[HN Gopher] USB4 v2 is also 120 Gbps
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       USB4 v2 is also 120 Gbps
        
       Author : WithinReason
       Score  : 184 points
       Date   : 2022-09-02 19:19 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.angstronomics.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.angstronomics.com)
        
       | antman wrote:
       | USB v4.1574787547zXQ 120gb mode will be enabled if you buy a rare
       | cable captured from Hades by Hercules himself and your laptop has
       | a chipset certified by Intel, Huawei and WWF. Side question: Does
       | anyone know where I xan find a USB display cable for under 30$?
       | (Don't remember the version)
        
       | userbinator wrote:
       | IMHO they should've just used a similar convention to what IEEE
       | did with Ethernet, given that the speeds are now roughly
       | comparable:
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_physical_layer#Naming...
        
       | jaimehrubiks wrote:
       | Will USB replace Ethernet at some point?
        
       | syngrog66 wrote:
       | I've lost track of how many different USB standards exist now
        
         | dopa42365 wrote:
         | https://fabiensanglard.net/usbcheat/index.html
        
           | dataflow wrote:
           | That's even worse than I thought. So SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps is
           | known not only was "USB 3.1", but also "USB 3.2"? And
           | SuperSpeed USB 5Gbps and 20Gbps are also _both_ known as
           | "USB 3.2"? So when someone says "USB 3.2" what are they
           | referring to?!
        
             | garaetjjte wrote:
             | You can't tell without that Gen suffix, because it got
             | retroactively renamed so that manufacturers could stick
             | "USB 3.2" label on their old USB 3.0 devices.
        
           | userbinator wrote:
           | I have a feeling that things went off the rails starting with
           | USB 3.0. They should've just gone with USB 3, 4, 5, 6, ...
        
       | pmalynin wrote:
       | When are we going to hear about USB4.1 2x2 Gen 1 V2? Surely that
       | will be compatible with existing cables.
        
         | Dalewyn wrote:
         | The touted 80gbps one is presumably USB4 Gen4x2x2 (or Gen4x4?),
         | this is presumably USB4 Gen4x3x1 or something.
         | 
         | No, I don't even know. Can we please just call them fucking
         | USB11 and USB12 or something?
        
           | Dylan16807 wrote:
           | The number after the x is the number of lanes, FYI.
        
           | sophacles wrote:
           | No, V1 of the USB versioning scheme has been deprecated for
           | several versioning scheme versions now.
        
             | bee_rider wrote:
             | The simple solution is to specify which versioning scheme
             | you referring to when talking about USB, so USB4
             | Gen4x2x2(V1)
        
               | LexGray wrote:
               | Even easier. Just have the EU mandate that everybody will
               | be required this year to support USB4 Gen4x2x2(v1) on all
               | devices. This will solve everything!
        
           | jeroenhd wrote:
           | 80gbps is a bit of a weird one. To work with 120gbps, that
           | would imply that 80gbps is two lanes and 120gbps is three
           | lanes in a single cable. I suppose this is possible with the
           | type C connector as it has plenty of pairs.
           | 
           | This would make USB4 80gbps (the sticker you see on the box)
           | USB4 Gen 4x2, as there are two lanes of the fourth lane type.
           | The 120Gbps one contains three lanes of the fourth lane
           | version, or USB4 Gen 4x3.
           | 
           | There's no need for USB11 and USB12. Look at the
           | 10/20/40/80/120Gbps sticker on the box. That tells you all
           | you need to know.
        
             | Dalewyn wrote:
             | >80gbps is a bit of a weird one. To work with 120gbps, that
             | would imply that 80gbps is two lanes and 120gbps is three
             | lanes in a single cable. I suppose this is possible with
             | the type C connector as it has plenty of pairs.
             | 
             | As I understood it from TFA, 80gbps is realized with 2
             | lanes down, 2 lanes up; while 120gbps is realized with 3
             | lanes down, 1 lane up (yes, the opposite direction is
             | capped to 40gbps).
             | 
             | So that's USB4Gen4x2x2 and USB4Gen4x3x1 if we use the
             | current genxlane nomenclature? Who knows.
             | 
             | >There's no need for USB11 and USB12. Look at the
             | 10/20/40/80/120Gbps sticker on the box. That tells you all
             | you need to know.
             | 
             | I can't recall the last time I actually saw a gbps marking
             | on USB cable/device marketing, so no I can't "look at the
             | sticker" because it doesn't exist.
             | 
             | Just give me an unambiguous, whole, unique USB standard
             | revision number for me to compare with my other devices and
             | cables. The current system of superceding and overlapping
             | standard revisions and meaningless genxlane numbers is
             | fucking worthless and a waste of my time and nerves.
        
         | metadat wrote:
         | But what revision? R1 or R1.31?
         | 
         | If you use an R1 cable on a 1.31 device, you may end up with a
         | brick, or even worse a fire.
         | 
         | Before plugging them in, I always dissect open the ends of my
         | cables and examine the chips under a microscope just to be
         | certain. Sometimes a delid is also needed, in such instances I
         | head over to Ken Shirriff's house. :P
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | noisy_boy wrote:
         | If you make things compatible, how will you sell more things?
        
         | al2o3cr wrote:
         | Personally, I'm waiting for USB4 HD Chain of Memories 358/2
         | Birth by Sleep Remix Final Chapter Prologue 2.0
        
           | ArcMex wrote:
           | Wow, this comment is a sight for Soras
        
         | bxparks wrote:
         | I _think_ you are joking about  "USB4.1 2x2 Gen 1 V2", but I
         | can't tell. USB naming is messed up.
        
           | MBCook wrote:
           | To make it less confusing they'll be moving to the old WiFi
           | style names. The new versions will be called, in order:
           | 
           | USB-A, USB-B, USB-R, USB-CZ, USB-L2, USB-S, then USB-D. To
           | avoid confusion they'll use the same physical port, which is
           | now Type-C, but renamed Type-1138.
           | 
           | USB-D is somewhat theoretical as we're likely to go through
           | more renaming by then. But I digress.
           | 
           | It's important to note each version of the standard supports
           | both active ("o") and passive ("u") variants depending on
           | distance.
           | 
           | Power levels are a simple scale of 10^nth milliwatts,
           | expressed as a Roman numeral for readability. So I = 10mw, II
           | = 100mw, etc.
           | 
           | Soon you can buy a highly advanced passive USB cable capable
           | of delivering 10kW to your car for charging.
           | 
           | USB-SuX.
        
             | Dalewyn wrote:
             | Thanks, I hate it.
        
             | [deleted]
        
             | ffhhj wrote:
             | Waiting for USB-BSU
        
               | MerelyMortal wrote:
               | Sounds like a knock-off of NTSF:SD:SUV::
               | 
               | (a great show by the way)
        
               | whynaut wrote:
               | when I see that many letters, I just think Law and Order.
        
             | drdaeman wrote:
             | But in the end they'll "restart" it and call it just "USB".
        
           | jeroenhd wrote:
           | On consumer devices, this would be "USB4 120Gbps". Look for
           | this when you're in the store.
           | 
           | If you're designing circuit boards or writing drivers, you'll
           | need the full spec.
           | 
           | Assuming the new spec pushes 60Gbps over a single lane, that
           | would be "USB 4 Gen 4x2" going by the USB spec. Two lanes
           | (x2) at the new lane type (4), part of the new USB 4 spec. A
           | device only capable of driving a single new fancy lane would
           | be "USB 4 Gen 4x1".
        
           | marcosdumay wrote:
           | I think it's only a matter of they renaming every model every
           | time the standard is updated. So models come with
           | $standard_version $standard_revision $main_model_version
           | $minor_model_version, and there are different sets of all of
           | those numbers that refer to the same thing.
           | 
           | Or maybe they have another naming schema orthogonal to that
           | that I don't know about.
        
           | jacoblambda wrote:
           | This kills me because USB naming is actually super
           | straightforward.
           | 
           | USB3.0, USB3.1, and USB3.2 are spec revisions.
           | 
           | USB3.1 (and 3.2) support Gen 1 and Gen 2 physical
           | layer/transmission modes (gen 1 is 8b/10b encoding and gen2
           | is 128b/132b encoding).
           | 
           | USB3.2 adds support for using the extra differential pair in
           | the cables to transmit data. So now you get x1 and x2 which
           | correspond to the number of lanes available for data
           | transmission (akin to PCIE x1, x4, x8, and x16).
           | 
           | So USB3.2 gen 2 x2 is just the USB3.2 standard using
           | 128b/132b encoding over 2 lanes.
           | 
           | The problem is that everyone decided to use the tech spec
           | identifiers rather than the consumer identifiers for labeling
           | products. If you are in engineering working on making the
           | product which uses USB ports, then you would look for ICs
           | that support USB3.2 gen2x2 operation but if you are selling a
           | consumer product, you are supposed to label it as a USB3 SS+
           | 20Gbps port.
        
         | chx wrote:
         | They did learn their lesson. The marketing name for USB4 cables
         | are simply
         | 
         | USB4(r) 20Gbps
         | 
         | and
         | 
         | USB4(r) 40Gbps
         | 
         | https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/usb4_language_produc...
         | 
         | These version numbers are internal.
         | 
         | Products will be called USB4(r) 80Gbps.
        
           | okanat wrote:
           | The USB3 names were also internal (Proper marketing terms
           | were Superspeed 5/10/20 Gbps). However motheboard
           | manufacturers loved technobable as marketting.
        
         | dheera wrote:
         | I dunno but why can't we just use fiber already
        
           | le-mark wrote:
           | I wish I could get 100gbs+ fiber as cheap and ubiquitous usb
           | 2.0. I'm curious why not as well.
        
           | eru wrote:
           | Optical fibre ain't useful for the kinds of applications that
           | USB does.
           | 
           | (We have fibre to the home here in Singapore. It's great. But
           | also fragile.)
        
           | jabbany wrote:
           | Doesn't pass power?
           | 
           | A huge chunk of the newer USB protocols has also been support
           | for higher wattage faster charging.
        
             | cesarb wrote:
             | Playing devil's advocate: a fiber+power cable makes some
             | sense. The main thing which limits the cable length is the
             | data wires, not the power wires (just notice how one of the
             | main counter-arguments for "one USB cable to rule them all"
             | is "the higher bandwidth passive USB cables have to be
             | shorter and thicker").
        
