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Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there,

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Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland.

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Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio and how the tech

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Speaker 1: are you? It is time for a tech stuff classics episode.

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Speaker 1: In this episode originally published on April twenty first, twenty seventeen,

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Speaker 1: it is titled how USB ports Work? And Yeah, you know,

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Speaker 1: once upon a time, the USB was a novelty. It

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Speaker 1: was a new feature on hardware like laptops and such,

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Speaker 1: and it caused a bit of confusion when it first

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Speaker 1: came out. People weren't used to it. They were used

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Speaker 1: to things like proprietary ports. So we're gonna listen to

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Speaker 1: this classics episode about USB ports. I hope you enjoy.

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Speaker 1: We'll find these ports on computers, smartphones, digital cameras, scanners, printers,

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Speaker 1: and tons of other electronic devices. So what are they,

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Speaker 1: who invented them? And how do they work? You know,

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Speaker 1: your standard tech stuff type episode. Well, you could just

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Speaker 1: go and read the specification for USB if you really

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Speaker 1: wanted to, and that would give you all the information

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Speaker 1: you need and more. For example, the specification for USB

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Speaker 1: two point zero is a mere six hundred and fifty

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Speaker 1: pages long seems a bit excessive to me, so let's

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Speaker 1: break down the topic tech stuff style. So first, let's

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Speaker 1: talk about what a bus is. In computer terms, a

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Speaker 1: bus is essentially a conduit for data. Think of it

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Speaker 1: like a hallway that data can pass through. It's a

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Speaker 1: communication pathway that lets different components within a computer or

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Speaker 1: two different devices send data back and forth between each other.

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Speaker 1: That means some buses are internal and facilitate communication within

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Speaker 1: a single device. Other buses are external and allow for

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Speaker 1: the communication of different components like a smartphone to a

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Speaker 1: computer for example. So inside a computer, you would have

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Speaker 1: a bus connecting components like the microprocessor and a memory

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Speaker 1: storage device like a hard drive. So the computer's operating

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Speaker 1: memory and CPU tend to be very closely tied together,

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Speaker 1: as in its operating memory like the random access memory.

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Speaker 1: That and the CPU are usually real tight. But they

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Speaker 1: still have a bus, and it's usually called the system

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Speaker 1: bus that connects the two. And just as microprocessors and

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Speaker 1: memory have improved over time, so if buses, they've improved

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Speaker 1: to allow more data to pass through at a single time. Now,

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Speaker 1: keep in mind information is traveling at pretty much the

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Speaker 1: same speed, you know, more or less the speed of light.

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Speaker 1: It's not quite the same, but for the purposes of

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Speaker 1: our argument, it works just fine. So really the question

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Speaker 1: is how much data can you move through the bus simultaneously?

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Speaker 1: Or if we wanted to use a metaphor, imagine that

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Speaker 1: you have an eye dropper and your friend has a bucket,

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Speaker 1: and you're each taking water from one puddle and walking

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Speaker 1: across a field at the same speed and depositing that

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Speaker 1: water into a little dip in the other end of

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Speaker 1: the field that's going to become the new puddle. So

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Speaker 1: you're just relocating water from one puddle to the other.

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Speaker 1: Now you're walking at the same speed, so it's not

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Speaker 1: that your friend is going faster than you are, but

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Speaker 1: they can carry more water per trip, so they're delivering

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Speaker 1: more water every time they make this trip, and even

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Speaker 1: though you're both going the same speed. This is why

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Speaker 1: I get a little antsy about data speeds, because it's

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Speaker 1: not really so much about speed. It's more about the

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Speaker 1: amount of data you can carry at a time. That's

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Speaker 1: kind of what I'm getting at. So if you hear

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Speaker 1: like this computer sends data faster than that computer, the

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Speaker 1: information is still traveling at more or less the same

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Speaker 1: speed depending upon what medium they're using. But it all

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Speaker 1: is down to how much information can pass through at

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Speaker 1: any given time. Now, there are also buses that allow

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Speaker 1: data transfers with sources that are external to the computer. Again,

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Speaker 1: the smartphone is a great example, or a digital camera,

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Speaker 1: anything like that. The buses facilitate the data transfer, which

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Speaker 1: typically happens over a cable, and there are plenty ways

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Speaker 1: to transmit data wirelessly, but we're just going to concentrate

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Speaker 1: on cables and tethered peripherals today because that's what USB

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Speaker 1: works with, right, That's the protocol is that you're using

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Speaker 1: physical connections. In other episodes, i'll talk about stuff like

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Speaker 1: Wi Fi or Bluetooth or other methods of transferring data around. Now,

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Speaker 1: before USB ports became a standard way to connect various

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Speaker 1: components to a computer, we had to rely on other

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Speaker 1: types of ports, like parallel and serial ports. Serial parts

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Speaker 1: are se r L ports, not not serial like Captain crunch.

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Speaker 1: They're basic computer connections. They send bytes of data one

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Speaker 1: bit at a time. So, in case you don't remember

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Speaker 1: basic computer lingo, a byte is eight bits and a

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Speaker 1: bit is a single unit of information in computer speech,

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Speaker 1: it's either a zero or a one, which is kind

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Speaker 1: of like an off on switch. So a byte is

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Speaker 1: eight of these collected together. Serial ports send information one

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Speaker 1: bit at a time one zero or one to one,

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Speaker 1: and then does a whole sequence of those Serial parts

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Speaker 1: had either nine or twenty five pins. The nine pin

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Speaker 1: connector was a standard for modems. We're talking about the

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Speaker 1: old dial up modems that would connect to your phone

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Speaker 1: line and allow your computer to communicate with the outside world.

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Speaker 1: If you don't know what a dial up modem is,

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Speaker 1: you know, ask your parents. Each pen was designed to

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Speaker 1: allow for communication between the computer and the modem in

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Speaker 1: some way. The twenty five pen connector was meant to

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Speaker 1: become a new standard, but was so much larger than

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Speaker 1: the nine pen connectors that it was a bit hamstrung

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Speaker 1: from the start. Not everyone adopted it. In fact, a

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Speaker 1: lot of manufacturers just stuck with nine pen peripherals rather

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Speaker 1: than adopt the twenty five pen standard. Serial ports had

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Speaker 1: a range of data transmission speeds from one hundred and

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Speaker 1: fifteen to more than four hundred and fifty kilobits per second,

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Speaker 1: so four hundred and fifty thousand bits per second was

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Speaker 1: around the upper range of that. Now, some serial ports

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Speaker 1: wouldn't allow for simultaneous operation, which meant that if the

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Speaker 1: computer was sending out data through one serial port, it

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Speaker 1: could not send out data to other serial ports at

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Speaker 1: the same time. It's somewhat problematic if you're trying to

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Speaker 1: do a whole lot of stuff connected to one machine.

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Speaker 1: Parallel ports were often for stuff like CD burners, printers, scanners,

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Speaker 1: and external hard drives where you wanted to have a

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Speaker 1: faster data transfer because otherwise you're going to be sitting

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Speaker 1: around for a really long time. So it's not that

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Speaker 1: serial ports are necessarily bad for stuff. There are plenty

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Speaker 1: of operations where you only need a little bit of

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Speaker 1: data going between a device and a computer. It doesn't

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Speaker 1: have to be super quote unquote fast because it's just

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Speaker 1: not data hungry. But other things, like if you want

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Speaker 1: a hard drive, you want something that's going to move

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Speaker 1: data and larger amounts in that amount of time, because

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Speaker 1: otherwise you're going to wait forever every time you try

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Speaker 1: to save a large file to that hard drive or

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Speaker 1: to retrieve a large file from that hard drive. Now,

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Speaker 1: IBM developed parallel ports specifically to create an interface between

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Speaker 1: a computer and a printer When IBM was first building

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Speaker 1: personal computers, it partnered with a company called Centronics, and

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Speaker 1: Centronics made computers. Centronics had a thirty six pin connector,

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Speaker 1: meaning that the cable ended in a plug, and that

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Speaker 1: plug had thirty six pins arranged in a row that

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Speaker 1: would then plug into a port that had thirty six

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Speaker 1: holes for those pins. IBM decided to couple this thirty

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Speaker 1: six pin with a second line of pins twenty five

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Speaker 1: in total. So together these two rows of pins were

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Speaker 1: used as the standard for IBM computers, and when other

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Speaker 1: companies began to create clones of the IBM PC, they

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Speaker 1: also created those types of ports. I've got to do

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Speaker 1: a full episode about IBM clones at some point. I

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Speaker 1: talked about them briefly in a couple of other episodes,

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Speaker 1: but really it's a fascinating thing to hear the story

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Speaker 1: about how other companies were able to take advantage of

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Speaker 1: IBM's design. Now it's called a parallel port because data

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Speaker 1: would flow parallel to each other. Data traveled one byte

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Speaker 1: at a time, not a bit, but a byte a

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Speaker 1: collection of eight bits, which made parallel ports much faster

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Speaker 1: than serial ports or mora acculately, it could send more

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Speaker 1: data in the same amount of time. Parallel ports could

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Speaker 1: transfer at about one hundred kilobytes per second. But Jonathan,

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Speaker 1: I hear you say. You mentioned that serial ports have

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Speaker 1: a range of one hundred and fifteen to four hundred

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Speaker 1: and fifty kilobits per second. Yeah, I did say that.

