40 (or 2800 MB/s vs 5000)
Whoever named the type-A SS and and the Mini-A SS, deserves a raise.
Great video Chris, it's amazing how complex the USB story is 👍
"A little light in the chaotic world of USB ports!" Thank you for this exemplary presentation!
Every family need an uncle like you who introduces their nieces and nephews to not only the use, but also to the history of all the gadgets they take for granted.
Great vid, like always. Cheers!
Thanks for this Chris. I find it absolutely incredible that the USB people thought it would be a good idea to rename standards as they went along! It truly boggles the mind.
clearly their the same people that renamed pluto; let's call it a dwarf now!
@@austinharding9734 That one actually made sense tho. If their definition of “planet” had included Pluto, it would also have included a bunch more random rocks that we would have had to memorize.
Excellent and timely presentation. I've been in this field for 40 years and I still learn a lot from you. Thank you !
Universal Serial Bus was created in order to remove the confusion created by all the other means of connecting, like serial, parallel, SCSI etc.
Now it has created a confusion of its own.
The next protocol will be named USB OMG!
Great video again Chris. Thanks.
However, one of my biggest complaints, the serial and parallel were seldom (if ever) used to charge the f'king batteries. And those connectors were much more robust than the USB connectors!
I am now waiting for USB OMG Version 2.0 Gen 2x4.
Remind me to how Sony branding their products with confusing long name too 😂
It's the measure of Chris's ability that he's able to turn a subject as null as USB connectors and standards into something interesting and informative. As soon as I hear those words "So let's take.....ah....closer...look", I know it's going to be good... Well done Chris and thanks for all the time you have poured into these videos over the years.
Thanks for your kind feedback.
This is one of the most tricky topics when usb3.1 comes up, you handed this perfectly. This is the clearest explanation about what’s happened and happening to usb. I will be pointing other towards this video. Thank you.
Thanks Mark. :)
I love this flavour of ExplainingComputers video. I needed a quick refresher on filesystem differences and remembered your video. I saw this Explanation of USB standards on my way and was delighted! Thank you very much Chris :)
Thanks for watching Dan. :)
I'm at class today, Teacher!
Greetings Leslie! :) Here we are on another Sunday.
For real. Listening to Chris Videos really feels like attending one of his lectures live at the University. 💪🙏
Only Explaining Computers could make sense of that mess of specs and connectors. I know - I tried this winter to understand it by watching other youtube videos and Chris is a master of taking complex subjects and making them understandable by mere mortals. Thanks so much for this video. I will never look at a usb outlet or plug the same way again - now I will know what to look for!
Superspeed and Superspeed+ as well as the Type C connector are the best ideas they've come up with so far. Great video.
Very clear, very descriptive, well documented and presented in an excellent manner as always. Congratulations for yet another professional-grade upload. Many, many thanks!
Thanks for your kind feedback, appreciated. :)
It's a shame how little useable information is in the various USB designations. While it should not be necessary, I'm very glad this video exists.
Chris' delivery and methodology make for much needed clarity on this subject.
As the saying goes, the great thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from.
I didn't even know there was a USB 4. You gave a nice overview, Chris. That must have taken a long time to collate.
Thank you so much for the excellent video on USB. Your videos on evolving technical standards help me keep up with the changes.
This is easily the best explanation of USB speeds and connectors in the universe! Thanks, Christopher!
Great video! One point of note, you omitted the difference between 5 pin mini-B and 4 pin mini-B. 5 pin mini-B is the connector we're all used to, 4 pin mini-B was included on certain digital cameras and OH GOD HELP YOU if you're on vacation and misplace your 4 pin mini-B cable.
I wasn’t even aware of the USB4 release! Thanks, Chris!
Amazing explanatory presentation to address the madness of confusing USB naming schemes.
Well worth watching and bookmarking for later.
The people who got the most benefit from all these connectors are the cable manufactures!!! Great video as always and true to the name "Explaining Computers"!!! Keep up the good work my brother!
I’ve been very confused about the different connectors and speeds. You confirmed that you can’t tell the speed by the colour or shape of the connector, only by testing. “Keyboard and rodent “ 😂. Informative and useful information, thanks
Good to see Stanley in agreement there.
I recently built a newer computer that has the orange USB 3.2 at 10gb/s and was pleasantly surprised when my old ssd hd on an older USB 3.0 micro b cable worked at what appears to be twice the speed of USB 3.0. Having that backwards compatibility is very much appreciated! Thanks for the great video 👍🏼
Hmm, in this is case it's forwards compatibility, no?