               | lazide wrote:
               | Fiber is far too fragile to deal with the abuse even
               | babied USB cables put up with, unless you mandate some
               | kind of semi-articulating steel conduit anyway.
        
               | dheera wrote:
               | So do it? Steel is cheap and recyclable.
        
               | eternityforest wrote:
               | It's also heavy and won't be recycled till we can
               | landfill mine.
               | 
               | Now your short cables need heavy steel and fiber just to
               | make long cables possible. Or else you have to have
               | fiber+high speed copper in one connector.
        
               | Dylan16807 wrote:
               | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy312cUHumk&t=288s
               | 
               | Fiber can be _very_ durable.
               | 
               | Once you get past the sticker shock of the transceivers.
        
               | _hypx wrote:
               | We can just make them thicker so abusive bending is not
               | easy to do.
        
             | dheera wrote:
             | So put power? You can run fiber right alongside 50 amp high
             | voltage cables if you want without any signal corruption
             | issues whatsoever.
             | 
             | For practical purposes they'd need just {fiber, 19VDC,
             | GND}, and none of the schengens that USB-C has. No
             | shielding issues, no signal corruption issues, nothing. And
             | you could run it for kilometers.
        
               | dTal wrote:
               | You need at least 5V DC for backwards compatibility with
               | devices that expect that.
        
               | dheera wrote:
               | No, you don't. Get an adapter with a voltage converter,
               | just like you would if you need to plug a 120V-only
               | device in a 240V outlet.
               | 
               | 120VAC outlets have not changed in 60 years and that's
               | owing to the fact that they output just straight-up
               | power, no negotiation BS.
        
               | eternityforest wrote:
               | Voltage converters are big and not that reliable at the
               | consumer level. Putting the power supply in something
               | replacable is a good thing. Going from 19 to 5 would be
               | an extra conversion step.
               | 
               | Plus, 19v is too low. USB does 48v for the 240W mode. You
               | could use more current, but then you are wasting copper
               | and making connectors bigger and heavier.
               | 
               | I used to not be a fan of negotiation but it seems that
               | it's highly reliable these days, stuff isn't getting
               | fried because of incorrect voltage selection.
        
               | cesarb wrote:
               | > 120VAC outlets have not changed in 60 years
               | 
               | Where I live, 120VAC outlets last changed less than 20
               | years ago, with the adoption of the new NBR 14136
               | standard for plugs and sockets.
        
           | Pet_Ant wrote:
           | You can, there is no reason that the data transmission cannot
           | be done with fibre. You just need a fibre to USB coupler at
           | the end and a source of power. If you have a use case for it
           | you could build it with two Raspberry Pi and a pair of
           | couplers.
           | 
           | Now is it worth it? That's another issue.
        
         | RicoElectrico wrote:
         | ... & Knuckles (tm)
         | 
         | But in all seriousness, this is one of the worst things
         | marketer types make us suffer. Breaking consistency of naming
         | and numbering. EACH and EVERY model series of ANYTHING
         | successful just has to break the pattern at some time.
         | 
         | Remember when Nokia phones had 4-digit model numbers,
         | optionally with "i"? Then Nseries and Eseries arrived which all
         | had Symbian, but confusingly enough they continued to make
         | 4-digit models with Symbian in parallel. They also started
         | "classic" and "slide" series which often reused other unrelated
         | model numbers. Around 2010 they changed it all to a hot mess
         | like X3-02, C3-01, then came 3-digit optionally with Asha in
         | front. Thankfully they were not as creative with Lumia which
         | had 3-digit or 4-digit models.
        
           | rcthompson wrote:
           | USB4.1 2x2 Gen 1 V2 & Knuckles requires you to plug the cable
           | into a special active adapter that then plugs into the
           | device.
        
         | joshstrange wrote:
         | I was SURE they had learned their lesson after the clusterfuck
         | that was 3.1/3.2 but no, right back at the same shit again.
         | 
         | It's hard to see this as anything but purpose-built to make it
         | harder to tell what a cable is capable of (a huge boon to
         | scammers, aka: 90% of cable sellers). If the USB-IF had half a
         | brain between them all (clearly they don't) they would require
         | the data/charging/etc specs to be printed on the cable. Instead
         | they spend their time coming up with confusing standards that
         | are indecipherable to the average person which lead to a shitty
         | world where everyone needs a cable tester to know what a cable
         | is capable of, or they have constant bad experiences with a
         | cable that fits the port but underperforms if it works at all.
         | 
         | I've heard some people say this is because it's all marketing-
         | driven vs engineering-driven, if that's the case the fire the
         | whole department because they suck at marketing. It's gotten to
         | the point the only cables I can trust are from Anker and even
         | those suffer from lack of labeling on them.
        
           | jeroenhd wrote:
           | The USB versioning makes total sense. People just
           | misunderstand versioning, in a similar way to how some people
           | thing version 1.2 is higher than version 1.11 because
           | versioning sucks.
           | 
           | For the general consumer, there are three labels. SuperSpeed
           | USB 5Gbit/s, SuperSpeed USB 10Gbit/s, and SuperSpeed USB
           | 20Gbit/s. More Gbit/s is more better. Easy and
           | understandable. SuperSpeed USB 10Gbit/s used to be called
           | SuperSpeed+ but that was a mistake that was soon corrected.
           | All the gen-X-Y-by-Z stuff is for people who read data sheets
           | for fun. You don't need to care and you shouldn't.
           | 
           | The Gen 3.2 2x2 label is juar not for general consumers. It's
           | a technical spec written in a similar way to how law works:
           | the spec has revisions.
           | 
           | Take food for a comparison. There have been big lawsuits
           | around whether something is a biscuit or a cake for weird tax
           | reasons. For this analogy I'm going to assume cakes are just
           | better biscuits, swap them around in your head if you
           | disagree.
           | 
           | Now, if I sell a biscuit, I'll say "1 biscuit". This is
           | similar to 1x1 in USB terms. Then I come up with my improved
           | biscuit, or a cake, and I'll also sell cakes; I'll put "1
           | cake", or 2x1 in USB terms. The generation is just how good
           | the food is or how fast the lane is.
           | 
           | Through the magic of engineering I also find a way to pack
           | multiple foodstuffs into a single box! I now sell boxes of "2
           | biscuits" (1x2) and "2 cakes" (2x2). In practice, nobody
           | needs boxes of 2 biscuits, but it's a technical possibility.
           | 
           | However, suppose the law changes this year. Some biscuits are
           | now cakes, some cakes are now biscuits.
           | 
           | If my target audience is the general public, I'll put "2
           | cakes" and "2 biscuits" on the right boxes with updated
           | packaging or ingredients. This is similar to the USB logo
           | with a little 10 or "SuperSpeed USB 10Gbit/s". Because nobody
           | buys my boxes of two biscuits, I don't even bother designing
           | a logo for them.
           | 
           | If my target audience demand technical specs on my food, I'm
           | in trouble now, though. How do they know if my definitions
           | are based on the new law or the old law? Will their dietary
           | compliance officer let them buy from me? The solution is
           | simple: add the spec you're following to the ingredient list
           | on the back!
           | 
           | Now I'm selling "two biscuits (food law of 2021)", or in USB
           | terms "USB 1x2 Gen 3.2", and "two cakes (food law of 2022)",
           | "USB 2x2 Gen 3.2" in USB terms.
           | 
           | Cakes can be cakes in both 2021 and 2022 law, but I don't
           | think anyone will be confused if you write down according to
           | what law they're considered cakes. Similarly, people
           | shouldn't get confused by what spec the USB description
           | works. Look at the consumer name for comparison of actual
           | products, look up the provided spec the conversation table
           | that came with your copy of the latest USB spec if you want
           | to get a pedantic view.
           | 
           | This versioning problem is everywhere. Are two PCIe Gen 4
           | lanes faster or slower than four PCIe Gen 3 lanes? How does a
           | PCIe Gen 5 lane compare? What about memory, is DDR5-3200
           | faster or slower than DDR4-3200? Is an Intel Core i7 12700
           | faster than an Intel Core i9 11900K? What about a Ryzen 7300
           | versus a Ryzen 3950X?
           | 
           | The label "USB4v2" should probably be changed to "USB4 Gen 2"
           | for consistency, but this random Chinese hardware
           | manufacturer might just have used the wrong name here. This
           | isn't part of the official USB spec, it's just a name some
           | person found on some machine.
        
             | Dalewyn wrote:
             | If we're going to be talking about general consumers, most
             | can't (and righteously shouldn't) handle anything more than
             | one whole incrementing number. WTF is a "gbits", a layman
             | would ask; is it Google Bits?
             | 
             | Car manufacturers have this drilled down: Each new model
             | car gets a new version number based on year of release,
             | nothing more nothing less. 2020 Honda Civic, 1995 Toyota
             | Camry, 2022 Tesla Model S. Newer year? Newer model. Simple.
             | Done.
             | 
             | Likewise, USB should be numbering each and every new
             | different standard revision with a whole number if the goal
             | is to attain general consumer understanding. By my tally,
             | we're up to USB12 with USB4v2120gbps (USB11 for
             | USB4v280gbps).
             | 
             | How fucking simple everything would be if instead of asking
             | if a cable/device is compatible with USB3.2, which can be
             | USB3 or USB3.1 and Gen1x1, Gen2x1, Gen2x1, Gen1x2, or
             | Gen2x2 because nobody knows WTF Gens are, we ask if it's
             | compatible with USB6 (aka USB3.2Gen2x2). It's simple and
             | unambiguous.
             | 
             | USB naming schemes as it stands is pig latin to computer
             | nerds, let alone the layman. If the goal is universal
             | understanding by the public at large, aka the general
             | consumer, it is failing hard.
        
               | bigDinosaur wrote:
               | All consumers need to know is that more 'gbits' is
               | better, so it's fine. I think that's true enough as a
               | generalisation to be acceptable.
        