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Speaker 1: But parallel ports are sending bytes, not bits, and that

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Speaker 1: bite is that collection of eight bits. So one hundred

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Speaker 1: kilobytes is the same as approximately eight hundred kilobits. The

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Speaker 1: parallel ports could send more data, though with some peripherals,

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Speaker 1: this amount of data is really unnecessary, which is why

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Speaker 1: serial ports didn't just disappear. They were still useful for

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Speaker 1: certain applications, and they were cheap. So now let's talk

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Speaker 1: about some of the pins in the parallel ports. We

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Speaker 1: mentioned them in the serial ones. Well, if you were

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Speaker 1: to look at them and number them across the row

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Speaker 1: on both the twenty five pen and the sixty thirty

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Speaker 1: six pin connectors, rather twenty five and thirty six pin connectors,

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Speaker 1: Pens two through nine on those connectors carried those eight bits.

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Speaker 1: Pen one carried a voltage between two point eight and

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Speaker 1: five volts. The computer would drop the voltage to point

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Speaker 1: five volts whenever it was sending data to a printer

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Speaker 1: or other device, so that was kind of like an

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Speaker 1: alert to a printer to be on the lookout for data.

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Speaker 1: If it detected a voltage drop, it knew that information

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Speaker 1: was incoming, so it's kind of a heads up. Pen

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Speaker 1: ten was reserved for an acknowledge signal, this time sent

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Speaker 1: from the printer to the computer. So this was essentially

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Speaker 1: gotcha bro. So computer says heads up, printer says gotcha bro,

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Speaker 1: and that lets the computer knows that the message had

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Speaker 1: been received. Other pins were used to let the computer

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Speaker 1: know if the printer was busy, or if it was

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Speaker 1: out of paper or ink or something along those lines,

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Speaker 1: or they were ground connectors as in electrical ground connectors.

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Speaker 1: Future improvements in parallel processors allowed for bi directional communication,

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Speaker 1: meaning that the printer and computer could talk to each other,

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Speaker 1: not just one way communication. But the original standard only

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Speaker 1: allowed data to flow one way at any given time,

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Speaker 1: So ultimately you would get to parallel ports that could

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Speaker 1: have simultaneous bidirectional communication, but that wasn't how it started. Now.

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Speaker 1: As we created new peripherals for computers, we also created

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Speaker 1: new ports. You'd use expansion cards for your computer, and

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Speaker 1: those would plug into the main circuit board the motherboard

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Speaker 1: on a computer to create the connection. So if you've

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Speaker 1: never built a machine or ever had to customize one,

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Speaker 1: this might sound a little weird, but here's what it meant.

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Speaker 1: It meant you'd open up a computer case, you'd pop out.

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Speaker 1: Typically there'd be a metal plate on the back side

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Speaker 1: of a computer case that would cover up what would

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Speaker 1: otherwise be just a kind of an oblong hole. You

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Speaker 1: would end up taking the plate off of that so

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Speaker 1: that the hole was open. You would insert a card

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Speaker 1: into a slot on that main circuit board. It would

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Speaker 1: seat the card properly, so you'd make sure that it

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Speaker 1: was plugged in nice and snug, and you would make

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Speaker 1: sure that you were using the card slot so that

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Speaker 1: the back of the card is lined up with that

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Speaker 1: new hole that you've uncovered on the back of your case.

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Speaker 1: This would allow you to plug in devices externally from

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Speaker 1: the computer. It would just plug in through that hole

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Speaker 1: where the port would be. So the hole is the

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Speaker 1: reason why the plate is there, is to keep the

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Speaker 1: computer safe from stuff like dust. You know, you don't

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Speaker 1: want to just have a bunch of open areas to

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Speaker 1: your computer or else it can get dusty, which can

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Speaker 1: then mess up the internal mechanisms. Not really even mechanisms.

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Speaker 1: It can just make things overheat and break down and

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Speaker 1: short out a computer if it's really really bad. That's

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Speaker 1: why we have computer fans and stuff like that. It's

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Speaker 1: not just to manage the heat, it's also to manage

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Speaker 1: the dust. So you take that plate off, you reveal

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Speaker 1: the spot, you've seated the card, you put it all

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Speaker 1: back together, and then you would plug your new peripheral

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Speaker 1: into your new port and you would turn on the

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Speaker 1: computer and find out if it worked or not, and

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Speaker 1: if it didn't work, you had to start troubleshooting. Typically,

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Speaker 1: it would also mean you'd have to turn the computer

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Speaker 1: off again, because the way a lot of these old

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Speaker 1: systems work, they weren't plug and play. You couldn't hot

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Speaker 1: plug a device into computers for a lot of these ports.

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Speaker 1: That means that you had to actually turned the computer off,

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Speaker 1: plug the device in, turn the computer on, and then

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Speaker 1: it would start to pull information or send information to

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Speaker 1: that device, kind of a primitive way of doing it.

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Speaker 1: And on top of that, some of the devices had

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Speaker 1: proprietary plugs and ports. For example, in nineteen eighty seven,

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Speaker 1: IBM introduced the EPs slides two port for keyboards and

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Speaker 1: mouses mices miss you know what I mean. The port

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Speaker 1: is circular with six pins arranged in pairs around kind

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Speaker 1: of a rectangular center, and it communicated through a serial protocol,

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Speaker 1: but it had a totally different shape from your typical

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Speaker 1: serial plugs and ports keyboards were similar. And then there's

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Speaker 1: the idea that about plugging stuff while your computer is on. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: not a thing at those times. A hot port would

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Speaker 1: allow you to plug a device in whether a computer

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Speaker 1: is on or off, and then the PC recognizes that

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Speaker 1: there's a connection and it allows you to use whatever

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Speaker 1: that device is. These old ports, for the most part,

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Speaker 1: did not allow for that unless you had the computer

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Speaker 1: turn on and go through its boot program and then

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Speaker 1: detect all of these peripherals. It just didn't recognize that

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Speaker 1: anything new was attached to it. So why don't we

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Speaker 1: still depend upon these and other specialized ports. Well, some

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Speaker 1: computers still have special serial or parallel ports, but most

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Speaker 1: of them now have some type of USB port or

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Speaker 1: HDMI port for some displays. And part of the problem

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Speaker 1: is that over the years, the number of peripherals for

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Speaker 1: computer systems grew substantially, but you can only fit so

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Speaker 1: many ports on a computer. There's only so much physical

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Speaker 1: space you can use, and each port required its own

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Speaker 1: card plugged into a computer's motherboard, so there are only

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Speaker 1: so many slots on a motherboard you could use. Up

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Speaker 1: on top of that, you need to designate special numbers

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Speaker 1: for each card plugging into the motherboard, and that included

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Speaker 1: an interrupt request also known as an IRQ and an

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Speaker 1: input output address or the IO address. Now, those numbers

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Speaker 1: are hard coded onto cards, so it doesn't mean that

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Speaker 1: you have to come up with a number, it's on

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Speaker 1: the card itself. But that also meant that you could

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Speaker 1: potentially encounter conflicts between different cards for different products. Let's

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Speaker 1: say that you've got a video card from one company

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Speaker 1: and a totally different peripheral card. Let's say it's for

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Speaker 1: a specific type of scanner from another company, and just

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Speaker 1: by coincidence, they have conflicts in either the IRAQ or

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Speaker 1: the IO address. This could cause issues, and that would

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Speaker 1: sometimes mean that peripherals would become incompatible with one another

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Speaker 1: and that there'd be no way to run both off

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Speaker 1: the same machine. So you might find that you can

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Speaker 1: have either a display or a scanner attached to this computer,

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Speaker 1: but not both not ideal, and then you had all

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Speaker 1: the different kinds of plugs making it confusing to consumers.

