The Technology Vent and Rant Thread

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ratinox

It's an archaic euphemism for sweat from hard manual labor.

Aren't all the best euphemisms archaic?

"blood, toil, tears and sweat"

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Aren't all the best euphemisms archaic?

"blood, toil, tears and sweat"

Only because they've stood the test of time.

[DNSB]

Having fun with one friend's USB to serial converter. We found that the printed on the board information for the jumper header that is supposed to set the output voltage to 1.8V, 3.3V or 5V is totally messed up in that it shows the jumpers backwards to the board layout ( so 3, 2, 1 instead of 1, 2, 3).

[Renate]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Having fun with one friend's USB to serial converter. We found that the printed on the board information for the jumper header that is supposed to set the output voltage to 1.8V, 3.3V or 5V is totally messed up in that it shows the jumpers backwards to the board layout ( so 3, 2, 1 instead of 1, 2, 3).

The good UARTs use an FTDI232R chip which can use an external voltage for the logic level shifters.
There is the 5V already on USB Vbus, the chip has an internal 3.3V regulator and PCB manufacturers add a 1.8V, 2.5V and sometimes a redundant 3.3V regulator.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Having fun with one friend's USB to serial converter. We found that the printed on the board information for the jumper header that is supposed to set the output voltage to 1.8V, 3.3V or 5V is totally messed up in that it shows the jumpers backwards to the board layout ( so 3, 2, 1 instead of 1, 2, 3).

Related: there are a number of manufacturers of cheap Sega Saturn A/V out to HDMI adapters. They all have the left/right audio channels swapped due to an error in the schematics published by Sega. It's been a well known mistake for decades and yet the manufacturers do not correct their production. They continue to manufacture these adapters with swapped audio.

[nana77]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Only because they've stood the test of time.

Not all did stood, imho luckily; in here I can recall three of them:
"Never ask the age to a woman" (which is very nice and always works, as any time I'd tried to don't follow that rule went on a kinda-offensive-implied-question).

"To a farmer, never ask the wife's age, how many cows he has into the barn, how many fields he keeps" (which's kinda ok, imho).

This one is weird:
"large leg safe cob" (LOL, pardon really: I'd even tried within Google transale, to see if it recognize the context and puts "stem", or "stele", but in the friulan language, or even in italian, "gamba" can be used for some botanic meanings, too.
The archaic euphemism is weird because it had second meanings as it would suggest that a woman within large legs may have been a "secure/safe" path.
Sorry again, I know it's kinda rough, but that's also what makes me a little smile while thinking at it, also as a thing of the past thought.

[nana77]

Originally Posted by ratinox

Related: there are a number of manufacturers of cheap Sega Saturn A/V out to HDMI adapters. They all have the left/right audio channels swapped due to an error in the schematics published by Sega. It's been a well known mistake for decades and yet the manufacturers do not correct their production. They continue to manufacture these adapters with swapped audio.

Nowadays, on usb-c features and capabilities (which I like), one that's not very well explained, on shop's schematics, is often that usb-c to hdmi are mostly one-way mode.

[Quoth]

USB-C

Nearly impossible to know what a device's USB-C port can do from any documentation, anywhere. You have to try all the modes and adaptors. Can it charge and do Data or Video out at the same time? Some can. The alt modes such as Video, ethernet or analogue audio won't work via a hub, yet the device may have only one USB-C port.

is often that usb-c to hdmi are mostly one-way mode.

The only two-way HDMI things I've ever generally encountered:
The cables
Couplers
DVI-Adaptors
Some switches, especially two way switches.
ONE portable satellite receiver with built in screen that can do in or out on its sole full-sized HDMI connector, via a button.

I've never heard of a phone, tablet or laptop that can be used as a display via HDMI or USB-C DP (the mode on USB-C that does video is actually called Display Port).

USB-C should never have been for Laptop power In, Video-DP, Analogue Audio or ethernet (all of which it might do on different things). It should have been for data and gadget power alone, up to 20W. It's a mess.

Also tablets should either have two USB-C ports (and all Laptops, Chromebooks more than 1) or one and a optional coax power plug. Most supposed USB -C hubs with Power charge hardly any things with USB-C ports.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

USB-C

Nearly impossible to know what a device's USB-C port can do from any documentation, anywhere. You have to try all the modes and adaptors. Can it charge and do Data or Video out at the same time? Some can. The alt modes such as Video, ethernet or analogue audio won't work via a hub, yet the device may have only one USB-C port.


The only two-way HDMI things I've ever generally encountered:
The cables
Couplers
DVI-Adaptors
Some switches, especially two way switches.
ONE portable satellite receiver with built in screen that can do in or out on its sole full-sized HDMI connector, via a button.

I've never heard of a phone, tablet or laptop that can be used as a display via HDMI or USB-C DP (the mode on USB-C that does video is actually called Display Port).

USB-C should never have been for Laptop power In, Video-DP, Analogue Audio or ethernet (all of which it might do on different things). It should have been for data and gadget power alone, up to 20W. It's a mess.