             | prng2021 wrote:
             | It's definitely nowhere near that easy for general
             | consumers.
             | 
             | This Lenovo page lists USB ports "USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (full
             | function, USB+DP+PD)" and " USB-3.2 Gen 1 Type-A", with no
             | mention of speed https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thi
             | nkbook/thinkbook-s...
             | 
             | This HP laptop lists USB 3.1 Type C and 3.1 Type A, with no
             | mention of speed. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-
             | envy-x360-2-in-1-15-6-touch-...
             | 
             | Apple's MacBook Air page lists "USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to
             | 10Gb/s)".
             | 
             | Now, imagine someone buying a USB hub or dock. You might
             | ignore the details from above and just search Best Buy or
             | Amazon for any usbc compatible device. You'll most likely
             | mess up. Alternatively, you could search for a device
             | specifically compatible with "USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (full
             | function, USB+DP+PD)" as mentioned above for your Lenovo
             | and get immediately super overwhelmed and confused.
        
             | Dylan16807 wrote:
             | > However, suppose the law changes this year. Some biscuits
             | are now cakes, some cakes are now biscuits.
             | 
             | > Cakes can be cakes in both 2021 and 2022 law, but I don't
             | think anyone will be confused if you write down according
             | to what law they're considered cakes.
             | 
             | But all cakes are biscuits and always have been, better in
             | every way.
             | 
             | And many cake-biscuit packages just say the year the cake
             | upgrade was invented.
             | 
             | So if you put the cake year on something, people expect
             | those biscuits to also be cakes, and not just biscuits.
             | 
             | Even if the packages are _supposed_ to say  "cake", what
             | actually happens in practice should be taken into account.
        
           | Dalewyn wrote:
           | >indecipherable to the average person
           | 
           | Average person? This shit is indecipherable even for hardcore
           | computer nerds.
        
             | pvorb wrote:
             | Now I'm imagining a team of archaeologists in 2000 years
             | who are struggling to decipher USB cable packaging in an
             | abandoned electronics warehouse.
        
               | iforgotpassword wrote:
               | They have successfully reverse engineered our computer
               | architectures, found abundant documentation on TCP/IP et
               | al, one team had a major breakthrough and international
               | recognition when they recovered large parts of the
               | network infrastructure of an old obscure company called
               | Google, which uncovered a platform for hosting audio-
               | visual content, giving researchers abundant material to
               | reconstruct how past societies worked. But that one thing
               | they just can't crack is those weird cables with
               | different plugs and colors and names, misleading and
               | contradicting instructions, documentation and
               | specifications. They'll never find out what secrets these
               | plastic-encased HDDs hold.
        
               | snovv_crash wrote:
               | The most probably cause for the civilizational downfall,
               | argue the archeologists, is that after a software update
               | everyone's devices stopped being able to communicate with
               | each other. They found references to a prophecy of this
               | in old books, and refer to it as the "Babble" event.
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | bsimpson wrote:
           | You know what's handy about a Thunderbolt 3 cable? It has a
           | thunderbolt and the number 3 silkscreened onto the plugs.
        
             | GekkePrutser wrote:
             | The target market for thunderbolt and USB cables are very
             | different though. Most USB cables are bought by people who
             | just want to charge their iphone and don't want to spend a
             | cent too much. Thunderbolt cables are bought by people who
             | want to send data between very specific and expensive
             | devices.
        
           | bravura wrote:
           | Can you recommend a reliable cable tester?
        
             | voltagex_ wrote:
             | What do you want to test? Another reply has mentioned the
             | 15K USD TotalPhase device, which I'd love to use one day.
             | 
             | For "home" testing, I've used a USB C -> NVMe enclosure
             | (UGreen is my favourite) with a half decent NVMe drive in
             | it. Does the drive reach 1 gigabyte / second sustained
             | read/write? Congrats, the cable supports 10 gigabit.
        
             | ThrowawayTestr wrote:
             | You can get little USB power meters but they only tell you
             | voltage and current, not transfer capability. Actual cable
             | testers cost thousands.
        
               | charcircuit wrote:
               | >Actual cable testers cost thousands.
               | 
               | Why? Surely there could be some SBC or something for like
               | $100 which you could connect to your computer. The
               | testing software can measure how long it takes to
               | transfer a file. Then it could try charging itself from
               | the computer requesting a higher and higher wattage. I
               | don't see how a device like that could be so expensive.
        
               | mikewhy wrote:
               | So that measures transfer speeds, but what about the rest
               | of the things USB carries?
               | 
               | Here's an example of the data that cable testers can give
               | you: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XFbJD6RE4EY
        
               | charcircuit wrote:
               | The goal is to determine the type of cable. Testing the
               | signal quality is an entirely different thing.
        
               | sdenton4 wrote:
               | It would be helpful if the connectors for the different
               | cables had different shapes, so it would be immediately
               | obvious what kind of cable it is and mostly prevent
               | plugging incompatible cables into the wrong places. Thank
               | you for listening to my TED talk.
        
               | jimmydorry wrote:
               | Thanks to "helpful" legislation, everything must use the
               | same port. Expect this to only make the situation worse
               | in the coming years.
        
               | _adamb wrote:
               | Yeah, I would like a test device that could let me know
               | which transfer rates a cable supports. I've got a huge
               | pile of USBC cables (and adapters). A good chunk of them
               | might even be USB 2.0!
               | 
               | It seems like a device capable of acting as a host &
               | device could just try to shove data down a cable and see
               | what the max is...
        
               | newaccount74 wrote:
               | On the Mac, there's a simple way to check cables:
               | 
               | Take a USB3 device, plug it in with the cable, and then
               | go to System Profiler (Apple Menu -> About this Mac ->
               | System Profiler). Look for the device, and check the
               | speed. If it says 480MB/s it's a USB 2 cable, if it says
               | 5GB/s, 10GB/s or 20GB/s then it's a USB3 cable.
               | 
               | I assume there's a way to do the same thing on Windows
               | and Linux.
        
               | hanche wrote:
               | I just tested that, and it works. Using a Samsung T7 SSD.
               | Clever. Now I wonder if a similar trick works for power
               | capabilities?
        
               | voltagex_ wrote:
               | There's $50-200USD USB PD meters on AliExpress. I like
               | Ruideng / RD-Tech brand ones.
        
               | eyegor wrote:
               | I mean sure, but you can't see signal quality at 1gb/s
               | without a scope capable of much higher rates (you need at
               | least a few points in each period). Short of muxing
               | together several fpgas and hand picking components, you
               | straight up can't see the signals. There's a reason why
               | you can buy a 4 digit multimeter for $30, 5 for maybe
               | $500, and >5 costs thousands.
        
             | gumby wrote:
             | Real cable testers are specialized high speed scopes with
             | all sorts of protocol support and cost thousands.
             | 
             | But what you need is a device that simply queries the cable
             | and asks it what it thinks it can do. I haven't seen one
             | for sale and am too busy to make one, but it shouldn't be
             | that hard.
             | 
             | Apple's system info ought to tell you this but doesn't.
        
               | userbinator wrote:
               | Thousands? You're about 1-2 orders of magnitude low...
        
               | input_sh wrote:
               | Thousands sounds about right to me. For example the only
               | one I've played with is $15k (Advanced Cable Tester by
               | Total Phase).
        
             | joshstrange wrote:
             | I wish, I've looked a little but part of the problem is the
             | new specs. I doubt many testers can be "forward compatible"
             | to be able to test new specs before they exist. I have an
             | old USB-A tester I used but it's obviously useless for
             | USB-C and all it's specs. Even then, the old tester I have
             | just tells you the speed/wattage, not the max, it's more
             | for monitoring than testing.
             | 
             | At some point I'll just have to bite the bullet and get
             | whatever is on the market and hope there aren't new specs
             | right around the corner.
        
               | edude03 wrote:
               | I believe Totalphase tests signal integrity instead of
               | specifically what kind of cable it is - which solves the
               | forward compatibility problem but their stuff is very
               | expensive for the home user
        
           | bryanlarsen wrote:
           | AFAICT they are learning some lessons. Its not supposed to be
           | called USB4 V2. It's USB 80Gbps. But whether vendors get with
           | the program...
        
           | chx wrote:
           | They did learn their lesson. The marketing name for USB4
           | cables are simply
           | 
           | USB4(r) 20Gbps
           | 
           | and
           | 
           | USB4(r) 40Gbps
           | 
           | https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/usb4_language_produc.
           | ..
           | 
           | These version numbers are internal.
           | 
           | Products will be called USB4(r) 80Gbps.
        
             | vinay_ys wrote:
             | Little good it did with USB-C. They have a similar language
             | guidelines for USB-C -
             | https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/usb_type-
             | c_language_...
        
               | chx wrote:
               | Nothing this simple, no.
        
               | Macha wrote:
               | The old marketing names assume a user can understand the
               | difference between Full Speed, High Speed and Super Speed
               | without prior knowledge, and that is somehow easier
               | than... numbers.
        
           | eternityforest wrote:
           | An average person doesn't need mods than USB 2.0 speeds.
           | Anything past microSD speeds is fine. Even M.2 can only do
           | 2GB/s or so, right?
           | 
           | 120Gbps is way beyond anything an average person needs.
           | 
           | The only issue is that hopefully it will replace HDMI and
           | some cables might not handle that. But even then, it's solved
           | by buying a few Ankers and marking them with tape.
           | 
           | Yeah, it's all super confusing, and could be better, but in
           | practice it works really well.
        
             | Dalewyn wrote:
             | >Even M.2 can only do 2GB/s or so, right?
             | 
             | M.2 can do anywhere from 0.5GB/s to 14GB/s depending on the
             | protocol used.
        
             | throwaway09223 wrote:
             | No, it really doesn't work well. Have you ever used a USB
             | protocol analyzer or written a USB device driver?
             | 
             | Bad cables operating out of spec don't just make things a
             | bit slower - they introduce noise. They corrupt data which
             | best case is caught by a checksum and just creates latency
             | but worst case triggers device driver bugs and makes
             | devices behave oddly, hang, need to be plugged and
             | unplugged, etc. This is _enormously_ frustrating for users
             | and it happens _all the time_. Users typically blame their
             | devices, or their computers, rather than the bad cabling.
             | 
             | Furthermore, it's not even remotely correct that an average
             | person doesn't need more than USB2.0 speeds. That's only
             | 480Mbit/s, which isn't nearly enough to drive the $80 HD
             | webcams that we're all using while WFH. Common modern
             | webcams need like 1.5Gbit/s, and that's _just_ the webcam.
             | You can 't run a typical WFH computer on USB 2.0 in the age
             | of zoom meetings.
             | 
             | USB is an absolute nightmare right now.
        