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Speaker 1: You can't just plug any peripheral into any port. That's

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Speaker 1: why older computers frequently have color coded ports and helps

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Speaker 1: the user know which one is for a keyboard versus

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Speaker 1: a mouse, that kind of thing. So what would be

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Speaker 1: the solution to this, Well, that would be the Universal

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Speaker 1: Serial Bus And I'm going to go into more details

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Speaker 1: about exactly how it pulled it off in just a second,

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Speaker 1: but first let's take a quick break to thank our sponsor.

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Speaker 1: So a much more attractive alternative to these serial and

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Speaker 1: parallel ports is plug and play, which is that concept

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Speaker 1: in which you can just plug a device in using

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Speaker 1: a standardized connector on a standardized port and it just works.

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Speaker 1: And USB can do that. It can also dramatically increase

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Speaker 1: the number of peripherles you can attach to a single

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Speaker 1: home device, whether it's a hub or a computer or whatever.

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Speaker 1: The USB standard allows up to one hundred and twenty

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Speaker 1: seven devices to connect to a single source. That would

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Speaker 1: mean you need a few USB hubs to max it out,

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Speaker 1: so you might have one thing plugged into a USB

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Speaker 1: port that actually has five other USB ports in that

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Speaker 1: Then you could expand that it's kind of like plugging

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Speaker 1: like a bunch of power strips into each other in

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Speaker 1: order to maximize the number of power cords that you

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Speaker 1: can attach to one outlet, only slightly less dangerous. There's

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Speaker 1: not really a huge risk for fire in the case

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Speaker 1: of the one hundred and twenty seven devices attached to

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Speaker 1: a single home computer. The important thing to remember really

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Speaker 1: is that it opens up possibilities for far more connections

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Speaker 1: than parallel or serial ports, which are one customer at

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Speaker 1: a time kind of ports. And plugging a peripheral into

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Speaker 1: a host computer is supposed to be easy with USB,

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Speaker 1: assuming that you have it facing the right way. More

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Speaker 1: on that in a second. The computer is in charge

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Speaker 1: of communications, so it detects the type of device that

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Speaker 1: gets plugged into any given USB board, and then the

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Speaker 1: computer is supposed to load a compatible driver for whatever

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Speaker 1: that peripheral is. And this is what allows a periphole

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Speaker 1: device like a keyboard or a printer or a digital

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Speaker 1: camera to communicate with the computer in a nice smooth way.

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Speaker 1: Computers downstream data to devices which upstream data to computers

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Speaker 1: and it's all very civilized, I assure you. There's another

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Speaker 1: really important point. The USB protocol allows for powered connections.

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Speaker 1: That means the ports and cables can carry electricity to

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Speaker 1: power devices as well as a voltage to indicate data transfer,

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Speaker 1: and that was really important. It allowed for options that

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Speaker 1: simplified cable management. If a peripheral could transmit data and

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Speaker 1: receive power through one cable, it could cut down on

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Speaker 1: some clutter. So this is why you can find lots

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Speaker 1: of little plug in toys and do dads that will

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Speaker 1: attached via a USB cable. So it might be a

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Speaker 1: little desk lamp or a little desktop missile launcher. I've

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Speaker 1: seen those on Think Geek. I really need to get

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Speaker 1: some of those. Hey, if anyone's over at think Geek

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Speaker 1: and you got a few extra little USB missile launchers,

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Speaker 1: send them to how stuff works. I think the office

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00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:07,240
Speaker 1: could really step up its intercompany warfare anyway. Now, we

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Speaker 1: tend to use USB to refer to specific physical things

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Speaker 1: like the ports or the cables, but you have to

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Speaker 1: remember USB is an underlying technology protocol. The physical things

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Speaker 1: we have are specific implementations of that technology, and they

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Speaker 1: are dependent upon various versions of the USB Standard. But

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Speaker 1: the standard is the real heart of USB. It's not

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Speaker 1: a cable, it's not a device, it's not even a computer.

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Speaker 1: It's the protocol that defines the behavior of USB. Now,

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Speaker 1: right now, as I'm recording this episode, the most recent

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Speaker 1: version of the USB standard is version three point one,

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Speaker 1: and I'll talk more about what that means in just

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Speaker 1: a moment. Before we can really look at where we

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Speaker 1: stand right now, we should probably take a look at

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Speaker 1: where it all got started. And you know me, you

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Speaker 1: know I love my tech history. So how did the

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Speaker 1: USB protocols into being? Wells Zeus on Mount Olympus once

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00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:07,760
Speaker 1: stubbed his toe and from that toe. I wish that

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Speaker 1: were the case, because that would be a cool story.

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Speaker 1: I love Greek mythology. But back in nineteen ninety four,

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Speaker 1: an Intel developer named a jay Bot began working on

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Speaker 1: a solution to this peripheral problem. And at the same time,

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Speaker 1: there was a group called the USB Implementer's Forum Incorporated

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Speaker 1: or USBIF that came into being, and that group included

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Speaker 1: people from Intel, Compac, Apple, Hewitt, Packard, and Microsoft, among others.

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Speaker 1: This confederation of companies was necessary in order to develop

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Speaker 1: a standard protocol that would work across a vast array

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Speaker 1: of computers and devices. So they wanted to make sure

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Speaker 1: that if anyone incorporated this into their designs, it was

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Speaker 1: incorporated across the board. Otherwise it would be limited in

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Speaker 1: its usefulness. It certainly wouldn't become a universal serial bus.

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Speaker 1: And they also really wanted to simplify ports. They wanted

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Speaker 1: to reduce the half dozen standards with a single replacement,

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Speaker 1: and ideally it wouldn't matter what you plugged into your

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Speaker 1: computer or which port you used. It would just work.

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Speaker 1: Whether you plugged it in the front the back didn't matter.

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Speaker 1: The computer would automatically recognize it. That's what they wanted,

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Speaker 1: so they had to create something to make it happen.

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Speaker 1: In late nineteen ninety five, they did have something to

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Speaker 1: show off. They had worked for a full year and

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Speaker 1: they had developed the standard that was called USB one

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Speaker 1: point zero. The protocol only gave a hint at what

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Speaker 1: was to come. It could transmit data at twelve megabits

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Speaker 1: per second, which was much faster than parallel or serial ports,

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Speaker 1: though sluggish compared to today's technology. The revised USB one

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Speaker 1: point one standard added in another capability of transferring data,

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Speaker 1: but this time at one point five megabits per second,

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Speaker 1: So why would you lower that quote unquote speed or

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Speaker 1: the capacity if you prefer Well, the reason was that

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Speaker 1: some devices just couldn't handle a bandwidth of twelve megabits

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Speaker 1: per second. They didn't need it. They couldn't handle that much.

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Speaker 1: So you needed to have a throttling mechanism in order

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Speaker 1: to send data at the proper rate to those peripherals.

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Speaker 1: And that was the solution of USB one point one,

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Speaker 1: and one point one got the most US. In those

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Speaker 1: early days, not a whole lot of devices used USB

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Speaker 1: one point zero. Almost everyone was using one point one

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Speaker 1: from as soon as it was available. It just made

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Speaker 1: more sense. The first computer to eschew all other ports

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Speaker 1: in favor of the new USB standard was the iMac

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Speaker 1: G three in nineteen ninety eight. So Apple led the way.

