USB inventor explains why the connector was not designed to be reversible
www.pcgamer.com
Someday we'll look back and laugh (or cry) at our early USB struggles.
  • Lvxferre@lemmy.mlEnglish
    11·
    1 year ago

    I get not making it reversible. I also get making it roughly rectangular.

    What I don’t get is making it look symmetric from the outside. It could’ve been made trapezoidal instead, so tactile feedback is enough to know the right position.

    • remotelove@lemmy.caEnglish
      6·
      1 year ago

      It could have still been rectangular. All they really needed to add was a key to the housing of the connector. (Logic being that an odd shaped metal connector would be just a hair more expensive to manufacture than just adding a key position to an injection mold.)

      Trapezoid or key, it would have still been a pain when trying to insert the connector blind. Having fingered thousands of different connectors (lulz) over the years, it is still difficult to feel the orientation of a recessed female plug, regardless of its shape.