               | eternityforest wrote:
               | I don't think average consumers use $80 webcams.
               | 
               | If you're not a 45k+ a year type, you might very well be
               | doing remote work on phones, assuming you're WFH at all.
               | Almost all laptops have built-in cameras and the
               | convenience factor is pretty high.
               | 
               | Even if you are, webcams could very well run in 480Mbps
               | if they had to, if in camera encoding was still the norm,
               | which it would be if high speed cables weren't
               | (theoretically) widespread.
               | 
               | I agree that the situation might not be ideal for people
               | doing stuff beyond average consumer level, but even that
               | could be mostly worked around with a controller firmware
               | update(Count the bit error rate, inform the user if they
               | are using a trash cable).
               | 
               | No amount of standardization and marking of the cables
               | will eliminate scammers without killing cheap uncertified
               | stuff totally, so I would think software and
               | documentation fixes would be best.
               | 
               | Most stuff already comes with a suitable USB cable. Just
               | pop up a reminder to fish out the good one if the one
               | you're using is bad.
        
               | throwaway09223 wrote:
               | "Almost all laptops have built-in cameras and the
               | convenience factor is pretty high."
               | 
               | How do you think the internal camera on most laptops is
               | connected to the rest of the computer? (Hint: It's
               | permanently wired to the USB bus. It's a non-removable
               | USB webcam)
               | 
               | Given this fact, it seems you should actually agree with
               | my original statement.
        
               | adrian_b wrote:
               | That is correct for most older laptops.
               | 
               | However, many newer laptops have begun to use cameras
               | with a MIPI interface, like the smartphones. This has
               | created problems with bad device driver support for non-
               | Windows operating systems, as discussed in a recent HN
               | thread.
        
               | voxadam wrote:
               | > This has created problems with bad device driver
               | support for non-Windows operating systems, as discussed
               | in a recent HN thread.
               | 
               | That story for the interested was "The growing image-
               | processor unpleasantness" and can be found here:
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32516826
        
               | [deleted]
        
             | Shorel wrote:
             | The average person now has a laptop without an HDMI port,
             | without a dedicated GPU, without Ethernet. It only has one
             | or two USB-C ports.
             | 
             | A USB cable replaces the HDMI connection. That by itself
             | requires more than USB 2.0 speeds. HDMI is 3.2 GB/s vs USB2
             | 480 MB/s.
             | 
             | Now add connecting an external GPU, Gigabit Ethernet, they
             | require faster speeds.
             | 
             | eGPUs in particular, use a lot of bandwidth.
        
             | NavinF wrote:
             | >Even M.2 can only do 2GB/s or so, right?
             | 
             | 2012 called and they want their PCIe 2.0 devices back.
             | 
             | My PCIe 4.0 x4 SSD does 7GB/s for bursts up to ~700GB at a
             | time (SLC cache) which is very convenient when I'm moving
             | video around. You can also get x8 and x16 data center SSDs.
             | 
             | PCIe 5.0 SSDs should come out next month and double that.
        
           | faster wrote:
           | I think standards in general are confusing to the average
           | person. The average person doesn't care about standards, they
           | care about completing a task: can I use this cable to connect
           | my Mac to a 4k Monitor? Can it pass all the power that my
           | device needs from my charger? Will this cable be a bottleneck
           | if I connect it to my external SSD storage?
           | 
           | None of my computers support USB4 today, but I'm buying USB4
           | cables so I don't have to waste so much time looking for a
           | cable that will do a particular job.
           | 
           | I want to say that I will only buy cables that are labeled
           | clearly with capabilities and bandwidth but I'm not sure that
           | is a promise I can keep.
        
             | easygenes wrote:
             | Worth noting: the USB cables I have which reliably work at
             | 20Gbps currently are considerably bulkier than other
             | cables. Thicker wire AWG and more shielding. They're not
             | always the most practical and they're considerably more
             | costly.
             | 
             | Also, I had to test quite a few cables which were sold as
             | supporting 20Gbps before finding ones that actually worked,
             | so pre-buying ones which supposedly work at a certain rate
             | when you cannot test that may not be the most prudent
             | approach.
        
           | causality0 wrote:
           | I don't understand why they can't use trademark law or
           | something to keep companies from violating the spec all over
           | the place. Even the Nintendo Switch's implementation has a
           | list of violations a full page long.
        
             | bsimpson wrote:
             | I don't think the Switch is sold as USB-C in the US. (You
             | can charge with one, but I think they tell you to use the
             | Nintendo Power Adaptor and make no mention of USB-C.)
        
               | GlitchMr wrote:
               | https://www.nintendo.com/switch/tech-specs/ says "USB
               | Type-C".
        
               | bsimpson wrote:
               | Oh hey - that's new.
        
           | plasticchris wrote:
           | My personal favorite was a usb-c gpu dock that I had actually
           | shorted out and smoked when used with any other cable.
        
             | ClassyJacket wrote:
             | My old workplace had laptops with USBC docks that would
             | only accept the cable flipped in one orientation. 50%
             | chance you'd get it wrong every time.
        
       | alliao wrote:
       | more variants than covid
        
       | shmerl wrote:
       | USB4 v2, really? How hard was it to call it USB 5?
        
       | adverbly wrote:
       | Cable noob here: can someone explain how this is possible? It's
       | faster than a max speed cpu, so is this done by multiplexing
       | things in parallel over like 10+ wires or something at a low
       | enough voltage where there is minimal induction between them?
        
       | mysterydip wrote:
       | Can consumer devices even transfer data that fast? Or is this
       | future-proofing?
        
         | AaronFriel wrote:
         | High end displays can. 8k60Hz at full (8-bit) color depth and
         | chroma (4:4:4) is around 64Gbps. The article notes that with
         | some features of the spec to reduce bandwidth, this enables
         | "8K144 HDR with Display Stream Compression and no chroma
         | subsampling" with room to spare.
         | 
         | It's a common complaint of even current generation displays &
         | docks that dual display 4k 60Hz docks are few and far between,
         | and good luck getting even one display at 4k 120Hz on docks. My
         | experience there is mostly miss, rarely hit.
        
           | threeseed wrote:
           | You can bet Apple is dying to release a 6K 120Hz (Promotion)
           | Pro Display XDR.
           | 
           | Be interesting if this USB4 v2 ends up in the upcoming
           | MacBook Pro M2.
        
           | NavinF wrote:
           | Yep I've been itching to upgrade my monitor, but 4k 120Hz is
           | still as good as it gets without compression. This is a
           | DisplayPort limitation which should improve over the next
           | year or two as new GPUs are released
        
         | NegativeK wrote:
         | I mentioned in a previous version of this discussion that PCIE5
         | NVME is specced to > 14GB/s, and I'd really like to have
         | external drives capable of that.
        
       | mjan22640 wrote:
       | It will actually be USB 4.2.1c.1
        
       | bee_rider wrote:
       | We should really mandate little bands on USB cables, like
       | resistors have, to tell us their properties.
        
       | rrgok wrote:
       | I keep dreaming the day when every peripheral (Display, Speakers,
       | Keyboards..) and component (RAM, SSD, HD, GPU, CPU) will come
       | with a just single connector ( like RJ45 or Fiber optics) and
       | they all will be connected to a switch (yes like a layer 2 switch
       | or layer 3 switch). They will comunicate with each other through
       | packets like regular TCP/IP connections.
       | 
       | You have computer A and B with a single display C. In the morning
       | you use your computer A and in the evening you want to switch to
       | computer B? Easy: go to web interface of display C and set the IP
       | address of computer B. That's it. Same for every other peripheral
       | and component. The GPU wants more RAM? Easy: just comunicate
       | directly with the RAM through the switch.
       | 
       | I know, it will be security nightmare. I know, fiber optics (I
       | guess this is the fastest network cable today?) cannot reach RAM
       | speed. In the end we are just sending bits over the wire (or
       | wireless) and we have a gazillions type/revisions of cables and
       | sockets. There will come a time where Network speed will reach
       | RAM speed (I guess this is, after CPU registers and caches, the
       | fastest component?) or close to it.
       | 
       | I don't understand it. Maybe because I'm missing something at a
       | fundamental electrical level.
        
       | rrgok wrote:
       | Dumb question: what is stopping us from creating TCP/IP over
       | USB4v2 so that I can create a home network (LAN) of 120Gbps?
        
         | mortenjorck wrote:
         | The biggest thing stopping you might be the cost difference
         | between 100 feet of cat7 versus a 100-foot certified
         | Thunderbolt 4 cable.
        
           | lazide wrote:
           | The longest true thunderbolt 4 cable you can have is 3 meters
           | or a bit under 10 ft.
           | 
           | I guess you could try making some kind of thunderbolt 4 media
           | converter and do it over fiber, but R&D would probably be
           | pretty steep.
        
             | magixx wrote:
             | There are optical Thubderbolt 3 cables made by Corning/Wero
             | up 100m ($$$$). While not TB4, I've used regular TB3 cables
             | with TB4 devices without issue. I assume it would be
             | similar for those optical cables given same bandwidth
             | requirements. I've also seen TB4 5m cables being sold with
             | the listing saying they are rated up to 30gbps instead of
             | 40.
        
         | NegativeLatency wrote:
         | USB is a tree so IDK seems hard to generally map that to a
         | packet switched network
         | 
         | If 100G NICs were avalible you could do: computer -> usb4 ->
         | 100GB NIC -> optical -> 100GB NIC -> usb4 -> computer
        
           | prvit wrote:
           | We already have things like thunderbolt-net
        
             | jeffbee wrote:
             | And we already have link aggregation, so you can have
             | 120gbps "networking" over very short distances today, if
             | you want it. All you need is four short, expensive cables.
             | The problem is you will rapidly run into system-level
             | limitations, given that 120gbps would consume more or less
             | all of the I/O resources on many common desktop-class CPUs.
        
         | DannyBee wrote:
         | The max cable Length at that speed is pretty darn short.
        
           | amelius wrote:
           | What's stopping us from adding a repeater every couple of
           | feet? Transistors aren't expensive and integrating it into
           | the cable shouldn't be too difficult.
        
             | ip26 wrote:
             | I'm sure it's possible, but 40Gbps fiber bundles probably
             | win easily on cost per bandwidth over any significant
             | distance.
        
