Not short lived at all, it’s literally one of the three standard connectors alongside A and C. USB is an inherently directional protocol, so one side if the host device and the other is the peripheral device. The difference between Type A and B plugs helped enforce that directionality. Prior to the C connector becoming the new standard regardless of direction, all USB cables had both a Type-A and Type-B connector. (A to A cables violate the spec, and are an abomination).
The miniUSB and microUSB connectors are both Type-B connectors, just physically smaller to accommodate smaller peripheral devices. There’s also technically a mini-A and micro-A, but they’re very uncommon since host devices are usually large enough for a full size plug, and now USB 3.0+ Type-C connections don’t require a directional cable the same way.
I have a bunch of USB hubs that plug into a USB-A outlet and then give you USB-A outlets. Are these not cursed because they’re a hub?
I also have a switchable USB hub from Amazon that lets you send your USB hub outlets to one out of four host devices. I use this to be able to have my mouse and keyboard plugged into my desktop or switch it to my laptop, if I have my laptop plugged into a USB dock.
That switchable USB hub uses USB-A to USB-A cables to connect the hub to the host devices. What cable should it use instead for this purpose? USB A to USB B? And the hub would have four USB-B inputs on the back?
Not short lived at all, it’s literally one of the three standard connectors alongside A and C. USB is an inherently directional protocol, so one side if the host device and the other is the peripheral device. The difference between Type A and B plugs helped enforce that directionality. Prior to the C connector becoming the new standard regardless of direction, all USB cables had both a Type-A and Type-B connector. (A to A cables violate the spec, and are an abomination).
The miniUSB and microUSB connectors are both Type-B connectors, just physically smaller to accommodate smaller peripheral devices. There’s also technically a mini-A and micro-A, but they’re very uncommon since host devices are usually large enough for a full size plug, and now USB 3.0+ Type-C connections don’t require a directional cable the same way.
I have a bunch of USB hubs that plug into a USB-A outlet and then give you USB-A outlets. Are these not cursed because they’re a hub?
I also have a switchable USB hub from Amazon that lets you send your USB hub outlets to one out of four host devices. I use this to be able to have my mouse and keyboard plugged into my desktop or switch it to my laptop, if I have my laptop plugged into a USB dock.
That switchable USB hub uses USB-A to USB-A cables to connect the hub to the host devices. What cable should it use instead for this purpose? USB A to USB B? And the hub would have four USB-B inputs on the back?
To answer my own question, here is a expensive version of what I’m talking about, which uses USB-A to USB-B. https://www.startech.com/en-us/usb-hubs/hbs304a24a
And here is the cheap version I have from Amazon, over $100 cheaper which uses the cursed cable… https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CHY8L11W/
Is there any risk of using the cheap A to A version?