Infinite Usb

[cbox]

Wow, no one has thought of this before? click here

Would be perfect for Pandora

 

[mindlord]

Looks good, but I bet they are magically expensive.

 

[WoD]

Can't see these being too useful on a laptop, the big fat plug would block the other USB port *facepalm*

Why couldn't they have used Mini USB

 

[Prometheus]

Interesting, but unfortunately impractical for most laptop USB ports I've encountered.

For example, my ThinkPad has three of them, and this would work in none of them (one is vertical on one side, and the other two are "stacked" on the other - either way, it would either get in the way, or block a port), and it would, as WoD says, block the other USB port on my MacBook...

 

[benji_stein]

It's called a USB hub. Sure, you could get more people to put the USB port on the back of their connectors, but why should they play nice for others? Plus, it's not clear what this particular one connect to - otherwise it's just an extension cord with a splitter. Whoop-de.

More importantly, the USB spec has a limit of power draw per port. So if you chain too many together, they wouldn't get enough power. That's why some hubs offer an AC adapter. This one has a mention of it as an "optional" accessory at the bottom of the page.

 

[carlgeorge]

I personally think that this is how USB should always have been. It IS a great design, so bloody obvious now you've seen it, which is always a sign of good design. If only it existed from Day One then PC manufacturers wouldn't have packed the USB port so close together.

 

[hch]

didn't the amiga disk drives always have 2 ports so you could chain them?

 

[Tom`]

Read this. These things would not only not work very well, but would violate the USB spec. The guy behind it has other... questionable ideas on his website as well.

 

[lulzfish]

The guy behind it has other... questionable ideas on his website as well.

"Concept design allows me to wave my idea"

OH HO HO DAT SLAPS ME ON THE KNEE

 

[Pleng]

didn't the amiga disk drives always have 2 ports so you could chain them?

Yup. And Parallel scanners often had pass-thru ports for printers.

The closest thing to this idea, though, was the 3DO gamepads, which each featured a slot for another 3dO gamepad. IIRC it allowed up to 8 pads to be daisychained to a single connector.

 

[NeoTheFox]

1) We need MOAR power! You really think your pandora or laptop will handle all this stuff?
2) Just imagine: you have to unplug the device which is in the start or in the middle of this tower, so you need to unplug ALL THE STUFF!
3) Cables are 90[sup]o[/sup] rotated, this no good - Cable have a big unpluging chance if you pull it - and again WHOLE thing in this tower will be unplugged, also this leads to cable disconnecting issues because it flex more times...
4) And what if you using PC? you will making such a tower on the back of your Block? It will collide with wall!

Anyway I like it as an idea...just 4 2 or 3 cables could be so i guess... ^_^

 

[paulguy]

SCSI? Firewire?

I figure someone could've figured out some kind of adapter cables for those that allowed similar setups, though I guess that would make the cable lengths 2xlong.

 

[VRAndy]

Couple of issues here.
First, You're putting a lot more than usual stress on the port. Potentially breaking it, or maybe just making it more likely for the cord to pop out at just the wrong moment.
Second, The wire comes out at a 90 degree angle. Usually this is undesirable. Especially on laptops where all your plugs are in a straight line.
Third, It's not infinite! You won't get more than 255 of these!

You see a lot of this kind of stuff. Concept art that looks clever but would be a pain in real life.

 

[may88]

Unfortunately the USB socket does not have infinite power so it'll be limited as to what you could drive from this.

 

[kingoddball]

Looks like a good idea, and would be good to have 2 or 3 plugs hanging around.
Maybe not for Pandora, but for something like PS3 with its limited USB ports.

 

[zhasha]

Looks like a good idea, and would be good to have 2 or 3 plugs hanging around.
Maybe not for Pandora, but for something like PS3 with its limited USB ports.

Yeah man, it's a great idea. Now we just need to invent a zero point energy harvester to overcome the there's-not-infinite-f*cking-power issue

 

[VRAndy]

Looks like a good idea, and would be good to have 2 or 3 plugs hanging around.
Maybe not for Pandora, but for something like PS3 with its limited USB ports.

Yeah man, it's a great idea. Now we just need to invent a zero point energy harvester to overcome the there's-not-infinite-f*cking-power issue

Don't be ludicrous. We've already established that you're not going to have more than 255 USB devices, and besides, this would be stupid and unwieldy with more than, say, half a dozen plugs, So "infinite" is obviously not intended to be interpreted literally. Only a fool would think that these are intended to literally connect an infinite number of devices.

Now that that's out of the way? Perhaps you're familiar with the concept of "unpowered USB hubs"? Many USB devices are either self-powered (Printer), or draw so little power (thumb-drive) that unpowered hubs are a perfectly viable solution.

While this device has problems, you've somehow managed to grasp the one aspect of the design that's not really a problem.

 

[zhasha]

Looks like a good idea, and would be good to have 2 or 3 plugs hanging around.
Maybe not for Pandora, but for something like PS3 with its limited USB ports.

Yeah man, it's a great idea. Now we just need to invent a zero point energy harvester to overcome the there's-not-infinite-f*cking-power issue

Don't be ludicrous. We've already established that you're not going to have more than 255 USB devices, and besides, this would be stupid and unwieldy with more than, say, half a dozen plugs, So "infinite" is obviously not intended to be interpreted literally. Only a fool would think that these are intended to literally connect an infinite number of devices.

Now that that's out of the way? Perhaps you're familiar with the concept of "unpowered USB hubs"? Many USB devices are either self-powered (Printer), or draw so little power (thumb-drive) that unpowered hubs are a perfectly viable solution.

While this device has problems, you've somehow managed to grasp the one aspect of the design that's not really a problem.

Uncanny. Here I was just saying to my friend how I couldn't find 221 USB ports to plug in printers, scanners and the like to my laptop. Of course I know about unpowered USB hubs, but the majority of devices anyone I know plugs into USB ports require around one unit load of the 5 available. That means you're probably going to get away with plugging in 3 or 4 devices into one port at best. That leads to you having a stack of plugs sticking out from your PC the width of a USB hub. Why not just get a hub then?
It's not like hubs are expensive. Not to mention, you would literally be putting a stick into your USB port that with a yank from a wrong hand movement could make your USB socket magically desolder itself like I did with my headphone port because of a WAY too long headphone plug a week ago.
On the other hand, most devices I plug in require the full 5 unit loads of USB 2.0, so that would leave me with plenty of room to screw myself over. YAY!