this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2025
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Hardware

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[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 31 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I mean the 3.5mm audio jack was designed in the 50s...

[–] MudMan@fedia.io 20 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

S/PDIF-TOSLINK is from the early 80s. Ethernet just a bit newer, from the mid-80s.

And we probably don't want to start nitpicking about that antenna connector there.

Oh, and HDMI is from 2002, so about the same time.

Turns out that one USB-C is the only thing that isn't a full on ancient connector. I/O has good reasons to move slowly and stay backwards compatible.

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 6 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Huh, i had no idea that toslink was from the early 80s, interesting!

I was in school when USB was released and remember the first reviews of a USB stick came out...

[–] MudMan@fedia.io 5 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Same!

When they started showing the standard, tech magazines covered it like they had just invented flying cars.

"So get this, your joystick and your mouse will go... in the same plug! Theoretically every single device could be plugged into the same hole with the same number of pins!"

My second favorite instance of breathless tech coverage, next to the guy who first tested an optical mouse and reported on its ability to work on different surfaces by very heavily implying the sentence "you could use this thing on your dick!"

I don't think people these days remember that mouse mats weren't some hardcore gamer optimization thing, ball mice wouldn't really work without one.

Sorry, old man tangent.

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Oh, remember Lohitech's weird experment with rumble / force feedback mice?

I think it was the Logitech iForceMan or iFeel or something...

The idea was that you would feel when the cursor was over a button or link, weird...

[–] MudMan@fedia.io 5 points 2 hours ago

I do not, but that sounds like something Apple is due to invent for the first time any day.

I did have a mouse that had a touch surface instead of a mouse wheel but still felt exactly like a mousehweel using haptics. It was creepy, cool and kinda worked. That was Microsoft, though.

[–] msage@programming.dev 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

At least they no longer put PS/2 ports in there. But it was not too long ago

[–] MudMan@fedia.io 3 points 2 hours ago

You can still get those for modern platforms.

I/O goes slooooow.

[–] PriorityMotif@lemmy.world 10 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Almost every smartphone usb port is 2.0 as well. USB C is just a connector folks.

[–] JusticeForPorygon@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

I thought USB c ports were generally 3.0?

[–] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 2 points 2 hours ago

So the USB connector and the USB protocol are different, and not necessarily related to each other - however there is a functional upper limit to the throughput that a given connector type can support (you'll never get USB 3.0 data transfer through a USB Mini connector).

A type C connector might only be wired to USB 2.0-level hardware on the back - but this is not really a bad thing. There are lots of low-level electronic devices that need a USB connector that don't really need 3.0 data transfer, and faster data processing chips are more expensive, but it's convenient to only need one type of cable for everything.

There are some nice reference tables in the Wikipedia article: USB Hardware

[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 hours ago

on a pc, yes, they are generally are some sort of usb 3 (like 3.2 gen 1 or gen 2).

as a connector, though, usb type-c is used for more than just usb.

[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 6 points 3 hours ago

8mm audio jack: “Am I a joke to you?”

[–] gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 hours ago

I thought you meant the fucking I/O shield at first and was getting unreasonably mad at how old they are and how hard they still are to install

But no, it's about USB, happy birthday you glorious bastard, life on 1.0 sucked compared to you