             | DannyBee wrote:
             | It will be infinitely more expensive and harder than just
             | using fiber. Two transceivers is 350 bucks total for 2km
             | single mode. 200 for multi mode if you want cheapest
             | possible A 4 port switch is about 700 bucks.
             | 
             | You could also do 25gb x 4 and aggregate at probably 1/3
             | price. You could upgrade later, without changing fiber. You
             | could also go with the switch but use 25g transceivers, and
             | upgrade the transceivers later. This is about 60% cost.
             | 
             | In a year this will all be half that price. USB4 plus a ton
             | of repeaters plus ... is going to dwarf the initial cost of
             | 100g fiber quickly. In 5 years, you will probably be able
             | to run 800g over the same fiber if you are bored. A or
             | aggregate 100g links. You would have to replace all the USB
             | with new USB-9 2x2.4 SE stuff.
        
               | BonoboIO wrote:
               | * USB-9 2x2.4 SE Gen 3 Plus :D
        
             | wyager wrote:
             | Transistors that can pass 120gbps are probably expensive as
             | hell, possibly into InP territory.
             | 
             | The cheapest way to do this is over OS2 fiber. Look up how
             | much money you have to spend to get 2x 100gbps OS2 PHYs and
             | 2x 100gbps QSFP28 cards.
        
               | amelius wrote:
               | > Transistors that can pass 120gbps are probably
               | expensive as hell, possibly into InP territory.
               | 
               | That's a strange argument, given that USB devices and
               | your USB ports and CPU need a multiple of the amount of
               | transistors in a repeater to process these signals.
        
               | wyager wrote:
               | Internal busses can operate in parallel, at some fraction
               | of the serial bandwidth. You only need really fast stuff
               | at the PHY. An interleaver/deinterleaver circuit is not
               | much more complicated than the kind of signal shaping
               | hardware you would need multiple copies of in the cable.
        
             | ChrisLomont wrote:
             | 120Gbps repeaters will be expensive. Making circuits that
             | fast is incredibly tricky, with power, heat, rf (and more)
             | issues.
             | 
             | If you think it's cheap make one and get rich.
             | 
             | But it's most certainly not cheap or easy or low cost.
        
         | NavinF wrote:
         | You can get a dirt cheap 56gbps infiniband card today and
         | connect it to your laptop via a thunderbolt riser.
         | 
         | 100gbps is not dirt cheap but it exists today and definitely
         | cheaper than the first 120gbps USB cards when they're released.
        
         | vxNsr wrote:
         | As others have said, it comes down to length, if you want
         | 120Gbps you'll need to go with fiber
        
         | rektide wrote:
         | Using a valuable rate-limited post to say: you can. USB4
         | mandates direct host-to-host connectivity. If you bought an
         | Intel laptop with 11th-gen/Rocket Lake (March 2011) or better,
         | the cpu has built-in 40Gbps USB4/thunderbolt that can do host-
         | to-host, although not every laptop implements the actual PCIe
         | side of that. This has been support in Thunderbolt since Linux
         | 4.15[1] in 2017.
         | 
         | Alas more generally, things aren't super hot for USB4 devices &
         | things like ethernet integration. USB4<->ethernet options are
         | still very very limited. Paying multi-hundred dollars for 10Gbe
         | is... unfortunate. We have a long way to go before USB4 IP
         | starts coming to actual devices; the hubs shield us from the
         | obviousness of the need by being, in effect, a far-away mini-
         | southbridge with wild behavior-switching on each port. So it's
         | easy to keep doing what we're doing. But eventually I hope we
         | stop using bridge chips and have some re-usable PCIe tunneling
         | or other just better actual USB4<->flash or USB4<->ethernet
         | chips that really try to be modern. It'll be a while.
         | 
         | As another poster says, cable length is short. 2m with active
         | cables. USB3 had a lot of great cables with active repeaters
         | built in (for a while there my desktop was 10m away from my
         | desk), and I admit, I'm surprised I haven't seen this happen
         | yet for USB4, but it should. One of my desires from USB is to
         | make a longer range USB spec. Please give me 20Gbps over 10m?
         | But for people just wanting to plug their laptop or desktop
         | into their NAS, or wanting to direct-attach a mini-cluster
         | together... heck yeah, USB4 is there for you, today.
         | 
         | [1] https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-4.15-Networking
        
         | hotpotamus wrote:
         | There was at least one model of Dell switch that used HDMI for
         | 10G connectivity a few years back, so it seems doable. I think
         | most people looking for cheap and fast home networking end up
         | going TCP over infiniband, which is a project I've been meaning
         | to look at sooner rather than later myself. You won't touch
         | 120G though, but I don't think you'll find disks that fast
         | anyway.
        
       | bitwize wrote:
       | And the only reasonable implementation will be in Apple hardware.
        
       | bastawhiz wrote:
       | Is there a reason (other than design by committee) that USB is so
       | complicated? You need to have the right kinds of connectors,
       | cables, and device support. The speeds you get vary for any
       | number of reasons. Why didn't someone just say "all the cables
       | are fast and charge good and if you want slow or bad, use old
       | USB"? It seems we've found the worst possible situation, where
       | consumers don't understand what they need or can use or why, and
       | instead of making it easier, we get the second version of the
       | fourth version which has multiple versions that all do different
       | things under different circumstances.
        
         | bombcar wrote:
         | Because if you're selling a computer, and it has a USB 2 port,
         | you don't want your spec sheet saying "USB 2" while others have
         | "USB 3", but it's hard to upgrade your stuff mid-cycle, so you
         | get "USB 3.1" to be defined as "USB 2" so you can look at least
         | competitive.
        
           | sgtnoodle wrote:
           | USB 3.1 is like 10Gbps, though?
        
             | Filligree wrote:
             | I think that's only USB 3.1 Rev2, but don't quote me on
             | that.
        
               | okanat wrote:
               | Neither is true. Because those are document generation
               | numbers being used as marketting terms by the product
               | manufacturers.
               | 
               | USB-IF should refuse to certify manufactured products
               | that doesn't use the marketing terms that do include the
               | actual speed. But it is funded by those manufacturers so
               | they do whatever they want to confuse and trap consumers.
        
         | sharikous wrote:
         | Certified Thunderbolt 4 called are available and the fastest
         | and most compatible you can get.
         | 
         | Expensive but reliable.
         | 
         | I don't understand all this hate for USB. Sure the labeling
         | could be better but having a standard that is basically back
         | compatible all the way to the nineties and now a single
         | multipurpose port for charging/storage/displays/devices is a
         | nice feat.
        
           | nuker wrote:
           | > having a standard that is basically back compatible all the
           | way to the nineties
           | 
           | My brand new 2TB SSD with USB3.2 2x2 (20Gbps) is not
           | supported by anything I have today, and looks like is not
           | supported by USB4 (and TB4).
        
           | summerlight wrote:
           | Thunderbolt adopting USB-C was definitely a clever move for
           | both Thunderbolt and USB. Thunderbolt now effectively becomes
           | a high-end branding for USB while being fully compatible for
           | lower end devices. You're willing to pay more money for
           | simplicity? Go for Thunberbolt. You wanna get an idea for how
           | the next-gen USB will look like? Go for Thunberbolt.
        
             | nuker wrote:
             | > high-end branding for USB while being fully compatible
             | for lower end devices
             | 
             | But TB4 will not support USB3.2 2x2?
        
               | throwaway290 wrote:
               | I believe TB4 _cables_ at least are required to be
               | compatible with USB3.2 gen2 x2, but _ports_ aren 't
               | (Apple laptops are not compatible apparently).
        
               | ifsothen wrote:
               | Lmao, is this true? What an absolute joke.
        
               | nuker wrote:
               | And USB4 neither. Sigh. Just got an 2x2 WD SSD drive.
        
           | rektide wrote:
           | Exactly. Yes.
           | 
           | I'd also just say this is a low information environment.
           | Traditionally, we'd rely on the media as a line of defense.
           | Product reviews would tell us who to trust, what the good
           | deals are. We trusted the media to review & find problems &
           | surface issues in the past. But those institutions have
           | undergone enormous revenue crunch, and there's very few left
           | who can really go in depth & do the deep, thorough,
           | intelligent exploration we ought trust them for. Online
           | marketplaces in the world today are bedlam, and there are few
           | trusted authorities. This is a general world condition, but
           | with tech it's extra bad because when things don't work, we
           | almost ever know why/who to blame, it's all just frustrating
           | wizard-shit that's broken & not going, & we are left bereft
           | utterly impotent in the face of these high tech system's
           | mysterious failures.
           | 
           | Honestly, I'd prefer not paying for USB-IF certification on
           | my cables, and I don't care that none of the official logos
           | designating certain compliances are met are embossed on my
           | cables. But I also am a geek who will go spend 3 hours to
           | find Benson (alas no longer active) or Linus's in-depth tech
           | reviews[1], and who doesn't mind trying some cables (buy a
           | couple different ones at a time), finding some not working, &
           | returning those, to save a couple bucks at some hassle. For
           | most people: just buy certified gear.
           | 
           | [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn2vdQZhs0w https://docs.
           | google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQ1maB_K91Aw...
        
             | bee_rider wrote:
             | Ok but it is kind of ridiculous that we have to solve the
             | whole "lack of trust in institutions and the media" and
             | also "unreliable global supply chain" problems -- very real
             | things we should be working on, sure -- in order to make
             | sure our laptops charge at full speed reliably, right?
        
         | cogman10 wrote:
         | The reason is $$$
         | 
         | Unfortunately, USB has more features than USB manufactures want
         | to support. So, the end result is a bunch of those features are
         | optional. That complicates everything. Is this a USB-C cable
         | that can support PD 3.1? Who knows! Because, not all USB-C
         | cables NEED to support PD 3.1, some of them just need to
         | transmit data at USB 2.0 speeds. Those can be made super cheap.
         | 
         | This is especially bad when talking about things like devices.
         | Sure, every device now-a-days has the USB-C connector, but does
         | your phone really need to be capable of doing 80gbps on that
         | port? Nope, so it's optional. (and would be sold, rightly so,
         | as a power saving measure).
         | 
         | Every USB feature has a fast, cheap, low power tradeoff going
         | on and the standard allows for you to mix and match features to
         | your heart's content.
        