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Speaker 1: It probably comes as a surprise to absolutely no one

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Speaker 1: out there in the audience, because Apple is known for

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Speaker 1: dumping legacy systems in favor of new technology, at least

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00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:56,959
Speaker 1: with their computers, if not their mobile devices. Sometimes they

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Speaker 1: hold back with mobile devices, but they charge ahead with

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Speaker 1: their computers. So with USB devices, it wasn't such a

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Speaker 1: big deal. Since we're talking about a universal standard. In

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00:24:07,359 --> 00:24:11,280
Speaker 1: other cases, Apple has sometimes gone a more proprietary approach,

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00:24:11,320 --> 00:24:14,280
Speaker 1: which gets a bit more frustrating because that means you

402
00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:17,240
Speaker 1: invest in a closed off ecosystem and you can't really

403
00:24:17,359 --> 00:24:21,760
Speaker 1: use your equipment with anyone else's stuff. In other words,

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00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:26,239
Speaker 1: if it's a USB cord, you can use that on

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00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:29,600
Speaker 1: an Apple product or a PC where all sorts of

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Speaker 1: other devices that have USB ports and it doesn't matter.

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Speaker 1: But if Apple goes a proprietary route and the only

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Speaker 1: people making devices and cables are doing it for Apple,

409
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Speaker 1: then it doesn't do you any good to have that

410
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Speaker 1: stuff and then encounter a PC. You can't just use

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Speaker 1: that same stuff because the plugs won't fit, the protocols

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Speaker 1: aren't the same, they're not supported by this other piece

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Speaker 1: of equipment. The universal standard gets around that kind of problem.

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Speaker 1: In two thousand, the USB two point zho standard debuted,

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Speaker 1: and it blew USB one point one out of the water. Now,

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00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:10,480
Speaker 1: transfer rates had jumped up to four hundred and eighty

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Speaker 1: megabits per second, which was forty times faster, or rather

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00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:18,680
Speaker 1: forty times greater capacity than the previous version. In two

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Speaker 1: thousand and one, USB two point zero became an official standard.

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Speaker 1: In order to ensure backwards compatibility, the USB two point

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Speaker 1: zho standard could also operate at transfer speeds of twelve

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Speaker 1: megabits per second and one point five megabits per second. Now,

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Speaker 1: that was done to avoid the problem of updating a

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Speaker 1: protocol and making a ton of tech obsolete. At the

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Speaker 1: same time, it also meant that you could plug a

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Speaker 1: USB one point one device into a USB two point

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Speaker 1: zero port, or even use a USB two point zero

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Speaker 1: cable with a USB one point one port. The only

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Speaker 1: real problem is that if you had a USB two

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Speaker 1: point zero device and you plugged it into a USB

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00:25:57,440 --> 00:26:00,040
Speaker 1: one point one port, you might not be able to

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Speaker 1: use the USB two point zero device because it would

433
00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:07,760
Speaker 1: receive a smaller amount of data over time, So if

434
00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:11,960
Speaker 1: it needed that faster transfer rate, then the device wouldn't

435
00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:14,400
Speaker 1: really work well with the USB one point one port.

436
00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:18,640
Speaker 1: Otherwise it was pretty much backwards compatible. Also, obviously, if

437
00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:20,840
Speaker 1: you really wanted to get the most out of everything,

438
00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:23,919
Speaker 1: you needed to go two point zero across the board.

439
00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:26,439
Speaker 1: You had to have a two point zero port, you

440
00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:29,000
Speaker 1: had to have a cable that was two point zero compatible,

441
00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:31,440
Speaker 1: and you had to have a two point zero device

442
00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:36,480
Speaker 1: all working together otherwise, you are moving as fast as

443
00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:40,560
Speaker 1: the slowest member of the team. Right, It's like a

444
00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:43,600
Speaker 1: relay race team. If one person is slow, that affects

445
00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:46,280
Speaker 1: the whole team. Same thing with these components. If one

446
00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:50,320
Speaker 1: component was USB one point one, twelve megabits per second

447
00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:53,240
Speaker 1: was as fast as the data could travel, you could

448
00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:57,399
Speaker 1: not get to that four hundred and eighty speed. USB

449
00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:00,520
Speaker 1: two point zero also added a feature called USB on

450
00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:04,400
Speaker 1: the Go that allowed two USB devices to interface through

451
00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:07,440
Speaker 1: USB without the need for a third component to act

452
00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:10,840
Speaker 1: as host. In other words, you could connect two USB

453
00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:13,560
Speaker 1: two point zero devices directly with each other using the

454
00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:17,080
Speaker 1: appropriate cable, without having a computer as the go between.

455
00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:21,159
Speaker 1: So if I had maybe a camera and a phone,

456
00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:23,840
Speaker 1: I might want to transfer pictures I've taken with my

457
00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:27,040
Speaker 1: camera onto my phone for some reason. Maybe I want

458
00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:29,520
Speaker 1: to share them, Maybe I'm just using my phone as

459
00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:33,399
Speaker 1: sort of an external hard drive. With this USB on

460
00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:36,199
Speaker 1: the go feature, you could do that without having to

461
00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:40,320
Speaker 1: plug both devices into a computer. First, the earlier version

462
00:27:40,359 --> 00:27:44,160
Speaker 1: of USB, the computer was kind of master control. Everything

463
00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:46,880
Speaker 1: had to go through it, so this was a big innovation.

464
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:51,199
Speaker 1: Around this time we also saw the first USB flash drives,

465
00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:54,440
Speaker 1: which are sometimes known as thumb drives or pen drives.

466
00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:57,080
Speaker 1: These are those little storage devices that you plug into

467
00:27:57,080 --> 00:28:00,479
Speaker 1: a USB port and they feature rewriteable flash based memory.

468
00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:03,159
Speaker 1: I got a ton of these from various trips to

469
00:28:03,359 --> 00:28:05,800
Speaker 1: tech trade shows, and I love them because I could

470
00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:09,520
Speaker 1: pull the data from that flash drive onto my computer.

471
00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:12,360
Speaker 1: I could then wipe the flash drive and then use

472
00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:16,480
Speaker 1: them for all sorts of stuff like documents, pictures, that

473
00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:18,600
Speaker 1: kind of thing. So a lot of my backups are

474
00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:21,600
Speaker 1: on flash drives. The original flash drives could hold a

475
00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:25,879
Speaker 1: whopping eight megabytes of data, and that's me kind of

476
00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:28,600
Speaker 1: being a little coy about how primitive our past was,

477
00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:31,320
Speaker 1: because today you can find flash drives that hold on

478
00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:35,000
Speaker 1: to hundreds of gigabytes of data, which still sounds kind

479
00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:37,719
Speaker 1: of crazy to me. There's part of my brain that

480
00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:40,880
Speaker 1: refuses to acknowledge that you could fit two hundred gigabytes

481
00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:45,000
Speaker 1: of data onto something like a thumb drive. Now, with

482
00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:48,440
Speaker 1: USB three point zero, you get another boost in that

483
00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:52,400
Speaker 1: capacity that data transfer rate, this time hitting four point

484
00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:59,400
Speaker 1: eight gigabits per second four point eight billion bits per second.

485
00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:02,600
Speaker 1: It's also backwards compatible with USB two point zero devices

486
00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:04,760
Speaker 1: and ports, though again, if you have a USB three

487
00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:07,320
Speaker 1: point zero device and you connect it to a computer

488
00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:10,160
Speaker 1: through a USB two point zero port, you're not going

489
00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:12,760
Speaker 1: to get the full benefit of the technology. You can't

490
00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:16,880
Speaker 1: get that four point eight gigabit per second transfer rate. Technically,

491
00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:20,000
Speaker 1: you probably never would hit that rate anyway. That's sort

492
00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:23,520
Speaker 1: of the top end of what the data transfer rates are.

