The thing that has been bothering me for a while is that the USB spec allows for software detection of capabilities. You can read the emarker data and see the supported protocols, speeds, voltages, etc.
But there is not standard for usb controllers to present this data to the OS. So it’s stuck in the low level firmware and never passed up. In theory we could have a popup box that tells you that both your computer and other device support higher speeds/more power, but your cable is limiting it.
Apple seems best able to do this since they control the hardware and OS, yet they aren’t doing it either. Users are just left to be confused about why things are slow.
> In theory we could have a popup box that tells you that both your computer and other device support higher speeds/more power, but your cable is limiting it.
I'm pretty sure my old Dell XPS laptop with Windows 10 had pop-ups just like this.
One thing to realize is that especially for high resolution video cables these cheap testers can't really deliver. The way to test them is a eye diagram (see: https://incompliancemag.com/eye-diagram-part2/ ) and testers with that capsbility cost upwards of 10.000 Eurodollars.
The thing that has been bothering me for a while is that the USB spec allows for software detection of capabilities. You can read the emarker data and see the supported protocols, speeds, voltages, etc.
But there is not standard for usb controllers to present this data to the OS. So it’s stuck in the low level firmware and never passed up. In theory we could have a popup box that tells you that both your computer and other device support higher speeds/more power, but your cable is limiting it.
Apple seems best able to do this since they control the hardware and OS, yet they aren’t doing it either. Users are just left to be confused about why things are slow.
> In theory we could have a popup box that tells you that both your computer and other device support higher speeds/more power, but your cable is limiting it.
I'm pretty sure my old Dell XPS laptop with Windows 10 had pop-ups just like this.
"This device can run faster" or something.
AFAIK that's just when plugging in a USB 3 device into a USB 2 port or using a USB 2 cable.
Even Apple now has one of those, when you plug something into the USB 2 port on the MacBook Neo.
I suspect most users do not even realise things are slow.
I want one that sends a pseudorandom data stream and tells me the bit error rate.
Hopefully they used connectors with a high mating cycle rating.
One thing to realize is that especially for high resolution video cables these cheap testers can't really deliver. The way to test them is a eye diagram (see: https://incompliancemag.com/eye-diagram-part2/ ) and testers with that capsbility cost upwards of 10.000 Eurodollars.
So you're saying there is something to audiophile grade HDMI cables?
With digital signals and ECC, the cable need only be "good enough" to get perfect data transfer through the system.
I just want one that tells me the maximum voltage and current supported by a USB C cable.
there are several: one that is moderately priced and which I consider myself to buy is the JOY-IT UM120
Thanks, why do you prefer that particular model?
Got this recently for USD$3 on sale: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006848187940.html
I’ve had one for a while as well. I don’t use it often, but frankly I couldn’t sort my cables without it.