           | Dylan16807 wrote:
           | > That complicates everything. Is this a USB-C cable that can
           | support PD 3.1? Who knows! Because, not all USB-C cables NEED
           | to support PD 3.1, some of them just need to transmit data at
           | USB 2.0 speeds. Those can be made super cheap.
           | 
           | Assuming you just mean the higher power levels, I'd say
           | that's one of the most minimal issues. Every cable supports
           | at least 60 watts, and you rarely need to consider it.
        
           | eru wrote:
           | > Unfortunately, USB has more features than USB manufactures
           | want to support.
           | 
           | It's not necessarily about 'wanting'. Manufacturers have to
           | hit certain price points, otherwise they lose business to the
           | competition that does.
           | 
           | Yes, it's about dollars. But mostly consumers' dollars.
        
         | summerlight wrote:
         | If you're trying to mandate the highest requirements for all
         | manufacturers, then they're going to either not build or not
         | conform simply because it's too expensive. This is an
         | unfortunate consequence of being the universal standard; it's
         | even worse if manufacturers decide to ignore the standard so
         | you gotta try embrace them.
        
           | Pet_Ant wrote:
           | I wonder if maybe there was more consolidation if volumes of
           | scale would allow for more fully featured defaults.
        
             | summerlight wrote:
             | Yes, I think iPhone moving to USB-C will make a dent.
             | Currently, nearly half of the mobile ecosystem doesn't work
             | with USB very well and a large portion of them represents a
             | high-end segment which the recent USB standards target for.
             | Also Apple will produce hundreds of millions of high
             | quality USB cables which will help economies of scale.
        
         | dmead wrote:
         | people who say this haven't had to work with serial devices
         | lately.
        
         | Denvercoder9 wrote:
         | > Why didn't someone just say "all the cables are fast and
         | charge good and if you want slow or bad, use old USB"?
         | 
         | Part of the problem is that making fast cables is expensive,
         | and manufacturers will skimp on that expense to save money.
        
           | spicybright wrote:
           | Which is fine. There's plenty of devices I own that just need
           | a charging cable. But it's near impossible to know what cable
           | does what. Even some of the expensive ones I've bought don't
           | do what they say.
           | 
           | You would think with how much money is pumped into the
           | governing body of the standard they could both force
           | classifications of cables/devices and also verify they
           | actually do what's advertised.
           | 
           | Every company using USB-C needs to pay $3500 USD to use the
           | branding and a proper vendor ID. Every single company. And
           | yet they still can't solve the very basics.
        
           | NovemberWhiskey wrote:
           | It's not even just that it's expensive: if you look at a
           | cable that's full-everything including top-rating for power
           | delivery, it's a pretty thick inflexible thing and not at all
           | what you want for e.g. a mouse or a keyboard or whatever.
        
             | innocenat wrote:
             | This isn't even new. Even USB 3.0 (the first gen, later
             | rebranded as USB 3.1) micro-B to A cable, which has been
             | around for at least 10 years at this point, is already not
             | good for mouse. Nor is my USB-C 2.0 with 60W PD cable.
        
           | bobbylarrybobby wrote:
           | But they can just continue making old USB2 cables
        
             | spicybright wrote:
             | But there's no profit to be made when everything new uses
             | USB-C now.
        
               | bastawhiz wrote:
               | Usb-c runs usb 2.0 just fine! And yet we still have
               | companies trying to make bad USBv(n+2)
        
             | test1235 wrote:
             | Nobody would buy their old USB2 cables when they can get
             | other faster cables, so the manufacturers of the old cables
             | would actually rather pump money into politically
             | pressuring the relevant standards committee into
             | 'massaging' their latest technical definitions to include
             | products which already exist.
        
               | Dylan16807 wrote:
               | People buy USB2 cables all the time, and they're usually
               | correctly labeled too.
        
           | bastawhiz wrote:
           | But then why make them USBv4? Just make v3 cables. Has it
           | truly been politicized by the industry to add so much
           | complexity so crappy manufacturers can sell bad
           | cables/hardware with the latest version number instead of
           | just making stuff that consumers can use?
        
         | chrisseaton wrote:
         | > all the cables are fast
         | 
         | Wouldn't that be massively expensive? I don't need my charging
         | able to cost that much.
        
           | blark wrote:
           | If I'm going to waste a 120 Gbps multipurpose port on
           | charging, I want to do it with style.
        
           | bastawhiz wrote:
           | Sure, then have a charging flavor and a data flavor. Put a
           | special little logo on the connectors. Why do we need such a
           | complicated spectrum of things that plug into each other but
           | don't work well for data or power?
        
             | chrisseaton wrote:
             | > Sure, then have a charging flavor and a data flavor.
             | 
             | Well that's what they do - and then an X flavour and a Y
             | flavour, etc, and that's how we ended up where we are.
        
               | joshstrange wrote:
               | > Put a special little logo on the connectors.
               | 
               | We absolutely don't do this. All my USB-C connector
               | cables look identical, it's utter madness.
        
               | eropple wrote:
               | I've found that the good cables that I've got all have a
               | PD wattage label at least. Except for the Apple cables,
               | but I can recognize those on sight and I'm not buying
               | USB-C cables I could confuse for then.
        
               | chrisseaton wrote:
               | Yeah we didn't do the icon part. But the original comment
               | said make them all the same, then we figured out why
               | that's not practical.
        
             | Dylan16807 wrote:
             | The spectrum of cables is not really that wide. The problem
             | is that almost none of them are labeled.
        
               | smilespray wrote:
               | Please send me the number of your dealer.
        
         | AnonCoward42 wrote:
         | There is no reason they make the transfer speeds as hard to
         | read/decipher as possible. However there is a reason that
         | features are separated. These do cost money in implementation
         | in regards to the cable, the host, and client.
        
           | bastawhiz wrote:
           | But we make the up front cost trade-off at the expense of
           | nothing working right. People buy cables or chargers that
           | don't support the right level of charging. Cables work with
           | some monitors but not others. Instead of paying extra for
           | things that just work, we end up paying for impossible-to-
           | distinguish hardware that may or may not work because of some
           | flavor of the spec that doesn't work with the other piece of
           | hardware you're trying to connect it to. A lot of that ends
           | up being instant trash. Genuine, good hardware that is just
           | incompatible is indistinguishable from badly made hardware:
           | to the consumer they both don't work. And so we end up with
           | waste and frustration in the name of saving a few bucks.
        
             | kevin_thibedeau wrote:
             | The charging situation isn't their fault. USB wasn't
             | designed for it. Non-compliant devices started allowing
             | charging before it was ever permitted. Then they added PD
             | but nobody supported it and manufacturers cooked up their
             | own ad hoc systems to detect a charger.
        
               | throwawaylinux wrote:
               | > The charging situation isn't their fault. USB wasn't
               | designed for it. Non-compliant devices started allowing
               | charging before it was ever permitted.
               | 
               | A standards body at least shares some fault when they
               | move so slowly that real solutions have to work ahead of
               | them to provide a demanded feature and things end up in a
               | mess like this.
        
               | TillE wrote:
               | I don't know what you're talking about, everybody uses PD
               | these days.
        
               | kevin_thibedeau wrote:
               | PD predates USB 3. Nobody supported it until it became
               | integrated into modern USB controllers. Prior to that
               | there were janky manufacturer specific resistor
               | combinations used to signal the presence of a charger.
        
         | poisonborz wrote:
         | I'm really starting to think this is absolutely on purpose.
         | Clear versioning would make all cables/accessories instantly
         | outdated/undesirable whenever the new generation starts to show
         | up. Unclear, obfuscated versioning is used to dampen this
         | effect - for most purposes the older cables are "good enough"
         | anyway, and when not, the user will make another buy. Same
         | thing with HDMI or WiFi.
        
         | altairprime wrote:
         | USB wants to appeal to everyone, and like HDMI is ready to
         | discount themselves (by using 'optional' capabilities) as hard
         | as it takes to appease their members. This is why you can buy a
         | USB device or cable for $1 -- and why those devices are a
         | compatibility nightmare. (The dollar amounts are higher for
         | HDMI, but the same problem applies.)
         | 
         | Thunderbolt wants to appeal to "quality at a premium" and does
         | not offer optional capabilities. This is why you can buy any
         | Thunderbolt cable and use any Thunderbolt device -- and why
         | cheap devices decline to certify for Thunderbolt.
        
           | sgtnoodle wrote:
           | Then you buy a thunderbolt dock, and your mouse and keyboard
           | stutter because of mutually incompatible bugs between the
           | bios, the thunderbolt chipset and the USB chipset.
        
             | altairprime wrote:
             | Implementation defects exist in USB, HDMI, Thunderbolt,
             | Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and exist in all protocols.
             | 
             | Thunderbolt considerably reduces the defect surface for
             | certified implementations when compared to USB and HDMI, by
             | reducing the number of optionals for cables and
             | implementors to zero.
             | 
             | That does not imply zero defects in use. It implies fewer
             | defects in use. And invisibly-damaged cables are still the
             | bane of all of us.
        
       | rektide wrote:
       | Does anything else use PAM3? PAM4 is all over the place (PCIe 6.0
       | from this winter, 25/100/200 Gbe, GDDR6X, I forget who else but
       | more), but PAM3... apparently once was used for 100BASE-T4[1].
       | That's 100 mbit, not Gbit, not 1000Mbit, 100 mbit.
       | 
       | Just so excellent that the USB4 nee-Thunderbolt tunneled/packet-
       | switched architecture means that, if we do get a speed bump, that
       | boost is a win for displays, storage, egpus connected via
       | displayport, thunderbolt, what-have-you. (Not necessarily for
       | those devices, but the % of throughput they consume diminishes
       | respectively). The leap to USB4 is a huge shift, but
       | tunneling/packet-switching has so many downstream benefits.
       | 
       | I'm sure to be downvoted, but- grasping the third rail here: does
       | anyone else tire of every time USB being mentioned, the thread
       | turning into a mudslinging festival? I find repetitive, almost
       | never constructive, usually incredibly poorly defined (my dock
       | didn't work-- ok, how? at all? doubtful) complaints repeated ad-
       | nauseam, and there's such limited energy to refute the waves of
       | negativity from the sore & aggrieved. I want there to be room for
       | these voices, but the mere mention of USB is a magnet for misery.
       | I can & apparently should write some blog posts on why things are
       | they way they are, how incremental evolution happens, and how
       | progress isn't always smooth. But to the larger phenomenon of
       | muck raking being the popular activity at every mention: it's
       | definitely not just USB, in online communities this vocal
       | persistent complaint about topics is a social condition that, so
       | far, has no remedy, no redress. Systemd had to deal with this,
       | Kubernetes, react, rails; so many have had their time on the
       | planet of being targetted subjects. It just happens again and
       | again and again, and the world doesn't deserve to have only the
       | negative so amplified. It'd be so nice to redirect these energies
       | to more focused gathering places, and to let the actual news &
       | events be discussed in peace.
       | 
       | To add a usb naming joke, and to build constructively &
       | consistently on the past, this would obviously be USB4 2x12. Two
       | channels of of 60 Gbps (5Gbps * 12). The previous USB4 2.0 would
       | be 2x8. There, I fixed it for you.
       | 
       | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse-amplitude_modulation
        
         | sophacles wrote:
         | > I'm sure to be downvoted, but- grasping the third rail here:
         | does anyone else tire of every time USB being mentioned, the
         | thread turning into a mudslinging festival?
         | 
         | No. I was sold on USB being one cable to replace them all. Now
         | we're back to making sure we carry all the right cables for our
         | devices. The glorious 20 days of "all my accessories can be
         | dealt with by one cable" was amazing and the USB folks decided
         | to go ahead and screw that up.
        