493
00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:27,640
Speaker 1: Usually real world examples are slightly lower than that, but

494
00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:30,959
Speaker 1: you get what I mean. The USB three point zero

495
00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:35,280
Speaker 1: standard also allows for simultaneous uploading and downloading on separate wires,

496
00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:41,040
Speaker 1: two for transmission, two for receiving data. So this sped

497
00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:43,080
Speaker 1: things up because you didn't have to wait for a

498
00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:45,600
Speaker 1: communication to go one route and then for it to

499
00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:49,040
Speaker 1: come back the other way. You had dedicated wires just

500
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:53,200
Speaker 1: for the uploading or downloading of information. It's kind of

501
00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:56,960
Speaker 1: like having separate lanes on a highway. By doing that,

502
00:29:57,320 --> 00:30:01,120
Speaker 1: you allow for much faster transfers. And I'll talk more

503
00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:03,800
Speaker 1: about the wires that you can find in USB cables

504
00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:06,040
Speaker 1: in a little bit. One of the things that the

505
00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:09,160
Speaker 1: USB three point zero protocols allow for is the connection

506
00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:12,480
Speaker 1: of data hungry peripherals, stuff that needs lots and lots

507
00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:16,200
Speaker 1: of information in a very short amount of time. So

508
00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:19,840
Speaker 1: an example that is a high resolution display, because they

509
00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:23,680
Speaker 1: are constantly refreshing and redrawing the screen so that you

510
00:30:23,720 --> 00:30:25,960
Speaker 1: can see new stuff. Otherwise it would just be a

511
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:30,880
Speaker 1: series of static pictures very slowly regenerating. You've got to

512
00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:34,520
Speaker 1: have that super fast data transfer rate otherwise you can't

513
00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:40,560
Speaker 1: get high definition displays otherwise. So this was a way

514
00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:44,520
Speaker 1: of creating a plug and play approach to stuff even

515
00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:48,400
Speaker 1: as sophisticated as a high resolution display. And it also

516
00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:51,160
Speaker 1: allows for high speed data transfers to storage drives. So

517
00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:53,400
Speaker 1: if you've ever had to move a large file from

518
00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:56,360
Speaker 1: an internal drive to an external drive, you know it

519
00:30:56,400 --> 00:30:59,480
Speaker 1: can take a long time. Like let's say that you've

520
00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:04,360
Speaker 1: got an internal drive that's a couple of gigabytes in size,

521
00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:07,240
Speaker 1: and you have an external data drive and you think,

522
00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:09,280
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna move everything over to there so i

523
00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:12,840
Speaker 1: can free up space in my computer. If you've ever

524
00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:15,880
Speaker 1: done that with a USB two point zero connection, you

525
00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:19,120
Speaker 1: know it can take a long time. So this dramatically

526
00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:22,080
Speaker 1: reduced the amount of time it takes to move large

527
00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:25,600
Speaker 1: amounts of information around. The USB three point zero protocol

528
00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:28,320
Speaker 1: helps alleviate that bottleneck that tends to occur at the

529
00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:31,400
Speaker 1: bus level, though, you're still dependent upon other factors like

530
00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:35,360
Speaker 1: your computer's processor and the hard drives writing capabilities. Again,

531
00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:39,080
Speaker 1: it really comes down to what is the slowest element

532
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:43,760
Speaker 1: of the collection of technology. Whatever the slowest element is,

533
00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:48,800
Speaker 1: that's your limiting factor. So really USB improvements are to

534
00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:52,920
Speaker 1: make sure that the bus stays keeps up to speed

535
00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:59,000
Speaker 1: with things like microprocessors and hard drives, that sort of thing. Now.

536
00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:01,920
Speaker 1: USB three point one I mentioned earlier is the most

537
00:32:02,080 --> 00:32:04,960
Speaker 1: recent version as of the recording of this podcast. It

538
00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:07,959
Speaker 1: upped the max data transfer rate again, this time up

539
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:11,640
Speaker 1: to ten gigabits per second. At least that's the theoretical

540
00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:17,200
Speaker 1: top and it debuted in July twenty thirteen. Now, in

541
00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:21,880
Speaker 1: August twenty fourteen, the usb IF published the specification for

542
00:32:22,520 --> 00:32:27,719
Speaker 1: USB Type C connector systems. That's the reversible USBC plug.

543
00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:31,120
Speaker 1: You can find some smartphones and high end laptops and

544
00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:35,320
Speaker 1: other devices right now. It's a little different from the

545
00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:40,640
Speaker 1: previous USB connectors. Also, people tend to conflate the two.

546
00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:44,280
Speaker 1: They tend to think of USBC and USB three point

547
00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:48,280
Speaker 1: one being the same thing. They are not. I mentioned

548
00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:52,040
Speaker 1: earlier that the USB really refers to a protocol, not

549
00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:55,200
Speaker 1: a specific technology. Same thing with USB three point one

550
00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:58,920
Speaker 1: is a technology protocol, a set of standards rules, if

551
00:32:58,960 --> 00:33:03,880
Speaker 1: you WILLBC is a physical technology that follows those rules

552
00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:09,160
Speaker 1: and is a cable and port system. It's not in

553
00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:15,240
Speaker 1: itself three point one. All right, Let's take another quick

554
00:33:15,280 --> 00:33:18,320
Speaker 1: break to thank our sponsor before I dive into the

555
00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:30,040
Speaker 1: madness that is USB connectors. All right, we're going to

556
00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:33,240
Speaker 1: talk about the different ends of USB cables, which for

557
00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:35,880
Speaker 1: a lot of people end up being the thing that

558
00:33:36,200 --> 00:33:39,320
Speaker 1: confuses them or infuriates them the most, especially if you're

559
00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:43,040
Speaker 1: looking for a very specific USB cable for a very

560
00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:47,640
Speaker 1: specific device and all you're finding are mini and micro cables.

561
00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:52,520
Speaker 1: I've been there, I live that life. It hurts. It's

562
00:33:52,560 --> 00:33:54,520
Speaker 1: a bit of a puzzler. So let's start with USB

563
00:33:54,560 --> 00:33:57,520
Speaker 1: two point zero and lower first, because all of those

564
00:33:57,640 --> 00:34:02,760
Speaker 1: cables have similar connect A USB one point one cable

565
00:34:02,840 --> 00:34:05,120
Speaker 1: is not gonna pull data the way USB two point

566
00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:07,920
Speaker 1: ozho can, but they do have the same sort of

567
00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:10,600
Speaker 1: end connectors that plug into ports. So we begin with

568
00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:14,960
Speaker 1: Type A plugs and sockets. This is the big standard,

569
00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:16,920
Speaker 1: the one that you would find on a typical computer

570
00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:21,840
Speaker 1: pre USB three point zero days, so it's your typical

571
00:34:21,920 --> 00:34:25,959
Speaker 1: USB port. The latest models have moved on. But if

572
00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:29,040
Speaker 1: you probably are familiar with or own a computer that

573
00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:32,440
Speaker 1: has your just standard USB two point oh style ports,

574
00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:35,120
Speaker 1: these are the ones that have that big, wide plug

575
00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:39,839
Speaker 1: for the cables and that have little holes on one

576
00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:42,960
Speaker 1: side of them that when it slips into your computer,

577
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:45,440
Speaker 1: it's supposed to latch on a little bit so that

578
00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:49,360
Speaker 1: the cord doesn't easily pop out again. But it's also

579
00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:52,399
Speaker 1: tends to be the plug that everyone seems to try

580
00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:55,000
Speaker 1: and plug in upside down first before they flip it

581
00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:56,640
Speaker 1: around and get it the right way. At least that's

582
00:34:56,640 --> 00:35:00,319
Speaker 1: my experience. I've worked with USB chords for years, and

583
00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:02,960
Speaker 1: to this day, I will try and plug it in

584
00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:06,160
Speaker 1: the wrong way first, probably because I'm not really paying attention.

585
00:35:06,239 --> 00:35:08,280
Speaker 1: If I just paid attention and looked for the little holes,

586
00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:11,080
Speaker 1: I could align it properly. But more often than not,

587
00:35:11,200 --> 00:35:14,719
Speaker 1: I'm just jabbing away at a computer. You know, an

588
00:35:14,719 --> 00:35:18,320
Speaker 1: expensive piece of property, like a caveman with a spear

589
00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:22,239
Speaker 1: jab in a mammoth. That's me when you boil it

590
00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:27,120
Speaker 1: down to its most basic level with computers, I'm not

591
00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:32,440
Speaker 1: a proud man. I'm just a guy anyway. That's one

592
00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:34,640
Speaker 1: of the features of these plugs. There's only one way

593
00:35:34,680 --> 00:35:38,720
Speaker 1: you can plug them in correctly. You cannot reverse them.

594
00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:42,000
Speaker 1: Type B plugs and sockets have a different shape than

595
00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:45,840
Speaker 1: Type A. These are typically the side of a cable

596
00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:50,560
Speaker 1: that you would plug into another device like a camera

597
00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:56,520
Speaker 1: or a microphone in some cases, USB microphones, printers, scanners,

598
00:35:56,520 --> 00:36:00,680
Speaker 1: that kind of thing. TYPEB socket is an upstrem socket,

599
00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:03,120
Speaker 1: so that means it has to be on a peripheral

600
00:36:03,320 --> 00:36:07,680
Speaker 1: because remember computer send information downstream, peripheral send information upstream.

