Libra 2 USB-C Magnetic

[Quoth]

Current, not absolute power is the issue. So 5V @ 2A (10W) is far worse than 20V @ 1A (20W). The highest current thing I have is a Raspberry Pi that uses USB-C and 3.5A from a dedicated 5V PSU (they should have used a power jack).

Even tablets ought to have a power jack as well as USB-C charging and the EU mandatory USB charging connector doesn't forbid it. USB-C charging on a laptop is crazy except as an optional extra, especially if it has multiple full spec USB-C for other devices.

[retro]

Originally Posted by bmlawson

I am considering purchasing magnetic tips or a magnetic USB charging cable to charge a Kobo Libra 2 for an individual who has experienced problems with damaging their USB-C port when connecting the charging cable. Have any users tried magnetic tips or a magnetic cable? Are they compatible with the Kobo Libra 2, and are there any recommended brands available for purchase?

So, I'm a real world user of these. I started using them with my Clara HD and mp3 players after almost destroying the micro usb connector !

Now they are on my Libra 2 and Clara 2E. Been using them for several years with no problems.
Unless they mess one of my devices up, I will continue using them because I am quite good at messing up devices wlthout them!

[BillGaitas]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Current, not absolute power is the issue. So 5V @ 2A (10W) is far worse than 20V @ 1A (20W). The highest current thing I have is a Raspberry Pi that uses USB-C and 3.5A from a dedicated 5V PSU (they should have used a power jack).

Even tablets ought to have a power jack as well as USB-C charging and the EU mandatory USB charging connector doesn't forbid it. USB-C charging on a laptop is crazy except as an optional extra, especially if it has multiple full spec USB-C for other devices.

Millions of laptops out there use USB-PD for charging and it should be the norm outside of power hungry machines like gaming laptops or workstations with professional GPUs (to which the EU directive doesn't mandate USB-C).

Everything should use USB-C. The chargers only provide what the device asks for. People ought to learn a bit about USB-C and USB-PD before wishing everything went back to absolutely terrible barrel plugs and proprietary connectors like lightning. As for me, all of my devices use USB-C and I'll hapily charge everything with a single cable and charger. Been doing so for years and absolutely nothing broke.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by BillGaitas

Millions of laptops out there use USB-PD for charging and it should be the norm outside of power hungry machines like gaming laptops or workstations with professional GPUs (to which the EU directive doesn't mandate USB-C).


Everything should use USB-C. The chargers only provide what the device asks for. People ought to learn a bit about USB-C and USB-PD before wishing everything went back to absolutely terrible barrel plugs and proprietary connectors like lightning. As for me, all of my devices use USB-C and I'll hapily charge everything with a single cable and charger. Been doing so for years and absolutely nothing broke.

I've been using laptops since 1998.
Using things with "barrel" plugs, (coax power plugs and some rectangular) for much longer. They can be good or bad design and some have a lock.

Designing portable electronic gear for decades.

Most of what you say is nonsense. USB-C has its uses but it's simply ignorant to suggest it's good for everything. Also like every other version of USB it has stupid features and flaws.

Already there are multiple incompatible charging schemes and a new spec for more than 100W.

Also Digital Video or Analogue Audio support is a minefield and poor specs even when you buy the gear mean you need to test to discover which charging scheme the USB-C uses, does it do USB 3.0 or is it USB 2.x, is Analogue via connector supported, is video directly supported, can it charge rather than supply power in OTG host mode if a gadget (some micro USB gadgets/tablets could), can the USB-C host on a Laptop work as client to link two laptops for file transfer (some can), if so is MTP, Mass storage or RNDIS networking used.

On most ereaders the USB-C does nothing that the robust mini-USB or more fragile micro-USB didn't do.

The only USB 3.0 speed devices I have are 3 x external drives and an HDMI capture device.
No USB-C tablet, phone or ereader even gets close to the limit of USB 2.0 speeds.

We have two laptops that can charge on USB-C, but they charge faster when in use using the coax power connector.

The Nintendo switch needs its dock to charge on USB-C or output video, though oddly the the USB-C on it does work with a 1Gbps USB-C ethernet.

The TCL Nxtpaper11 is advertised as fully supporting USB-C. It can charge and be a host (direct gadgets, but Kobo eReader only via a USB hub (3.0 or 2.0), mysteriously the USB 2.0 USB-A DVB-T stick works direct with adapator or via a USB 3.0 hub but not any USB 2.0 hub, even ones that work for it on a Laptop or PC). It doesn't do analogue audio or HDMI via USB-C adaptors. It also used Qualcomm charging protocol, so a USB-C charger only charges at 0.5A. It can use a USB 2.0 USB-A cable to charge at 20W from a Qualcomm compatible charger.

Hours of testing needed to discover what's possible.

Yes, USB-C is sometimes more use than earlier USB versions, but it's a mess and not the answer for power on everything. It doesn't automatically mean USB 3.0 or even as high speed as USB 2.0 and may be no different to mini-USB (which had OTG and options for analogue audio and analogue video) or micro-USB (which had options for direct HDMI out, OTG and self-charge while in host mode).

[Quoth]

I agree Lightning was just Apple being an idiot.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I agree Lightning was just Apple being an idiot.

Looking at wiki, lighting came out in 2012, and USB-C 1.0 spec didn't get approved until 2014 (and nothing released until 2015)?

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by John F

Looking at wiki, lighting came out in 2012, and USB-C 1.0 spec didn't get approved until 2014 (and nothing released until 2015)?