           | eternityforest wrote:
           | Most people don't do high speed anything. I have a camera I
           | can download video from but only at MicroSD speeds.
           | 
           | 90% of USB cables are for charging stuff, or low speed things
           | like keyboards. For an average person it's already close to
           | perfect. Even PD over 30W is somewhat rare.
           | 
           | USB monitors will be a little confusing but still better than
           | bulky HDMI.
        
           | rektide wrote:
           | to me it's exactly the opposite. but i've spent effort
           | growing into this.
           | 
           | i carry a keyring of adapters, one good 1m $25 heavy-duty
           | USB4 cable for connecting fancy stuff, & a regular short-ish
           | light $8 usb3 100w cable for most daily usage. there are
           | usb-c to anything pigtails/adapters up the wazoo: usb-a
           | male/female, usb-mini-b, usb-micro-b, displayport male,
           | displayport female, hdmi male, hdmi female, 20v dc barrel
           | jack, 12v dc barrel jack. most are under $10, less than the
           | specific cable. and a female/female c couplers for good
           | luck/desperate times.
           | 
           | there's some subtle side-perks over dedicated cables to. the
           | displayport & hdmi adapters often have power in, which means
           | if the target is closer to power, i can run a ~2m usb-pd
           | cable (if available) from power to target, & it shares the
           | same extra 1m to laptop reach.
           | 
           | that i can carry a 100w battery that works with nearly any
           | device is just _chef kiss_ icing-on-the-cake /intensely
           | better than where we were. thanks usb-c / usb-pd.
           | 
           | it sounds stupid, having a keyring of adapters. but i _used_
           | to carry cables for everything, way too often /just-in-case.
           | now i just carry one good cable, and a variety of jacks i can
           | put on the end of it. it's a world of improvement to me. i'm
           | not sure what world you lived in where one cable did it all-
           | i always had display, power, data cables, and i also totally
           | get how most people haven't realized how to properly/easily
           | do usb-c with pigtails/adapter jacks, but wow, it's just
           | night & day better to me, & i think it should be for you too.
        
             | sophacles wrote:
             | Given the world that exists, I'm interested in this good
             | cable and the adapters. Previous experience has shown
             | adapters to be janky at best, but that could just be an
             | area where tech has improved or I don't know how to find
             | quality yet - what do you recommend?
             | 
             | (I reserve the right to still be salty over the wasted
             | ideal of one cable to rule them all though)
        
               | rektide wrote:
               | I buy no name adapters & not a one has ever shown any
               | issue for me. "ChenYang" USB-C female to displayport
               | adapter? Runs my 1440p170 & 4k75 monitors fine. $15.
               | Ditto for the literally no-name similar looking
               | displayport adapter.
        
             | ifsothen wrote:
             | Your solution is useless for all but the 10% most tech
             | literate users. And also involves carrying around a
             | veritable toolkit of adapters and multiple cables.
        
               | rektide wrote:
               | It's not well understood/accessible. Yes.
               | 
               | But it's still far far more accessible with way less
               | effort & burden than what came before. Functionality
               | comes easier, cheaper, with less weight & more
               | functionality. It is a new domain of knoweldge &
               | understanding than the old ways buts it's better, easier,
               | lower cost & more accessible.
               | 
               | The obviousness speaks for itself & re-defines the
               | antiquated literacy of before.
               | 
               | Eventually the adapters ought go away. Beacuse every
               | peripheral ought, if they give any cares, have a usb-c
               | port. You can do whatever else might help. But do the
               | good thing: have a usb-c lort that works on you device.
               | You should. You should free us from legacy adapters.
        
         | tenebrisalietum wrote:
         | USB deserves it. It's almost as bad as SCSI, but least the 50
         | different connectors were differently shaped and I could buy
         | one that matches and know what it would do beforehand. I can't
         | do that with USB.
        
         | pclmulqdq wrote:
         | The Base-T Ethernet standards get very creative about their
         | modulation levels. 1GBase-T (IIRC) uses PAM-5. Using non-
         | standard PAM levels is a very weird thing to do, and it appears
         | to only be useful for optimizing speeds on old (or cheap)
         | cables.
         | 
         | However, PAM-4 did originally have problems with transitions
         | between the extreme levels (00 to 11 and vice versa). There was
         | academic discussion of line codes that could eliminate these,
         | but it appears that this kind of technology has fallen by the
         | wayside in favor of PAM-3 for USB.
        
           | Dylan16807 wrote:
           | > The Base-T Ethernet standards get very creative about their
           | modulation levels.
           | 
           | Yeah, just look at 100BASE-TX. It also uses 3 signal levels,
           | but in a repeating cycle and the incoming bits decide how
           | long to linger on each voltage.
           | 
           | Fun fact: Both 100BASE-TX and 1000BASE-T have a symbol rate
           | of 125MHz.
        
             | segfaultbuserr wrote:
             | Also an Ethernet fun fact: with 100BASE-T1 and 1000BASE-T1,
             | you can now get Fast and Gigabit Ethernet over a single
             | twisted pair. It's primarily used for embedded and
             | especially automotive applications to simplify wiring. Both
             | use PAM-3.
        
               | aetherspawn wrote:
               | Are you perhaps mistaking 1Gbps with 1Mbps (1000K Baud)?
               | Automotive networks are extremely slow, and there's
               | virtually no need for them to be faster.
               | 
               | The industry standard is to just add more pairs if you
               | really need it, so you see cars now with 15-20 individual
               | pairs each running at 500K or 1000K.
               | 
               | But these transports are extremely reliable, and still
               | work in most failure cases -- even if you unplug a
               | terminator, splice some long random aftermarket branch,
               | or ground or short one side. And they don't use small
               | cables either, usually just 20 AWG unshielded twisted
               | pair (not even in a shared jacket). There is not much
               | need for shielding or differential matching on PCBs, it's
               | not that sensitive.
               | 
               | Some newer forms of automotive networking used here and
               | there for a time, but OEMs keep trying them, ditching
               | them, and returning to slow networking.
        
               | segfaultbuserr wrote:
               | > _Are you perhaps mistaking 1Gbps with 1Mbps (1000K
               | Baud)? Automotive networks are extremely slow, and
               | there's virtually no need for them to be faster._
               | 
               | No, it's not a mistake.
               | 
               | Electronics is a large field, quite a few concepts can be
               | niche and unfamiliar even to its practitioners, so please
               | don't assume something is incorrect just because you
               | personally have never heard about it. I recommend doing a
               | quick search first before trying to refute anyone. Here
               | are just two examples I've came across recently:
               | 
               | 1. Someone asked a question about a "DC-link" capacitor.
               | One experienced engineer replied and claimed it's
               | nonsense, because DC cannot pass through a capacitor. But
               | in fact, it's a standard term in the power inverter
               | industry that refers to the capacitors between an AC/DC
               | and DC/AC power stage.
               | 
               | 2. An article about Ethernet "magnetics". A reader
               | replied and claimed the term "magnetics" is nonsense
               | because they've never heard of it, if it's a transformer,
               | just call it a transformer! But in fact, it's a standard
               | term in Ethernet hardware that refers to both the
               | isolation transformer and the optional common-mode choke
               | at an Ethernet port. To a lesser degree, it's also valid
               | in the power supply industry as a collective term for the
               | magnetic components like inductors, EMI chokes, and
               | transformers.
               | 
               | > _Automotive networks are extremely slow, and there's
               | virtually no need for them to be faster._
               | 
               | High-speed, Gbps-level digital link solutions for
               | automotive applications are currently being heavily
               | promoted by semiconductor companies, it started since a
               | few years ago. This is something you can immediately know
               | just by a casual browsing of their websites and take a
               | look of their latest chips, like Analog, Maxim, or TI. I
               | assume this interest first came from the demand side, by
               | the OEMs. You don't just make these chips for nothing.
               | 
               | One major application is the transmission of HD videos in
               | a car entertainment system.
               | 
               | > _Some newer forms of automotive networking used here
               | and there for a time, but OEMs keep trying them, ditching
               | them, and returning to slow networking._
               | 
               | You may be correct. This can be another attempt at it,
               | and may or may not be ultimately successful.
        
               | Dylan16807 wrote:
               | Top google results for "1000BASE-T1":
               | 
               | > The 1000BASE-T1 MediaConverter establishes one direct
               | point-to-point conversion between automotive ECUs using
               | 1000BASE-T1
               | 
               | > DP83TG720S-Q1 1000BASE-T1 Automotive Ethernet PHY
               | DP83TG720 is pin-2-pin compatible to TI's. 100Base-T1 PHY
               | enabling design scalability with single board for both
               | speeds.
               | 
               | > 1000BASE-T1 from Standard to Series Production.
               | Enabling Next Generation Scalable Architecture. Olaf
               | Krieger (Volkswagen), Christopher Mash (Marvell).
               | 
               | I don't know what they want the bandwidth for, but it's a
               | real thing.
        
