begin quoting [EMAIL PROTECTED] as of Sun, Sep 11, 2005 at 07:47:25PM -0700: > > Look again. There are at least three different sizes of USB > > connectors, A, B, and mini-B. Each comes in both male and female, or > > plug and receptacle. A look at Wikipedia shows me that there is also > > a mini-A. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus > > > Yes there are multiple sizes and that is annoying. But, for a given > size, you don't have to worry about male and female mismatches. This > was really annoying with video cable extension cords.
Er, look again, again. USB connectors *are* gendered. USB cords are male-male, but a USB extension cord is not. Consider, you have <computer>, <cable1>, <cable2>, and <device>. You can set it up so: <computer>---<cable1>---<device> or <computer>---<cable2>---<device> but not <computer>---<cable1>---<cable2>---<device> ...which you *could* do if USB cables didn't have gender. It's not the asymmetry is always bad. It's that there is no *obvious* asymmetry with the USB connector. -Stewart "Firewire is asymmetric. Ethernet is asymmetric..." Stremler -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
