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Comment by michaelt | Hacker News Reader

  the USB connectors have no locking mechanism. [...] users
  will scream in frustration when they realize their USB
  mouse has been inadvertently unplugged from the back of
  the computer because it wasn't locked into place.

Is this really a problem, except for high-vibration industrial applications?

I'd rather have USB than be fiddling around trying to reach thumbscrews on the back of my computer in the dark under my desk.

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I don't know about you, but I really crank on my mouse. If your shoulder isn't moving you're not doing it right.

That mouse with the one and a half foot cable, right?

Only my wrist seems to really move.

Not even that, now that I watch my hand truth is only my fingers do the motion but it's mostly because I like to work with a high sensitivity setting (less than 2cm to go through all the screen).

That's why I use a trackball.

Better for the cord to come out the back of the computer than the front of the mouse.

Besides, even PS2 connectors will come out if you yank on them hard enough. I can't remember owning a mouse with a locking cable ^^;

Very early mice used COM ports, which could be locked into place.

Weren't PS/2 mice around through the mid 90s?

I've actually wondered why almost all mice and keyboard come with fixed cables instead of mini/micro-b connector. I guess it saves couple of cents in part costs.

Why would I want my mouse/keyboard cable to be removable? It's completely useless without it. The only possible effect is to make it easier to lose.

The cable tends to get damaged fairly easily.

This has literally never happened to me in like, 10? years of USB use.

A lot of them are USB low-speed devices, especially the older ones, and the USB spec requires low-speed devices to have fixed cables because they have stricter cable-length restrictions than other devices.

My Happy Hacker (pro jp) keyboard doesn't have a fixed cable, which is a nice bonus, making it even more portable. Unfortunately the HHKB lite versions seem to have fixed cables :(

I've encountered certain combinations of male and female USB plugs that fit extremely loosely, to the point that minor perturbation (like from a mouse cable) might eventually result in the plug falling out. It's pretty rare though, and it's probably just a matter of the manufacturing tolerances and how well the manufacture implements the physical spec.

It was a colossal pain in the butt using USB in mobile robots like we did at Anybots. There aren't compatible locking versions of the connectors. Ethernet/RJ45 is much better without requiring thumbscrews.

Have you tried using one of those USB-over-CAT5 adapters they sell on eBay? I've always wanted to but never had a real application for it, and robotics sound perfect. Just bolt down the adapter on one side.

> Ethernet/RJ45 is much better without requiring thumbscrews.

I think I have more RJ45 cables with broken tabs than ones with the tabs intact. And trying to keep RJ45 in place without the tab is hopeless.

I'd rather USB cables worked for the majority of users rather than inconveniencing everyone for rare use cases.

Surely you could build some sort of retaining clip for a usb cable is you had to?

There are multiple options for locking USB connectors that retain backwards-compatibility with standard USB plugs. Amphenol and TE spring to mind and I know that there are others, including IP67 solutions.

It's really a huge issue for industrial and embedded applications. The lack of any provision for a locking mechanism basically means you have to rig some kind of awkward glue or stop bolt arrangement to stop usb connectors from falling out in high impact or high vibration conditions.

That in turn is hard to qualify and expensive to assemble so it adds cost all round.

Not for me, but wow Apple has a weird relationship with USB. On the back? Really? And then there is the power cable on iMacs. If you have the power cord going behind the desk (and pinched) then tilt the monitor the power cord comes out. Maybe Apple has something against all cables?

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