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Comment by ghshephard | Hacker News Reader

Well, after 10+ years of using USB widgets of every shape, size, and color - I just discovered from reading the article that the USB symbol is always on the top side. So, I certainly got my value out of HN today. :-)

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What? You didn't notice the mark clearly embossed in black plastic on the black plastic background while holding it in the illuminated space between the back of your computer and the wall?

Or maybe yours doesn't have a mark at all like the mouse I'm using now. Or maybe it has one mark on one side and a slightly different mark on the other.

Who came up with this stupid idea anyway of making a plug that looks and feels to the fingers completely symmetrical externally yet is definitely oriented in its insertion? Why are we still using it?

I went to buy a USB cable for charging something the other day. It seems I bought a micro instead of a mini USB end, or vice versa.

Really guys. What we needed was a smaller RJ45 without the plastic tab thingy that breaks off. HDMI isn't doing nearly so bad.

Come on, it's right there in section 6.5.1 of the specification which you'd know if you searched the web, downloaded 11MB of data, unzipped it and sorted through it for the "Universal Serial Bus Specification Revision 2.0", then read all 622 pages of that.

6.5.1 USB Icon Location

The USB Icon is embossed, in a recessed area, on the topside of the USB plug. This provides easy user recognition and facilitates alignment during the mating process.

And from this I learn that all my Apple keyboards and mice are non-compliant devices since their marks are painted on rather than embossed into the connector. I'll have to replace them.

"First we're gonna recess 'em, then we're gonna emboss 'em, then we're gonna mate 'em!"

Designers should look to nature. Nature has certainly created some wonderful symmetries, but a symmetry which would impose hidden and unnecessary constraints on alignment during the mating process is not one of them!

This is probably the only chance I will ever get to link a page containing the words "duck penis" on HN, and you bet I will take it: http://scienceblogs.com/neurotopia/2010/01/friday_weird_scie...

Evolution can lead to really strange solutions...

I'll never look at Donald Duck the same way again. On the other hand, I guess we know now who designed the USB connectors...

In all seriousness, the USB Spec is an interesting read (I used to keep a printout of it on my desk for reference). I've pored over the physical specifications more times than I can count - it's amazing how much thought was put into this connector.

And we wonder why the rest of the world think us IT people are a bit strange :-) Never read that but pored over enough other arcane material in my time.

I wonder how much different things would be if a peer-2-peer protocol like IEEE1394 won out against USB and it's client-server model of bus communication.

The Microsoft keyboard and mouse I have, not only have the USB symbol embossed, they also sport a raised dot to help identify the correct side. Wish more manufacturers did that.

On the other hand, PC manufacturers have defeated that purpose by creating vertically aligned USB ports. Which side is the right side now? Just goes to say that intelligent specs are not enough. You can't hand a brilliant spec to a monkey and expect good implementation.

What is a 'vertically aligned USB port?' For that matter, what side of a computer is 'up?' Nothing is stopping anyone from re-orienting their computer in from the way that the manufacturer intended. Not to mention computer cases that are designed to be able to sit both ways. I think that the take-away here is that you don't design a connector that depends on the orientation of the device.

I have a pretty good idea what he means because my computer is like that.

My tower has all the USB ports set up so the long side is vertical. The tower is definitely not made to be laid on its side.

I've cursed in frustration more than once because I couldn't see the place I was trying to plug a USB cable very well and I spent far too long reaching in uncomfortable ways trying to figure out which way the damned cable would go in there without breaking things.

The worst is that a USB cable will sort of fit into an Ethernet port. The built-in Ethernet ports are right next to the USB ports. Lovely, no?

"...You hadn't exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them had you? I mean like actually telling anyone or anything."

"But the plans were on display..."

"On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them."

"That's the display department."

"With a torch."

"Ah, well the lights had probably gone."

"So had the stairs."

"But look you found the notice didn't you?"

"Yes," said Arthur, "yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of The Leopard'."

So, how do you identify the hole orientation? Does it have a mark too? What possible use is identifying the plug orientation without that?

USB plugs are a giant step backward.

When I'm mating, USB is generally not involved.

Except when the device makers mount them vertically or upside down.

Exactment.

Also, people damage the heads and/or the jack by trying to insert them the wrong way? Either the plug slides in gently, or it doesn't budge.

  - ... that the USB symbol is always on the top side

Yes, I thought that, except that on my father's computer it goes on the bottom. I checked quite thoroughly.

That might be because your father's computer has the usb ports mounted upside down.

It happens very often though. And in some laptops you even have all combinations at once: some mounted right, others upside down and one or two mounted vertically...

It's a mess...

More like the USB spec should have realized that the ports may end up in all sorts of configurations, especially on devices where they are trying to make the maximum amount of limited space (i.e. laptops, netbooks, etc). The connector was designed without really allowing normal people (or at least people are aren't 'in' on the group-think that can go on in working-groups) to try and use it.

You know, back in '96 I can give them some slack for not necessarily thinking about that use case.

I can't. RJ11, RJ45, RS232 and PS2 plugs were already everywhere back then, and they were mounted every which-way. And they were all physically keyed at the connector such that you could figure it out blind. Bah and humbug, I say.

Plugging in PS/2 ports is the one single single port that sucks even more than USB, because instead of flipping and putting it in right, you have to rotate the connector and try until you succeed. Or you give up the blind thing and look how the port is mounted.

With my desktop I have all sorts of combinations. One row is mounted right, the other is upside down and then there's a bus on the side that's aligned vertical.

Or, the symbol on the connector is exactly on the wrong side. I just unplugged it and compared it to a correct and lo and behold, it really is on the wrong side. So much for the spec.

I'd love to see a USB-port that can be plugged in both ways.

I thought it did that, but not everywhere. I found out by plugging it in, hearing a "Pooffh". The computer went black, and so did the external hard drive. I did not use excessive force to get it in. The "pin" inside must have been a little loose to begin with.

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