Comment on Anon is incompatible
red_bull_of_juarez@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 hours agoI know Apple is terrible with usability, but I also think USB-C is now the one that works everywhere. All my last USB stick purchases had USB-A and C, just so that I don’t have to run away in tears. I can even use them with smartphones and those never had USB-A.
Both USB-C and USB-A have their pros and cons.
USB-C has a lot more bandwidth and power draw.
USB-A is sturdier and cheaper.
For things like a mouse or keyboard, having more bandwidth or power draw are useless, but being cheaper and sturdier are not.
One can not replace the other entirely. Apple just wants to milk everyone by forcing them to buy all their peripherals again.
I think the only holdouts are Raspberry Pi. For some reason they still don’t have a USB-C option for the nano
And I have about 20 USB-A flash drives, up to 128GB, that I should just toss in the trash because…why exactly? Because they are “old”?
“all my recent flash drives have had both ports so I can use them with usb a or usb c!”
“WHAT SO I SHOULD JUST TOSS ALL MY OLD HARDWARE?”
no one said that. youre just saying shit. you can still use your usb-a flash drives.
“SO YOU HATE WAFFLES?”
“That’s a whole new sentence. Wtf is you talkin about?”
Bro, just get an A-C Adapter. They are like 20cents und always useful, especially if you have old hardware
So now we need to buy dongles for something that should be standard on a computer?
Next thing we’ll need a dongle for the power button, because Apple decided that shouting “POWER ON APPLE” is the better way to turn on a laptop.
Stop whining so much, there’s nothing wrong with USB-C slowly replacing USB-A and becoming a new standard.
We’d never be rid of VGA if we were listening to the ever nagging old dorks that can’t get themselves an adapter.
No - but you can get a A to C adapter if you expect that you’ll bring it to someone who might only have USB C.
And from my perspective: if I expect other to being me data id expect from myself to bring such an adapter. That way I’d both parties try to remember chances are one of them have. :)
It’s not normal to expect someone to not have USB-A on a computer though.
Is it not normal to expect someone to not have serial on their computer?
Standards change.
I don’t like it either, but in 2026 on laptops at least it is normal.
No? Just get an adapter?
USB-A to USB-C adapter. They’re inexpensive, and you don’t have to get one for each of the 30 flash drives you have.
If it’s just for documents I may still have single digit GB memory sticks somewhere that are more than enough space.
Who the hell still uses flash drives in 2026? Especially a slow-ass USB-A one. I can’t think of a single use-case for them.
Me. Linux distros (either install media or straight live boot disks like Tails), moving files larger than like fucking 2gb without relying on spyware or self hosting a cloud service, redundant backups of your most important files, rescue disks, and MORE! Only $16.99 for a limited time while supplies last see comment for details.
Linux distros (either install media or straight live boot disks like Tails)
What’s the advantage of using a slow USB drive instead of just network-booting the install media or mounting it through IPMI?
moving files larger than like fucking 2gb without relying on spyware or self hosting a cloud service
Just send the data between machines using SCP, much easier and faster.
redundant backups of your most important files
Backups you do either to a NAS or to a Thunderbolt-connected SSD, not a USB-A drive. Again, much too slow to use a USB drive.
my home computer has no USB-C and I can’t afford to upgrade because gestures broadly.
You can buy a dongle or hub very cheaply.
First day of the COVID confinement I plugged in a cheap usb c/a dongle into my work laptop to use my mouse and instantly fried the mobo.
Just saying eh 😁
I have a USB-C hub with USB-A ports that plugs into my work PC. I had a hard time trying to find the opposite, though I haven’t looked in ages; it honestly has come up exactly once in the last few years when I needed to borrow my wife’s sd card reader (or dig my old laptop out of the closet and play the updates game).
I now want a smartphone with 3 USB-A ports.
Cethin@lemmy.zip 8 hours ago
It’s the new standard, but there should always be at least one USB-A. It’s still incredibly common.
fartsparkles@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
USB-C is over 11 years old.
Cethin@lemmy.zip 8 hours ago
And? Is there something newer that’s a standard? If not, it’s the new one.
Also, it’s only recently become the de facto standard. Yes, it’s older than that, but it didn’t become the standard until maybe five years ago. So much was still being made for USB-A, and some things still are. Anything older than ~5 years ago has good odds of being A.
fartsparkles@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
Anything older than 5 years ago has the odds of being A, B, Mini A, Mini B, Micro A, Micro B, etc.
C is the standard. If you need legacy support, there’s hubs and adapters. No need to perpetuate legacy ports. I’d love a serial and a parallel connector - there’s plenty of modern industrial gear still using them. But we do that with C -> Serial adapters.
A device has a limited number of ports. Would one rather two USB-C, or one A and one C?
That A port will have diminishing value if one intends to use the device for 5 to 10 years and increases the probability someone discards the device early given the limited number of modern, high value ports.
ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 hours ago
Furthermore I shouldn’t have to get rid of an old A device that still works just because they remove the ports. I don’t care how old it is let me use my external CD drive with the USB-A to Mini-USB (yes mini lmao.) Wish I still had an optical disk drive tbh.
ieGod@lemmy.zip 5 hours ago
For progress to happen you have to move on eventually. Hubs are a decent compromise.
RamenJunkie@midwest.social 5 hours ago
People do. Ot replace accessories and specialized external hardware nearly as often as companies think they do.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
And my 5 year old motherboard doesn’t have it.