@@offspringfan89 In my thinking, since it is a newer standard that is compatible with older hardware, would make it going backwards in time. I could also credit the actual cable I purchased as being forward compatible by being capable of supporting the higher speeds. I suppose you can look at it from either perspective and both would be correct.
@@Wandering_Horse it is a newer standard being compatible with older hardware, but since it's at the newer speed it's considered that your SSD is forward compatible since it supports newer stuff than itself.
If it can use USB 3.2 Gen 2 speeds after upgrading the host then the peripheral always supported it but was being downgraded to USB 3.2 Gen 1 speeds. It's not forward or backwards compatibility, it's just he's using the right equipment now and can use Gen 2
Been using USB since I started using computers in '99. Naming conventions went to crap and I completely lost track of what was going on. Thank you incredibly much for giving such a clear, concise explanation.
Also, throwing my hands up in defeat too!
Thank you for the very succinctly explained introduction to USB. Likely the best I've seen so far in its class! :)
Fascinating stuff. Another topic that I'm aware of through use, but haven't had the time or inclination to try and bottom it out. Seeing this video confirmed that position! I remember when RS-232 was described as "the most non-standard standard". They hadn't seen anything yet!
-$2.99
I really love this highlight of my Sundays. The perfect balance between clear well communicated facts, and dry succinct humor. I would strongly suggest designers of usb equipment to watch this video very carefully. Particularly if they want to utilize PD to it's limits. Usb 1.1 transferred 2.5 w. Things really had to stack up against you to start a fire with 2.5 watt.
Almost two orders of magnitude larger is an entirely different kettle of fish.
Another clear explainitory video Chris. Thanks for your continued great work.
Love your delivery and humor! Thanks for putting my mind at ease that I know nothing!
USB is a joy compared to what we had before it. If only Commodore had the job of naming the different USB versions, we'd have Alan, Betty, Charlie and Daphne. But then Evelyn would arrive, and Daphne would become David. A good vid, I really enjoyed it. Thanks.
Bit tangential but your comment sparked a wave of nostalgia for me, happy memories of loading up a game in my C64 tape drive before lunch so I could come back 45 minutes later and actually play the damn thing ☺
Louis Rossmann also has a video on how not all USB-C chargers work on all devices. Making you think the device is broken. Have you ever looked deeper into the different kinds of quick charge technology for usb-c? Hopefully we can see such a video one day.
Your deliveey of information is simply outstanding. It sets you apart. This was a great informative video. Thank you!
My man, first video that I see on your channel and you nailed it. Great stuff
Thanks for watching! :)
"The USB standard..." [waggles impressive bundle of mutually-incompatible cables]
Priceless!!
Standards -- so many to choose from... OTG probably explains why I've given up getting a PC and a camera to speak civilly, and now just extract the data card to a reader.
but they ALL are compatible..... you just need the correct adapter to get the connector type correct. Everything is combatable with everything.
I still run a 20 year old USB 1.1 HUB, through a USB-B to USB-C cable... and all my devices work on the HUB, at 1.1 speeds. Of course the HUB came with a USB-A to USB-B cable, but my current laptop doesn't have USB-A, no worries. Just find a USB-B to USB-C cable and problem solved.
@@MoonLiteNite That's dandy if you only need 1.1 speeds, such as for printers or keyboards. It's quite awful for an external drive that hosts big files, or for booting from an ISO. Also, a lot of 1.1 cables don't support 2.0 (that is, even if the device can fallback, it won't work), and they're not marked, so trial and error to learn which are which. Some 1.1 cables won't work at all with 2.0 devices, and some early 2.0 cables won't work with 1.1 devices. And early 1.1 and 2.0 mainboard chips had all sorts of quirks about what they would or wouldn't support.
I have a pile of adapters, but they only solve the port issue, not the speed issue nor the version-specific cable issue.
Chris, you did a great job explaining the mess that is USB revision nomenclature. And I don't care what the USB consortium says, I'll still call USB 3.2 Gen 1, 3.2 Gen 2, Gen 2x2 and USB4 as 3.0, 3.1, 3.2 and 4.0 respectively.
Superb video. Every time I get a new phone, battery pack, game controller or hard drive I have to run around looking for so many different USB cables. So confusing! Great to to see the history and clear concise info on an everyday computer necessity 👍👍
I’m an IT pro and I always learn something new from your videos.
I am old enough and been in IT long enough to get the Julie Andrews reference. Even though I knew most of this, I enjoyed the concise but thorough explanation of all things USB.. will definitely refer this to friends!