Also tablets should either have two USB-C ports (and all Laptops, Chromebooks more than 1) or one and a optional coax power plug. Most supposed USB -C hubs with Power charge hardly any things with USB-C ports.

And don't forget some USB-C will not allow a connection if there's too much power. So you need either a cable that doesn't do much power or a USB-C charger that has not much power.

[Renate]

Well, the worst is USB cables.
You're buying a pig in a poke there.

I was just at the "big box" store looking at their assortment of USB cables.
The majority of them are USB 2.0 only but you have to look at the fine print to see that.
Even the USB 3.x ones you can never tell if they mean 2 pair or 4 pair (+ the pair for USB 2.0)
The biggest competition is for Watts.
It seems that people need 100 Watt cables for their phones.

Even at Micro Center in the US (somewhat techy) is finding out how many wires in a USB cable almost impossible.

The best way is to bring a pair of scissors to the store, but they frown on that.

I need to swap the hardwired USB C cable on my ethernet/USB/HDMI hub and getting a 5 pair cable is not a matter of speed but of even working.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by Renate

I was just at the "big box" store looking at their assortment of USB cables.
The majority of them are USB 2.0 only but you have to look at the fine print to see that.
Even the USB 3.x ones you can never tell if they mean 2 pair or 4 pair (+ the pair for USB 2.0)
The biggest competition is for Watts.
It seems that people need 100 Watt cables for their phones.

Insert rant about High-Speed, Super-Speed, Ludicrous-Speed.... Wait, that's Spaceballs: The USB Cable.

Not phones. Notebook computers. USB-C PD is the collection of standards for power connectors for notebooks up to 100W PD, with Apple leading the charge for 240W PD. At least Apple have clearly labeled packaging for their cables.

I'm going to say I do NOT want coax power in notebooks.

Your typical coax power brick is literally a brick, a big, heavy block with little standardization. The coax brick I have today likely won't work on the replacement machine and will just be waste, same as the coax brick from my previous notebook and the one before that, and the one before that....

By extension that brick won't work with anything else I carry and/or travel with. I would much rather carry a small assortment of USB cables and use one or maybe two chargers for my notebook, my Steam Deck, my iPad, my iPhone, my Kobo, etc.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Renate

Well, the worst is USB cables.
You're buying a pig in a poke there.

Even at Micro Center in the US (somewhat techy) is finding out how many wires in a USB cable almost impossible.

The best way is to bring a pair of scissors to the store, but they frown on that.

I need to swap the hardwired USB C cable on my ethernet/USB/HDMI hub and getting a 5 pair cable is not a matter of speed but of even working.

Especially with USB-C to USB-C, you can't tell if USB 3.x or USB 2.
I've two USB-C to USB-C cables that seem to support USB 3, but the Alt USB-C DP doesn't work. I've only one USB-C to USB-C cable that works with the portable display.

USB-A USB 3.x clearly has an extra five connections on the plug.
USB-A USB 3.x to USB-B has an extra part on the USB-B plug.
USB-A USB 3.x to micro-USB has an extra part on the micro-USB plug.

Usually the USB-A USB 3.0 sockets are also blue, but I've one hub with all blue USB-A sockets. Only one has the extra five pins. The others are all USB 2.


I guess if you are buying a lot of cables you buy one first and cut it open? Or maybe someone makes a tester? I have one for Cat 5, but it's just DC, so won't tell me if it's Cat5e, or Cat6, but does detect a shield.

In the past there were two MAIN problems with SCART cables:
* They might have had all the pins, but only composite and audio wired.
* They might have had all the pins, but only a bundled multi-core cable, so video buzz on the sound, or ghosting on a longer cable as the multiple video signals need to use 75 Ω coax.

Then there is Apple, who messed up the 4 pole 3.5mm jack. The sleeve might connect to a metal cover. Before Apple, the extra 2nd ring between sleeve and ring was either microphone or composite video. Apple made that ground/0V and the sleeve was then the microphone connection. Then of course having messed it up they ditched it entirely.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Or maybe someone makes a tester?

I've got parts coming to build a tester.
It will also help me ring out the connections on the pigtail going to HDMI/USB/ethernet hub since the colors seem to be nonstandard.

DGI was also great for being analog or digital or both or neither.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Renate

DGI was also great for being analog or digital or both or neither.

Do you mean DVI?

Also what stupidity was it to have no digital audio on the digital video and analogue audio via 2 extra pins?

I've twice had to pull off the analogue earth tab-pin on DVI-HMDi adaptors to plug them into a digital only DVI socket. Saving cents by not fitting a compatible socket on on gear even though it has no Analogue.

Also, weirdly, many DVI connections in Digital mode can't handle as high a resolution as DP or HDMI (you need two sockets and two cables) and some analogue VGA sockets can do higher resolution.

Of course we had higher resolution on monitors before the advent of so-called FHD, a measly 1920 x 1080 based off Japanese 1125 lines (= 1080 active lines. 626 lines = 576, 525 lines = 480, so Europe was never impressed by 720 mode).

[Quoth]

Though a company called Dangerous Goods International sounds useful.