               | rektide wrote:
               | -T1 matters. Thats an uncommon variant. Most base-t &
               | what most people would assume Gbe base-t means is
               | base-t4, four twisted pair (-T4), connected via 8 pin
               | RJ45.
               | 
               | IEEE 802.3bp is I think when 1000base-t1 happened: 2018.
               | Way way way after rj45's 1000base-t4.
        
               | Dylan16807 wrote:
               | > -T1 matters. Thats an uncommon variant.
               | 
               | > 2018
               | 
               | Well yeah! That's why it was introduced as a "fun fact"
               | that you "can now get".
        
         | jiggawatts wrote:
         | All the things you listed are industry-wide standards or
         | frameworks where people are essentially _forced_ to use them. I
         | mean sure, not at gunpoint, but they're inescapable in
         | practice, especially at typical workplaces.
         | 
         | All of those things are also fairly opinionated and all-
         | encompassing, trying to be all things for all people... and
         | failing to be a good fit for many of them.
         | 
         | Hence the grumbling.
         | 
         | You'll see similar conversations about government too for the
         | same reasons: forced on people, wide scope, poor fit for many.
         | 
         | Inevitably someone will say: "But you have a choice! You don't
         | _have_ to use whatever the subject is!"
         | 
         | Sure... I can live on an island away from everything.
         | 
         | I'm a Windows systems integrator and I'm learning Kubernetes
         | now even though it's a poor fit for Windows.
         | 
         | Why? Because it's the "new hotness" and several vendors support
         | it and clients demand it.
         | 
         | So I'm forced to deal with something I don't really want to.
         | Not to say that k8s is necessarily bad, just that it's not nice
         | to deal with in my scenario...
        
       | imwillofficial wrote:
       | A bright spot is, god damn this technology is evolving fast. Sure
       | the naming sucks, but isn't it such a great time to be alive?
        
       | Traubenfuchs wrote:
       | Is there any reason why the first generation of USB4 was not 120
       | Gbps?
       | 
       | Magical protocol and compression changes beyond the mortal mind?
       | 
       | New discoveries in material and electrical engineering sciences?
        
       | pyuser583 wrote:
       | In 100 years we won't have massive underssea cables. Just a
       | single Anker USB9 going from New York to London.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | keyle wrote:
         | And the internet will cut off every few hours, with a full time
         | employee on both sides unplugging it and replugging it.
        
         | vinay_ys wrote:
         | In 100 years, there won't be need for any sea cables because we
         | would have had 9th generation laser links 100 kilometers above
         | our heads, in the sky.
        
           | vladvasiliu wrote:
           | And how would that laser be plugged in the routers? Probably
           | some form of USB9 8.2x5.
        
           | noisy_boy wrote:
           | In 100 years, the sea cables would be above our heads
           | alright.
        
           | mjan22640 wrote:
           | I would suggest to go through the Earth to reduce the pings.
        
           | 411111111111111 wrote:
           | Unlikely, lasers are impacted by weather... unless they're
           | shielded midway, but then you've got a fiber cable again.
        
             | zwirbl wrote:
             | There isn't much weather in the mesosphere and above
        
               | 411111111111111 wrote:
               | True, i somehow omitted the 100km while reading their
               | comment.
               | 
               | It's still unlikely to succeed, as the required precision
               | for multiple simultaneous data streams is quiet
               | significant. Nonetheless, it's theoretically possible.
               | Just not economically useful, as cables are inherently
               | cheaper for the same amount of data transmitted.
               | 
               | I'm not saying that these won't exist, they already do to
               | some degree with Starlink after all... I'm just saying
               | that this tech is highly unlikely to replace the backbone
               | infrastructure, which seacables are.
        
               | buran77 wrote:
               | > It's still unlikely to succeed
               | 
               | We can't possibly imagine now what can succeed in 100
               | years because we can't even conceive what kind of tech or
               | societal developments will happen over that period.
        
         | xg15 wrote:
         | > _USB9_
         | 
         | You mean USB 2000 SP1
        
         | DocTomoe wrote:
         | USB9 V1.742.ac/3 ... it is important to be precise here,
         | because otherwise, the cable will be incompatible and the
         | systems involved will fall back into a safe mode that's
         | essentially, but not quite USB 1.0 standards. /s
         | 
         | So, why exactly wasn't USB4 2.0 not called USB 4.2?
        
           | nani8ot wrote:
           | They had to call it USB4 2.0 because the previous generation
           | was USB4. How could they change their naming scheme to
           | something like 4.0, 4.1, 4.2, that would confuse consumers!
        
         | rowanG077 wrote:
         | Certainly you meant USB4 10x10 gen 6
        
         | riedel wrote:
         | You will just have to exchange the undersea cable every other
         | week due to my mechanical connector problems.
        
       | awoimbee wrote:
       | Would asymmetric PCIe tunneling be possible ? For external GPUs
       | it would be perfect !
        
         | nickflood wrote:
         | Yep, finally my TB3 eGPU starts being at least in theory
         | outdated. The fact that there was no improvement in TB speed
         | for the last 5 years is ridiculous.
         | 
         | Edit: but probably PCIe lanes to the controller chip would be
         | somehow a bottleneck as this is meant for display transport
         | first
        
       | BuckRogers wrote:
       | My latest desktop has Thunderbolt 4. While I'm glad I have it, as
       | it's a mITX system, I really only use it to connect to a docking
       | station. It's also great for monitors or 10Gbit ethernet if
       | needed. The external SSD that I use is limited to 1GB/sec, and I
       | rarely hit that with my use case, closer to 500MB/sec. To take
       | advantage of 5GB/sec the external drive would have to be pretty
       | well-built (expensive). My drive is the Samsung T7 Shield 2TB,
       | which is the best price/performance for sustained performance
       | that I could find on the market today.
       | 
       | I do think external IO should try to keep pace with internal IO
       | speeds, but it comes at a significant cost on the peripheral side
       | of things. You also run into cable length issues. There's a
       | reason why internal IO gets to faster speeds so much sooner, path
       | traces don't have to deal with real-world external cable lengths.
       | The link alludes to this, but I'd love to know how long of a
       | cable you can use with 15GBps external devices considering the
       | length on my passive Thunderbolt 3 dock cable is 2.3ft. USB 4.0
       | "v2" at 120Gbps will support a 2inch passive cable.
        
       | technerder wrote:
       | Are there any reputables places where I can buy a USB type C
       | cable that supports everything? It probably wouldn't be cheap but
       | I'd love to just stop having to check to see if my _cable_ is the
       | issue.
        
         | CharlesW wrote:
         | One option is to buy Thunderbolt 4 cables.
         | 
         | https://www.cablematters.com/pc-1283-132-40gbps-thunderbolt-...
         | 
         | https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Thunderbolt-Supports-Transfer-C...
        
       | ungamedplayer wrote:
       | I just realised that USB is a recursive acronym for USB's such
       | bullshit.
        
       | zac23or wrote:
       | USB: Universal Serius Bulshit.
       | 
       | HDMI is crazy too. A lot of governmental regulamentations are
       | generated by these craziness.
        
         | zzo38computer wrote:
         | USB is no good, and HDMI is no good. UEFI is also no good, and
         | Unicode also is no good.
         | 
         | I should quote Steven J. Searle:
         | 
         | > The sad fact of the matter is that people play politics with
         | standards to gain commercial advantage, and the result is that
         | end users suffer the consequences. This is the case with
         | character encoding for computer systems, and it is even more
         | the case with HDTV.
        
           | eternityforest wrote:
           | Without the politics, would we even have standardization to
           | this degree? Before USB-PD we had barrel jacks with not even
           | polarity fully standardized.
           | 
           | I'm sure the standards could be done better, but it sure
           | beats no standards.
        
       | blackoil wrote:
       | IIUC USB 4 has two variables power and bandwidth and few feature
       | flags like display port. Why isn't it a requirement to lost the
       | value of these explicitly on packaging/listings? That would solve
       | most of the practical problems, yeah we may have to stop buying
       | cheap/unbranded cables but branded ones would be easy to choose.
       | 
       | Thunderbolt provides easy but costly branding for high end.
        
       | NonNefarious wrote:
       | How does this relate to Thunderbolt, if it does? Is it daisy-
       | chainable?
       | 
       | What a PITA this has become. Does USB still impose excessive
       | processor overhead?
       | 
       | Then there's the unavailability of any USB hub that doesn't suck
       | donkey balls.
        
       | sylware wrote:
       | Seriously, what is the speed limiting element for 1 lane? The
       | controller manufacturing process (2nm/5nm/etc?), or some
       | eletronic components?
        
         | gaudat wrote:
         | Signal integrity first, then maybe cost or power usage.
         | Commercial state of the art is around 100Gbit/s per pair using
         | a gearbox chip, as seen in 100G single lambda transceivers. For
         | ASIC/FPGA i think 58GHz PAM4 is available giving 116Gbps per
         | pair. Actual data rate will be a few percent lower due to line
         | coding and forward error correction.
         | 
         | Normal circuit boards start interacting with the signal from
         | about a few gigahertz. At really fast rates you need some black
         | magic like Teflon or ceramic substrates for the signal to even
         | get through.
        
           | sylware wrote:
           | Well, the EM environment would be a CPU die on a motherboard
           | full of gigahertz chips, it means this EM environment has
           | been so much "improved" they can double the speed?? I am
           | really curious at how they choose to limit the speed of USB
           | lanes, that said I really don't like that as this smells
           | "don't go too fast or we won't be able to sell USB
           | controllers with really faster lanes". I would understand if
           | one of the major limiting elements is the controller silicium
           | process (2nm/5nm/etc).
        
       | Scootwilli90 wrote:
        
       | npunt wrote:
       | If there's one thing that the EU should be regulating its this
       | USB naming madness.
        
         | jeroenhd wrote:
         | This isn't the name of the USB spec, it's the name that someone
         | noticed a random manufacturer used. The new name will follow
         | the common pattern, or "USB4 120Gbps".
        
         | eru wrote:
         | I hope you ain't serious?
        
           | Filligree wrote:
           | Well, they can't _possibly_ make it worse.
        
           | capableweb wrote:
           | Why not? Regulations should help protect consumers make
           | informed choices when purchasing things. Currently, USB +
           | manufacturers are purposefully making it confusing to
           | purchase cables because they want more cash, in exchange for
           | making the experience worse for consumers.
           | 
           | Sound like exactly the right place for some new regulation.
        
       | [deleted]
        
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