601
00:36:09,239 --> 00:36:12,400
Speaker 1: So your typical USB cable has a Type A connector

602
00:36:12,440 --> 00:36:14,279
Speaker 1: on one end and a Type B connector on the

603
00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:18,120
Speaker 1: other end. I remember my old blue Snowball mic has

604
00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:21,040
Speaker 1: a standard Type B port on it. In fact, I've

605
00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:23,400
Speaker 1: got a blue Snowball mic right in front of me

606
00:36:23,640 --> 00:36:27,480
Speaker 1: right now. I'm not using it. It was used for

607
00:36:27,640 --> 00:36:31,800
Speaker 1: a conversation I had online just before I recorded this podcast,

608
00:36:32,120 --> 00:36:35,440
Speaker 1: and sure enough, it's got a tight B USB connector

609
00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:41,120
Speaker 1: that square ish connector on the back of it. Now,

610
00:36:41,200 --> 00:36:43,480
Speaker 1: let's make things a little more complicated. You also have

611
00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:47,880
Speaker 1: micro style connectors for USB Type A and Type B connections.

612
00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:52,440
Speaker 1: Micro Ports can be found on digital cameras, cell phones, smartphones,

613
00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:56,440
Speaker 1: GPS units, and stuff like that. Then there are USB

614
00:36:56,920 --> 00:37:02,000
Speaker 1: mini connectors which are actually largelarger than the micro connectors,

615
00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:04,040
Speaker 1: and those can also be found on other types of

616
00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:06,680
Speaker 1: cell phones, digital cameras, and that kind of stuff. So

617
00:37:06,719 --> 00:37:12,080
Speaker 1: your mini connectors are slightly taller if you were looking

618
00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:14,279
Speaker 1: at them from the end, Like if you ever had

619
00:37:14,280 --> 00:37:16,520
Speaker 1: a cell phone that had a mini connector, it's got

620
00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:20,120
Speaker 1: the ports are slightly taller, and the plugs are slightly taller,

621
00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:27,040
Speaker 1: and they do not fit into the micro connector ports.

622
00:37:27,200 --> 00:37:32,480
Speaker 1: Those are thinner, So a mini cable will not plug

623
00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:35,800
Speaker 1: into a MicroPort, and a micro cable will not plug

624
00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:38,360
Speaker 1: into a mini port. And that's the biggest problem I

625
00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:40,919
Speaker 1: have is because well now it's not the biggest problem

626
00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:43,239
Speaker 1: I have, because I've got a smartphone that has a

627
00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:47,719
Speaker 1: USB C cable, adding a whole new plethora of options

628
00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:51,560
Speaker 1: for me to mess things up. But back in the day,

629
00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:53,480
Speaker 1: it was the biggest problem I had because I used

630
00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:57,480
Speaker 1: to have a cell phone that used the one type

631
00:37:57,880 --> 00:37:59,640
Speaker 1: of plug, and then I got a cell phone that

632
00:37:59,719 --> 00:38:01,839
Speaker 1: used it different type of plug, which means I've got

633
00:38:01,840 --> 00:38:05,719
Speaker 1: all these different cables, and invariably when I was going

634
00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:08,640
Speaker 1: to charge my phone or I needed to grab a

635
00:38:08,680 --> 00:38:12,520
Speaker 1: cable for travel that was more common, I would end

636
00:38:12,600 --> 00:38:15,120
Speaker 1: up grabbing the wrong type of cable. You'd figure i'd

637
00:38:15,120 --> 00:38:17,920
Speaker 1: have a fifty to fifty shot, or at least, you know,

638
00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:21,040
Speaker 1: I would have more of the current type of cable

639
00:38:21,080 --> 00:38:23,840
Speaker 1: than I did the old type of cable. But for

640
00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:26,360
Speaker 1: whatever reason, I just had that amazing luck to grab

641
00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:31,080
Speaker 1: the wrong one every single time. And there are also

642
00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:35,480
Speaker 1: a few more proprietary approaches to USB connectors, particularly in

643
00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:38,840
Speaker 1: the world of cameras, so certain brands like Kodak or

644
00:38:38,840 --> 00:38:42,520
Speaker 1: Sony were using connectors that don't plug into anything else.

645
00:38:43,080 --> 00:38:46,799
Speaker 1: The camera has a very specific port on it, and

646
00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:50,239
Speaker 1: the plug that you have to use is related to

647
00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:53,719
Speaker 1: that camera, or at least that brand of cameras. This

648
00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:56,400
Speaker 1: is also incredibly frustrating for people who own lots of

649
00:38:56,440 --> 00:38:58,920
Speaker 1: technology because if it were a mini or a micro

650
00:38:59,239 --> 00:39:02,120
Speaker 1: that's a standard, if you lost the cable, it's easy

651
00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:05,239
Speaker 1: to replace. If you lose a proprietary cable, you have

652
00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:08,759
Speaker 1: to go back to the manufacturer typically and order an

653
00:39:08,800 --> 00:39:12,120
Speaker 1: expensive replacement. Keep in mind, they were still using the

654
00:39:12,239 --> 00:39:16,600
Speaker 1: USB standard. The underlying technology was the exact same stuff

655
00:39:16,640 --> 00:39:19,840
Speaker 1: in all the other USB cables. It's just the plug

656
00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:23,960
Speaker 1: that was different and the port on the device. It

657
00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:27,480
Speaker 1: was a design choice that ends up forcing you to

658
00:39:27,520 --> 00:39:34,320
Speaker 1: buy more stuff within a particular manufacturer's collection of products.

659
00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:37,600
Speaker 1: I might be a little jaded on that, largely because

660
00:39:38,920 --> 00:39:43,279
Speaker 1: I kept losing chords to digital cameras and it was

661
00:39:43,320 --> 00:39:46,960
Speaker 1: expensive to replace them. So these days I just use

662
00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:50,560
Speaker 1: my phone. It makes me so much happier not having

663
00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:54,719
Speaker 1: to carry an extra thing around. Anyway, the whole thing

664
00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:57,120
Speaker 1: sort of defeats the purpose of the universal connector if

665
00:39:57,160 --> 00:39:59,000
Speaker 1: you ask me, but it does create that market for

666
00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:04,800
Speaker 1: cords and cables, and only those companies or designated companies

667
00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:07,960
Speaker 1: that license the technology can actually sell those products, so

668
00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:11,399
Speaker 1: it's a money maker. Now. Next, you've got USB three

669
00:40:11,440 --> 00:40:14,239
Speaker 1: point zero Type A and Type B connectors, plus the

670
00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:18,560
Speaker 1: USB three point zero MicroB connectors. The basic Type A

671
00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:21,680
Speaker 1: connector looks very similar to a USB two point zero

672
00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:25,480
Speaker 1: Type A, except instead of it being having white plastic

673
00:40:25,520 --> 00:40:28,000
Speaker 1: in it, it's got blue plastic in it. So the

674
00:40:28,040 --> 00:40:30,960
Speaker 1: blue alert to that you're using a USB three point

675
00:40:31,040 --> 00:40:33,960
Speaker 1: zero cable, or if you're looking at the port, that

676
00:40:34,040 --> 00:40:38,080
Speaker 1: it's a port, So they look a lot like USB

677
00:40:38,120 --> 00:40:40,920
Speaker 1: two point zero. It is backwards compatible with USB two

678
00:40:40,960 --> 00:40:43,640
Speaker 1: point zero ports, so you can plug the USB three

679
00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:47,799
Speaker 1: point zero regular type A plug into a USB two

680
00:40:47,840 --> 00:40:49,879
Speaker 1: point zero port, but it's going to be going at

681
00:40:49,880 --> 00:40:54,080
Speaker 1: that use USB two point zero speed. Rather than round

682
00:40:54,160 --> 00:40:56,879
Speaker 1: pins which earlier USB connectors had inside them, the USB

683
00:40:57,000 --> 00:40:59,799
Speaker 1: three point zero Type A has flat connectors which stand

684
00:40:59,880 --> 00:41:02,279
Speaker 1: up to a lot of attachment and removals, so you

685
00:41:02,280 --> 00:41:04,880
Speaker 1: don't wear out the port or cables quite as quickly.