Lightning was instead of Micro-USB and is an inferior connector, which was an achievement as mechanically micro-USB isn't much smaller than mini-USB and lest robust.

USB-C timeline vs Lightning is irrelevant.

Mini-USB connectors were introduced together with USB 2.0 in April 2000

Despite what Wikipedia writes, there is OTG support for mini-USB.

Micro-USB connectors, which were announced by the USB-IF on January 4, 2007,[13][14] have a similar width to Mini-USB, but approximately half the thickness, enabling their integration into thinner portable devices. The Micro-A connector is 6.85 by 1.8 mm (0.270 by 0.071 in) with a maximum overmold boot size of 11.7 by 8.5 mm (0.46 by 0.33 in), while the Micro-B connector is 6.85 by 1.8 mm (0.270 by 0.071 in) with a maximum overmold size of 10.6 by 8.5 mm (0.42 by 0.33 in).[7]

The thinner Micro-USB connectors were intended to replace the Mini connectors in devices manufactured since May 2007

Lightning was nearly 5 years after Micro USB.

The first-generation iPad Pro, released in 2015, features the first Lightning connector supporting USB 3.0 host.[9] The only accessory released with USB 3.0 support [was] is the Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter.

That's a year after USB-C.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightn...ition_to_USB-C
Most Lighting connections only supported USB 2.0 (and likely didn't run at full speed).

[John F]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I agree Lightning was just Apple being an idiot.

Originally Posted by Quoth

Lightning was instead of Micro-USB and is an inferior connector, which was an achievement as mechanically micro-USB isn't much smaller than mini-USB and lest robust.

USB-C timeline vs Lightning is irrelevant.
Despite what Wikipedia writes, there is OTG support for mini-USB.



Lightning was nearly 5 years after Micro USB.


That's a year after USB-C.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightn...ition_to_USB-C
Most Lighting connections only supported USB 2.0 (and likely didn't run at full speed).

So what are you trying to say? That Apple was being an idiot because they should have used micro (or mini) USB instead of lightning?

[Quoth]

Yes, Lighting was a poor design of proprietary USB 2.0 connector that didn't do anything not done more reliably by already well establish micro-usb which is an industry standard. It's damaged easily, wears out easily and has Apple DRM. They had used industry standard connectors on other things for USB and Firewire. The Mini USB was better.
Though the connector for Apple Talk was a bad choice it was at least a standard part and available from third parties (I think 9 pin mini-DIN).
They are serially arrogant. Sued and lost twice for using Apple as name (Beatles Apple Corp), won against Samsung because a USA court with spurious Design Patents (similar to UK Registered Designs and Samsung supplied original iPhone cpu and display!), won against MS for style of GUI trash can etc (more spurious registrations) when both had copied Xerox.
Changed industry standard connections on 4 pole 3.5mm jack so sleeve is not OV/GND/Earth. Did stupid notch and dropping of 3.5mm jack, promoted too thin laptops so that glued Li-poly batteries, soldered DRAM, soldered SSD and no ethernet socket. The "trash can" pro model that couldn't take the stuff video editors and other pro desktop users needed leading to a jungle of USB adaptors. Sued by Swiss Rail because they used their clock design. Used Fujitsu, Cisco tradmarks and settled afterwards (iPad and iPhone), Don't know if they asked before using Lightning, but they are paying Harley Davidson.
Childish product names (magic). A mouse with one or no buttons. A margin of x3 to x5 compared to other similar products. Steve Jobs was quite the salesman.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Yes, Lighting was a poor design of proprietary USB 2.0 connector that didn't do anything not done more reliably by already well establish micro-usb which is an industry standard. It's damaged easily, wears out easily and has Apple DRM. They had used industry standard connectors on other things for USB and Firewire. The Mini USB was better.
...

I prefer lightning to micro USB. I appreciate the ease of connecting lightning.

I'm a little surprised you think mini USB would be "better". Wasn't it already being phased out in favor of micro USB. I don't think firewire would have been a wise choice for PC users; an additional cost for the majority.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by John F

I prefer lightning to micro USB. I appreciate the ease of connecting lightning.

I'm a little surprised you think mini USB would be "better". Wasn't it already being phased out in favor of micro USB. I don't think firewire would have been a wise choice for PC users; an additional cost for the majority.

You are missing the point.

Lightning is Apple only and inferior to the much older micro-USB

Mini-USB was mentioned because it's even older, mechanically stronger and a standard and superior to Lightning.

Firewire was used on the earlier iPods rather than USB. I only mentioned it because Apple did use it even though it has a higher royalty cost (USB might be royalty free) and was once an industry standard. I wasn't suggesting they should have used it for the iPhone. It was nearly dead by 2007 and pretty dead by 2015. Its only use now is older camcorders and original iPods.

The only minor advantage of Lightning was the reversible insertion. I've never had an issue with that on mini, micro or standard USB (A or B)*. I might add a dot for "top" on stupid devices with no obvious polarisation (rectangular case slot), or highlight the USB symbol on a plug if it's not clear. There are reversible micro-USB plugs, but like Lightning they are fragile. Anyway, now new Apple products will use USB-C. They had the cheek to tell EU that it was limiting their ability to inovate (=Apple branded inferior proprietary connections, like Lightning).


[* Though right at the start they went wrong not having USB be peer to peer and using a cable with same reversible connector at each end, or a hermaphroditic connector to allow daisy chains, but Lightning was ONLY USB 2.0, later USB 3.0 on a flimsy plug]

[John F]

Originally Posted by Quoth

You are missing the point.

...

I don't think I'm missing your point, I just think it a stupid point. IMO. YMMV.