Great video with simple explanations. It’s a wonder in 30 years we moved from baud rates where you took an hour to download an IBM fix pack disquete image to 100gigabit per second network ports!
Yes, progress across a few decades has been amazing.
Yet another fantastically informative video Chris, thank you.
i knew all this already.. but i still watched this video in it's entirety. it's a fascinating topic and this channel is so entertaining and interesting! thank you for making these videos!
Thanks for watching. :)
Calling mice rodents, I love it.
The confusion comes from USB Type C 2.0 on new devices. It's near 2023, and all new phones, tablets, and other handheld computers should be using at the very least USB 3.0 and support display out, even if PD isn't offered on said devices.
Yeah, the problem is some manufacturers probably have bins of the old stuff they need to run out of :(
eureka moment for me,thanks for the clear and concise breakdown.i'm off to order the correct cables for my new build.
Good luck with your build.
Best video on USB specs I've seen! Thank you so much 😊
This video is yet another demonstration of how explainers should be done. Excellent work Mr. C!!!✌
This is the clearest explanation I have seen...and I still got a headache. Going into a corner to hide with my box full of legacy cables.
Good old cable corner.
Hint
Put a label on each cable of the device you use each cable for
Eg smart phone , portable hard drive , printer
As and when you use them put another label on the cable , fast , faster , " warp speed "
Hope this helps
@@boboften9952 Then I would miss the fun of dumping out the box searching for the one cable to rule them all. I wonder which cable is speed "Go to Plaid" (Spaceballs reference)
The USB rabbit hole doesn't stop there. There's also Thunderbolt. At first, Thunderbolt used a Mini DisplayPort connector, but as Mini DisplayPort was phased out in favor of USB Type-C, Thunderbolt also made the jump to a Type-C connector.
The USB 4 standard now includes Thunderbolt, which is important because it finally allows AMD systems to use Thunderbolt (which was initially a collaboration between Intel and Apple).
I plan to cover Thunderbolt in a separate video -- there was already a lot of detail in this one! :)
Unfortunately, the newest USB standard is superior to Thunderbolt so it no longer being proprietary is meaningless.
@@Robbie-mw5uu superior in what sense?
This is so timely! I recently had to order a USB cable to power a dash-cam. It was so hard to figure out which "B" connection to specify, & I ended up having to enlarge the online pictures to compare with the cable. Next time, I can just rewatch this to determine which of the 14 connectors is needed! Thanks for another well done tutorial.
I don't think you are the first person to enlarge pictures to compare connectors -- and you won't be the last! :)
Thanks Chris for the clear and concise rundown. The USB naming has been a real debacle.
Great video as usual. The whole usb naming used to simple. Now it's confusing.
Don't forget USB "alpha" - Atari SIO designed by Joe Decuir who later designed USB 1.0. SIO required all devices to have firmware, supplied 12V over the cable, and supported a wide variety of equipment just like USB.
I always reserve my sunday mornings expecting to watch another video from ExplainingComputers.
Great to hear!
Always good to learn new things.
I think i finally understand the 2x2 part of the USB 3.2 spec.
Very informative, as always, but I think you haven't managed to capture the frustration that us consumers face when it comes to things like purchasing an USB cable. Recently I lent a type-C to type-A cable from my father, to use with an external SSD, and after using it a couple of times and feeling it was unusually slow, I checked it just to find out that it was USB 2.0, with just four pins on the type-A end 🤦🏻♂️ And general USB cable quality is so low! Why do they even sell these products?
Anyway, great video, as always! Keep it up 👍🏻
This is plus that apple had in their ecosystem for laptops for years, using thunderbolt SSDs and peripherals is so easy :/.
In the early days of USB Belkin was the brand of cables to follow , use , purchase
Momax is now the brand of cables to follow , use purchase
Also short cables result in the portable device ( smart phone ) having to be place down , while with very long two metre cables , the smart phone can still be utilized while being charged
@@boboften9952 I have had good luck with Anker USB cables but haven't used anything with the new USB 4 standard yet. Belkin cables should also be of decent quality but I haven't used any of their USB cables to comment from personal experience.
@@mharris5047 Yes, that's the difference between a £20 cable and a £2 cable. I also find the Anker cables to be excellent and reassuringly expensive
@@Andrew_Fernie Don't be fooled by Quality. Even Anker's most expensive Series 7 USB C cable is only USB 2 speed, but is touted at 140w. Generally I've seen most USB C cables are designed for power and not data.