686
00:41:05,040 --> 00:41:08,799
Speaker 1: That's kind of nice. The type B USB three point

687
00:41:08,880 --> 00:41:10,799
Speaker 1: zero cables look a little different than they are two

688
00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:14,640
Speaker 1: point zero counterparts, so you cannot plug a USB three

689
00:41:14,680 --> 00:41:18,319
Speaker 1: point zero type B cable into a USB two point

690
00:41:18,400 --> 00:41:21,880
Speaker 1: zero Type B port, and that's because the connectors for

691
00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:25,560
Speaker 1: USB three point zero have more pins, so they're wider,

692
00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:30,120
Speaker 1: like they're more wide than the USB two point zero

693
00:41:30,160 --> 00:41:33,160
Speaker 1: kind that actually looks like they almost have two plugs

694
00:41:33,480 --> 00:41:36,680
Speaker 1: merged together if you take a look at them. And

695
00:41:36,719 --> 00:41:39,080
Speaker 1: the ports look a little funky too, because they have

696
00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:42,480
Speaker 1: this structure where it looks like it's two ports that

697
00:41:42,520 --> 00:41:46,080
Speaker 1: have been merged together. It's because these connectors have more

698
00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:48,640
Speaker 1: pins in them, so you can't just use a regular

699
00:41:48,680 --> 00:41:52,760
Speaker 1: two point oh cable with these devices. The micro connector

700
00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:55,399
Speaker 1: for a USB three point zero also looks different from

701
00:41:55,440 --> 00:41:58,920
Speaker 1: the two point zero counterpart, so again you just have

702
00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:01,960
Speaker 1: to deal with that. It's one of those things where

703
00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:04,560
Speaker 1: the trade off to the new technology is that you

704
00:42:06,160 --> 00:42:08,280
Speaker 1: have to get rid of some of the old stuff

705
00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:11,600
Speaker 1: that had been universal before. And finally you have the

706
00:42:11,719 --> 00:42:15,359
Speaker 1: USB Type C connector. So some cables have a Type

707
00:42:15,360 --> 00:42:17,960
Speaker 1: C connector at both ends, so you've got if you

708
00:42:17,960 --> 00:42:20,560
Speaker 1: have a USB C cable, it may have a C

709
00:42:21,719 --> 00:42:24,360
Speaker 1: plug on both ends of it instead of having a

710
00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:27,279
Speaker 1: Type A or Type B or whatever both ends or

711
00:42:27,320 --> 00:42:30,759
Speaker 1: Type C. That works just fine. If you happen to

712
00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:33,480
Speaker 1: have a laptop that has a C type port in

713
00:42:33,520 --> 00:42:35,880
Speaker 1: it and you have a smartphone that has a C

714
00:42:36,160 --> 00:42:38,520
Speaker 1: type port in it, then you can plug the two

715
00:42:38,520 --> 00:42:41,920
Speaker 1: together no problem. Or if you've got a power adapter

716
00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:46,200
Speaker 1: that is a plug and it has a C type port,

717
00:42:46,640 --> 00:42:48,640
Speaker 1: then you can use it as a charging cable. That's

718
00:42:48,640 --> 00:42:51,760
Speaker 1: what my phone's charging cable is. It's actually a USB

719
00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:55,080
Speaker 1: C cable on both ends plugs into an adapter. You

720
00:42:55,120 --> 00:42:57,480
Speaker 1: plug that into a wall, you plug the other end

721
00:42:57,480 --> 00:42:59,920
Speaker 1: into your smartphone, and you charge away, and you get

722
00:42:59,920 --> 00:43:03,560
Speaker 1: to do it at a really fast speed. It recharges

723
00:43:03,680 --> 00:43:06,600
Speaker 1: very quickly that way, much faster than if I were

724
00:43:06,600 --> 00:43:09,520
Speaker 1: to plug a USB two point zero to USB C

725
00:43:10,520 --> 00:43:14,640
Speaker 1: cable into my laptop, because the laptop just can't transfer

726
00:43:15,480 --> 00:43:21,000
Speaker 1: power at that same rate. So yeah, if I try

727
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:24,280
Speaker 1: to plug my phone into my computer, it does charge,

728
00:43:24,320 --> 00:43:26,440
Speaker 1: but much more slowly than I would if I use

729
00:43:26,520 --> 00:43:31,319
Speaker 1: the charge the charging cable. The cables will carry data

730
00:43:31,360 --> 00:43:34,400
Speaker 1: at a lower transfer rate if you have them plugged

731
00:43:34,440 --> 00:43:37,799
Speaker 1: into that two point zero style port, depending upon the

732
00:43:37,800 --> 00:43:43,240
Speaker 1: type of connectors used. Obviously, if it's a C type plug,

733
00:43:43,560 --> 00:43:46,000
Speaker 1: you would need an adapter, or you would need a

734
00:43:46,040 --> 00:43:48,920
Speaker 1: computer that had C type ports. You can't plug a

735
00:43:48,920 --> 00:43:52,320
Speaker 1: C type port into a USB two point zero port,

736
00:43:52,520 --> 00:43:57,920
Speaker 1: it won't work. They also have a chip incorporated in them,

737
00:43:57,960 --> 00:44:01,200
Speaker 1: the USB C cables do. There's at the end of

738
00:44:01,480 --> 00:44:06,560
Speaker 1: the C cable on that C connector there's actually a

739
00:44:06,600 --> 00:44:12,919
Speaker 1: microchip incorporated into the wire or the cable really, because

740
00:44:12,960 --> 00:44:15,399
Speaker 1: the cable is a collection of wires. It has an

741
00:44:15,400 --> 00:44:19,319
Speaker 1: ID function based on vendor defined messages also known as VDMS,

742
00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:24,320
Speaker 1: and also a configuration data channel. So in plane speak,

743
00:44:24,360 --> 00:44:27,080
Speaker 1: the chip gives devices more information about what they're connected to.

744
00:44:28,360 --> 00:44:31,040
Speaker 1: And that's a lot about connectors. So let's talk about wires.

745
00:44:31,480 --> 00:44:33,760
Speaker 1: What would a USB cable look like if you split

746
00:44:33,800 --> 00:44:36,840
Speaker 1: one open, Well, it depends upon which version of USB

747
00:44:36,920 --> 00:44:40,719
Speaker 1: you're working with, So if you're working with USB two

748
00:44:40,760 --> 00:44:44,640
Speaker 1: point zero or earlier, if you split the cable open,

749
00:44:44,800 --> 00:44:48,080
Speaker 1: you would find four wires inside of it, and normally

750
00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:53,160
Speaker 1: those wires are color coded red, white, green, and black.

751
00:44:54,080 --> 00:44:58,080
Speaker 1: The red and black wires are power lines. The red

752
00:44:58,080 --> 00:45:00,640
Speaker 1: line carries plus five vaults in the black life acts

753
00:45:00,640 --> 00:45:04,200
Speaker 1: as a ground wire. The white and green wires are

754
00:45:04,239 --> 00:45:07,680
Speaker 1: the ones that carry data signals using non return to

755
00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:13,399
Speaker 1: zero inverted or r ZI encoding. White is technically called

756
00:45:13,480 --> 00:45:16,879
Speaker 1: DNS and green is technically d plus, and the D

757
00:45:16,960 --> 00:45:20,960
Speaker 1: stands for data. A USB three point zero cable has

758
00:45:20,960 --> 00:45:23,279
Speaker 1: some additional wires to contend with. You've still got the

759
00:45:23,320 --> 00:45:26,480
Speaker 1: four that we just mentioned, and they still perform the

760
00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:28,960
Speaker 1: same functions in USB three point zero. This is what

761
00:45:29,160 --> 00:45:31,799
Speaker 1: allows USB three point zero to be backwards compatible with

762
00:45:31,920 --> 00:45:36,760
Speaker 1: older USB protocols. But then you also have blue, yellow, purple,

763
00:45:36,880 --> 00:45:40,200
Speaker 1: and orange wires. The blue and yellow are paired together

764
00:45:40,280 --> 00:45:43,080
Speaker 1: as a super speed transmitter. Pair of wires, and the

765
00:45:43,200 --> 00:45:46,920
Speaker 1: purple and orange act as a super speed receiver pair

766
00:45:47,080 --> 00:45:50,879
Speaker 1: of wires. So these are those dedicated pathways for high

