[ale] USB A -> USB A Cable

[Christopher Gilbert]

This thread reminded me of when USB first came out. I was working Tech
Support for Gateway. A guy called in wanted get is motherboard replaced
because it was fried by a homemade "crossover" USB cable.  It's not
Ethernet. 
The guy was an EE too!

On Sun, 2003-09-21 at 15:41, synco gibraldter wrote:
> On 21 Sep 2003 at 15:37, Mike Panetta wrote:
> 
> > A hub won't do what he wants.  Assuming what he really wants is a USB
> > A->A cable (which does not or may, but should not exist). The USB A
> > port is the host port.  A female USB A port is on every computer and
> > hub.  Hubs also have a USB B port (to go from the computer to the hub
> > using a USB A->B cable), as hubs are devices.  USB only supports host
> > to device connections (ie its not multi master like firewire) thats
> > why there are 2 different types of connectors, its to force you to
> > only be able to connect devices to hosts, and not devices to devices
> > or hosts to hosts.  Now there are things that will allow you to
> > connect USB hosts to other USB hosts, they are a kind of bridge (the
> > "networking" thingie I mentioned) that shows up to each computer as a
> > USB device with special properties.
> > 
> > Either way the USB spec does not allow USB host to host connections
> > without some imtermediary device (bridge) in between.  That is why
> > there are no USB A->A cables (or there should not be because they
> > would serve no purpose other then to frustrate the user and possibly
> > damage the hardware).
> > 
> 
> would it be possible to create a makeshift cross-connect cable?  what you said holds 
> true for ethernet as well but switching the position of two wires results in hub <--> 
> hub or client <--> client connections.  i've never seen the specs for usb cabling... i 
> don't even know how many wires there are, but with proper software, it seems like 
> you could do that.
> 
> --    synco gibraldter
> --    atlanta, ga
> --    synco at xodarap.net
> --    key id: 0xC5117E0A
> 
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