I consider myself to be fairly up to date on stuff like this and in 2013 it started to confuse me. But generally, as long as the plugs fit, they worked and worked fast enough. However, the type c connector has become my favorite by far, small and reliable.
Yet another fabulous video! Thank you for all the hard work you clearly put into these videos. 👏🏻
This is the clearest, most concise discussion about USB I have found. Well done. USB, despite being confusing, delivered us from a slew of much worse connectors and standards. Soon, hopefully, the need for a drawer of misc. barrel style power cords will be a thing of the past.
Thanks for explaining the difference between the version of USB. Very informative indeed.
No problem 👍
Thanks for so many great videos, I really appreciate the effort you have put in every week for so long. God bless.
Thanks. :)
Definitively the video I was in need for. At least for me, I find the USB family of connections confusing sometimes. Never had to use those old serial connections though.
Anyway, as a rule here, a very good quality video again. Congratulations Christopher!
Extremely well made video. Thank you for explaning this clearly.
Thank you Chris, now this is grass roots ExplainingComputers, and something that should be mandatory viewing in schools and colleges!
It's an increasingly confusing USB world, I long for the the old days of Centronics cables, dip switches and serial ports...
Not really. What people forget is just how thick and expensive a lot of those cables were. Going serial made a big difference.
Great overview of the various versions of USB. I was involved in the early versions of the spec 1.0 & 1.1. Our goal was to provide a single high speed and low speed (mouse guys did not want to use shielded cable) interface that could replace the plethora of special purpose connectors then used on PCs.
Power delivery was another strong requirement. Remember at the time neither Ethernet non Firewire (IEE1394) were able to deliver power. Back then the laptop guys hated having to deliver 500 ma.
All in all USB has succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. The two most surprising developments for me is the emergence of USB Flash drives (back then 500 MB disk drives were mainstream) and USB being used to power an ungodly array of widgets.
All in all a pretty good track record considering we could not figure out a clever marketing name so it came to market with the name we used in development.
.
Fascinating post. Thanks greatly for sharing this here. :)
Tom, did you use a specific front-end to leave that comment, or is the lone dot on the end just a habit?
@@encycl07pedia- Probably just a typo on my part.
@@tomschmidt381 OK. I know that's how a lot of older software signals the end of a message/post. Thank you for clearing that up!
I'd blame muscle memory but I'm not familiar with your experience of Morse code.
Awesome job as usual Chris - you are the best person in the world to explain this!
This video helped me understand how little I know about the usb family. It also explained why certain type c cords that I have work differently. I realize now they are both different speeds so do not treat all devices equally. Thanks for the lesson.
USB is pretty confusing and complicated. Thank you for this clear overview.
I think I may have planted the seed for this video... great to see a fantastic job as always trying to explain the different standards and definitions with both visuals and graphs.
It's always puzzled me why USB (and HDMI and Display Port for that matter) have moved away from doing some sort of physical difference of the ports or cables, when they started going from the older black or white inner cable to the blue version of 3, it made a lot of sense.... and then they abandoned all sense whatsoever. They could have used other colours like red or green or the like or put a stamp on the plastic around the cord or port... but as you say... you really need to test both cables and devices or have a reliable manual tell you which version you have.
And of course, dodgy cable sellers will always mark up their data and power rate numbers and increase the price when they are really selling older generation types which they hope the end user won't notice. :-\
Anyway, thanks for putting up with the madness though. :-D
Thanks for this.
Plus on some systems the "blue" ver 3+ connectors is RED which doesn't really help either 🙃
Chris, a wonderfully clear explanation of a topic that defies logic, thanks. Normal engineers couldn't turn into such chaos the specification of a cable to connect two devices; there must have been at least one politician involved.
Amazing tutorial, as always! Thanks Cris!
USB from a coder's side is incredibly difficult. The 4v2 standards were published a few months ago but the naming convention sparked a lot of controversies.
Why are the names so confusing anyway? It seemed to make sense before USB 3.
"... keyboards, rodents, and lower-capacity storage."
Rodents just sent me
:)
Chris Humor is so smoothly under the radar and so dry, it Kills me every time 🤣
I was totally unawares of the bewildering array of USB's that have come and gone. Thank you, I've learned a great deal this day.
This is such a severely underrated video! I personally can't think you enough for this one. I've always scratched my head as to why the nomenclature went the way it did.