767
00:45:50,920 --> 00:45:54,520
Speaker 1: speed data transfers. But Jonathan, I hear you ask, what

768
00:45:54,640 --> 00:45:59,680
Speaker 1: about USBC cables. Do they have any extra wires? Pipe down,

769
00:46:00,280 --> 00:46:03,520
Speaker 1: I'll get to you. Yeah, they got them. They got

770
00:46:03,520 --> 00:46:07,719
Speaker 1: a lot. USBC has eighteen wires. It's probably easiest to

771
00:46:07,719 --> 00:46:10,319
Speaker 1: go through these by the connectors they correspond with. So

772
00:46:11,400 --> 00:46:16,480
Speaker 1: Connectors one and sixteen are ground wires, so they're plated

773
00:46:16,520 --> 00:46:22,080
Speaker 1: in ten TN. They are ground for return power. Connectors

774
00:46:22,120 --> 00:46:25,919
Speaker 1: two and seventeen are power cables, similar to what you'd

775
00:46:25,920 --> 00:46:30,239
Speaker 1: find in earlier USB specifications, and they are red. Then

776
00:46:30,280 --> 00:46:33,879
Speaker 1: you've got a yellow wire at connector eighteen. This one

777
00:46:33,920 --> 00:46:37,960
Speaker 1: is a power wire for active cables designated as VCON,

778
00:46:38,520 --> 00:46:43,279
Speaker 1: whereas the other wires are VBUS wires. All right, So

779
00:46:43,320 --> 00:46:48,600
Speaker 1: that's one, sixteen, two, seventeen, and eighteen. Let's go back down.

780
00:46:48,800 --> 00:46:52,799
Speaker 1: Connector three is blue and it's a configuration. Channel four

781
00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:55,879
Speaker 1: is white and it's the D plus channel. Five is green.

782
00:46:55,920 --> 00:46:58,920
Speaker 1: It's the D minus channel. That's just like USB two

783
00:46:58,920 --> 00:47:03,040
Speaker 1: point zero. Connectors six and seven are yellow and brown.

784
00:47:03,160 --> 00:47:06,560
Speaker 1: And correspond with the first of four shielded differential pairs

785
00:47:06,560 --> 00:47:09,319
Speaker 1: for high speed data transfers. Eight and nine are the

786
00:47:09,360 --> 00:47:12,560
Speaker 1: next two, and they are green and orange. Then you've

787
00:47:12,600 --> 00:47:15,400
Speaker 1: got ten and eleven. Those are white and black, and

788
00:47:15,440 --> 00:47:17,920
Speaker 1: then you've got twelve and thirteen those are red and

789
00:47:17,960 --> 00:47:22,160
Speaker 1: blue connectors. Fourteen and fifteen are red and black and

790
00:47:22,239 --> 00:47:25,439
Speaker 1: are sideband wires. And that's all of them. That's all

791
00:47:25,480 --> 00:47:28,279
Speaker 1: the wires that are in the USB C cable. Now.

792
00:47:28,360 --> 00:47:31,240
Speaker 1: The important thing to remember is that these wires facilitate

793
00:47:31,360 --> 00:47:34,960
Speaker 1: powering a peripheral and allowing high speed data transfers, and

794
00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:38,759
Speaker 1: it only works if you're using the right types of ports,

795
00:47:38,920 --> 00:47:43,279
Speaker 1: cables and peripherals. So you've got to make sure all

796
00:47:43,360 --> 00:47:47,560
Speaker 1: of these things are at the highest or the most

797
00:47:47,560 --> 00:47:50,640
Speaker 1: recent version of USB in order to take advantage of

798
00:47:50,640 --> 00:47:55,040
Speaker 1: those capabilities. Again, you only go as fast as the

799
00:47:55,120 --> 00:48:00,440
Speaker 1: slowest component on the chain, and that's the skinny on USB. Ultimately,

800
00:48:00,520 --> 00:48:03,560
Speaker 1: it's a story about several powerful entities in the computer

801
00:48:03,680 --> 00:48:07,319
Speaker 1: industry getting together to streamline what had become an increasingly

802
00:48:07,400 --> 00:48:12,080
Speaker 1: frustrating consumer experience. I think the solution is actually pretty elegant.

803
00:48:12,160 --> 00:48:15,400
Speaker 1: It's complex, and it's a little difficult to understand. I

804
00:48:15,440 --> 00:48:17,800
Speaker 1: didn't dive too deeply into the tech of it because

805
00:48:17,840 --> 00:48:21,080
Speaker 1: to do so would have taken a lot more time

806
00:48:21,400 --> 00:48:25,640
Speaker 1: to explain all the different fundamental principles. I will say

807
00:48:25,640 --> 00:48:30,080
Speaker 1: that the switch to USBC has irritated some people because

808
00:48:30,160 --> 00:48:33,479
Speaker 1: it's creating new connectors, so it means that you can't

809
00:48:33,560 --> 00:48:36,320
Speaker 1: use your old cables for a lot of this stuff.

810
00:48:36,880 --> 00:48:39,000
Speaker 1: That's part of the growing pains of technology. If we

811
00:48:39,040 --> 00:48:42,320
Speaker 1: rely upon existing designs, we won't be able to enjoy

812
00:48:42,760 --> 00:48:46,120
Speaker 1: those faster speeds or other features like power management and

813
00:48:46,160 --> 00:48:50,080
Speaker 1: other improvements over time. Another when I got my latest

814
00:48:50,080 --> 00:48:53,279
Speaker 1: smartphone that uses that USBC connector, I was a little

815
00:48:53,280 --> 00:48:55,920
Speaker 1: irritated at first. I knew that I had to buy

816
00:48:56,080 --> 00:48:58,840
Speaker 1: new USBC cables if I was going to go traveling.

817
00:48:59,200 --> 00:49:02,560
Speaker 1: I couldn't just one of the billion USB minis or

818
00:49:02,600 --> 00:49:05,560
Speaker 1: micros that I had because they wouldn't work. And I

819
00:49:05,560 --> 00:49:08,000
Speaker 1: still don't have a computer that has a USB C port,

820
00:49:08,120 --> 00:49:12,000
Speaker 1: so I only have that one power adapter that I

821
00:49:12,040 --> 00:49:15,040
Speaker 1: can use. I don't have anything else that uses USBC

822
00:49:15,280 --> 00:49:17,880
Speaker 1: right now, so I really only enjoy those faster speeds

823
00:49:17,920 --> 00:49:21,680
Speaker 1: when I plug in the power adapter. But assuming I

824
00:49:21,920 --> 00:49:25,000
Speaker 1: upgrade to current technological standards. I'm sure I'll be pleased

825
00:49:25,040 --> 00:49:28,520
Speaker 1: as punch with the USBC, which will probably happen right

826
00:49:28,560 --> 00:49:32,000
Speaker 1: around the time someone debuts USBD or whatever comes next,

827
00:49:32,480 --> 00:49:35,800
Speaker 1: and I'll still be behind the times, and so it goes.

828
00:49:37,200 --> 00:49:40,360
Speaker 1: That's it for the tech Stuff classic episode how USB

829
00:49:40,560 --> 00:49:44,640
Speaker 1: Ports Work, which originally published on April twenty first, twenty seventeen.

830
00:49:45,360 --> 00:49:48,480
Speaker 1: Hope you enjoyed that. Obviously we could do another follow

831
00:49:48,560 --> 00:49:53,040
Speaker 1: up on there. USBC has been a huge thing over

832
00:49:53,080 --> 00:49:56,400
Speaker 1: the last few years, and yeah, there are a lot

833
00:49:56,440 --> 00:49:59,200
Speaker 1: of things to talk about when it comes to USB

834
00:49:59,320 --> 00:50:02,879
Speaker 1: technology and how it has advanced over the years. So

835
00:50:02,920 --> 00:50:05,120
Speaker 1: maybe I'll do a follow up episode at some point,

836
00:50:05,680 --> 00:50:08,520
Speaker 1: But until then, I hope you are all well and

837
00:50:08,600 --> 00:50:17,840
Speaker 1: I'll talk to you again really soon. Tech Stuff is

838
00:50:17,880 --> 00:50:22,400
Speaker 1: an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the

839
00:50:22,440 --> 00:50:26,080
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

840
00:50:26,120 --> 00:50:26,840
Speaker 1: favorite shows.