Sometimes I think it was done on purpose because a few people wanted to be a**holes. People have done worse for less. 🤷♂️
I haven't laughed as hard in any of your other videos as I did when you said "This was madness!" I remember describing USB specifications to someone, and when I pulled specs up to show him, things had changed and I was giving technically incorrect information. 📌Madness!📌
I do want to add a proposition that interfacing peripherals into a system's OS (especially into a universal standard) is probably challenging, considering the variety and possible combinations. Raspberry Pis and Arduinos are another story.
I think their defense is "It's not OUR fault if marketers just use our specification names rather than using names like USB Super Speed, USB Super Ultra Speed and USB Mega Speed.
@@SuprousOxide 100% with you. The best naming scheme tells the critical info in the name as opposed to iteration numbers which stand for something else, ie USB-A-10G cable or a USB-C-20G port. Right now, we have to search a table online and that's an annoying step.
Thanks!
Thanks for your support Jim, appreciated. :)
Extremely helpful, clear, and informative video! Especially given the ,both, madding and mind-numbing subject.
Beautifully explained as always, thank you. Love this, thanks for sharing and explaining.
I had no idea I could insert the small microUSB cables into the microUSB SS ports!
Result! :)
i have been doing that since 2015, didnet knew it wasnt a thing untill now
Thank you for this informative and well presented video.
Could you please consider making a supplementary video with a more detailed explanation of the USB PD specification and how this affects users in terms of backward compatibility and safety.
I was comfortable with the USB standard whilst it was limited to 5v. It seemed safe to use any charger with any device. I am not sure if this is still true.
My latest phone charger has a USB-A connector and is capable of supplying voltages of up to 20v. I presume that it is safe to use this with any new device using a new USB-A to USB-C cable.
However, I still use an 8-year-old Amazon Kindle Paperwhite with a USB-A to micro-USB cable. I doubt that this would survive a 20v input and it is unlikely to incorporate logic to control the charger voltage. Is it safe to connect this to the phone charger?
I have heard reports that some older USB-A to USB-C cables are incompatible with the latest standards and should be discarded. If this is true, how can they be identified?
The EU are seeking to encourage the use of universal chargers and charging cables. This is a laudable goal but is it safe with current hardware?
This I may well do -- it depends hw well this video does. I did download 17 USB PD specifications/revisions whilst making this video.
Getting 20V out of the charger is not that easy there are clear steps listed in the protocol. You can get a passive cable that has specific resistors to get 5v but for more than 5v there are lot of steps a usb pd downstream port has to do to negotiate 20V from the charging brick.
I think ur ok as long as you don't use any sketchy active cable. Any ordinary passive cable which doesn't communicate with the brick will get 5v, 0.9A at most. The protocol is such that legacy devices don't get destroyed if used.
A properly detailed video, loved watching it
Thanks for this video. You did a great job explaining it. This is the best video explaining the USB interface.
Thanks. :)
Let's hope that USB type C lasts for next 10 to 15 years. The main advantage of type C is that it is same for hosts and peripherals of different form factors, plus it can also act as a power delivery port. And last but not the least, it is reversible.
The only complaint I have is why it took so many years to come up with something like this.
On the reversible part, there have been reversible USB A male plugs for sometime now, as companies like JLab use them on their true wireless earbuds cases that's also very thin for charging with pins on both sides of the plug, and I have I had a right angle USB C female to USB A male adapter(came with a Gulikit USB C Bluetooth adapter for Switch that also works on PC as it acts like a USB sound card) that can be reversed, and it plugged in either way with the USB A plug that has normal metal shielding around it, that not only charges, but supplies data. Having said that, they are not very common sadly.
Despite its many advantages, the problem I have with the Type C connector is that it doesn't lock in place unlike, say, a DisplayPort connector.
Thanks. Reminds me of a camel-horse designed by committee.
Was a little disappointed that you avoided the naming problems of the different standards, Hi Speed etc. For me that was their biggest sin.
I think there's another important takeaway - as long as the plugs fit, all standards are compatible, albeit at the lowest performance of the partners.
There is/was another problem, mixing different versions on hubs slowed the hub for all devices on it, and daisy chained...
That is fabulously informative... I had given up trying to get my head around USB standards.
Great job sorting out all these confusing elements of USB.
Let's go algorithm people need this information
:)
Phone manufacturers still sell USB-C devices with 2.0 speeds, which, if 4K video is and Micro SD extension/swap isn't an option, feels like a deliberate troll at this point.
Yes, there are a lot of USB-C USB 2.0 implementations. It brings us back to the issue of the connector not indicating the specification.
Very educational. This is one that I have saved to watch again.
Thank you for this! The progression of USB standards has been a great boon in the computing world, but it has also been a mess. Your video helped my understanding greatly!