Explaining USB: From 1.0 to USB4 V2.0

foreigner welcome to another explanatory video from computers.com this time I am going to talk about USB or the universal serial bus. This common standard for connecting computers and peripherals was first introduced in 1996 and since then 14 different physical connectors and eight different USBs have been used. Fortunately, the specifications were published today, many of them have now been appreciated, but even so, in practice there are still eight connectors and six different USB specifications in fairly common use and with USB 4 version 2.0 announced in September 2022, there will soon be Seven USB specifications available. There are overseas before looking at different USB connectors and specifications, it is important to note that the two are not directly related to be clear, a particular connector does not indicate the USB specification used to communicate data, for example, the popular belief of That USB C ports are always faster than Type A ports.

It is not correct. This point raised how we can understand USB standards well. To borrow a phrase from Julie Andrews, let's start from the beginning: the specification for USB 1.0 was published in January 1996 and could transmit data. at 1.5 or 12 megabits per second, depending on the cable used, in August 1998 there was an update to USB 1.1 that ran at the same speed but removed some technical limitations, making USB 1.1 the first version to be widely used and in fact, there is still some new USB 1.1 hardware sold today, for example there is a USB 1.1 port on the Raspberry Pi Pico W microcontroller that was released in 2022.

This brings us to the topic of connectors and on the In the early days there were only two, so they were known as USB. Series A and USB Series B USB was originally designed as an interface between a computer or a host under a peripheral, so Type A plugs and sockets were specified for use in host devices and Type B for use in peripherals such as printers in April 2000. USB 2.0 was released. This can communicate data at a theoretical speed of 480 megabits per second or 40 times faster than USB 1.1. Today, USB 2.0 is still in widespread use as the standard is perfectly sufficient for connecting hardware including keyboards, rodents and lower capacity storage devices, which is why we still find USB type a. 2 ports on most new desktop PC motherboards In October 2000, the range of USB connectors was expanded with the specification of mini B plugs and sockets, which were introduced to allow the inclusion of USB connectors on phones, cameras , media players and other mobile devices, some of which remain in use today for use in host devices rather than peripherals and later the mini a connector was specified along with a mini a b plug which could accept mini a and mini plugs B in 2007, even mini connectors would be considered too large, resulting in the micro specification. b This became very popular and still appears on some new hardware micro a connectors along with a micro a b receptacle, although, like mini a and mini a b, they are now rare and I couldn't find any crude examples to include in this video.

Linked to the development of minion microconnectors was USB on the go or OTG first released in 2001, the USB OTG standard notes which by definition were USB, communication occurs between a host and a peripheral, a line between PCS and other products has blurred into many non-PCS devices that need to connect directly to peripherals, an OTG product was later defined as a mobile device with a single USB port that can function as a host or peripheral, for example a digital camera with a USB OTG port. It can function as a host to directly control a printer that will appear as a peripheral storage device when connected to a foreign PC just when we thought things couldn't get more exciting.

In November 2008 USB 3.0 was released, which increased data transmission speeds to 5 gigabits per second or a theoretical eight-fold improvement over USB 2.0's 480 megabits per second and to achieve this while maintaining backward compatibility, A new range of super speed connectors were introduced, but included both the old USB 2.0 Bots and a new set. of superspeed pins starting with type A, the superspeed connectors are color-coded in light blue and, as we can see here, have five new pins on the back in addition to the four Legacy pins on the front, while In a full size super speed B type connector, the extra pins are included on the top and for a micro B connector, the super speed bus is on the side.

All of these connectors are still in common use, although the micro a and micro a b variants that were also now specified are certainly rare, USB 3.0. was a Triumph that delivered at least five times the real-world data transmission speeds while maintaining excellent backwards compatibility. To be explicit, USB 2 plugs work fine on Taipei super speed plugs and vice versa, if only at USB 2.0 speeds in the meantime. The type B plug runs at USB 2.0 speed on the type B super speed plug and a micro b plug runs happily at USB 2 speeds on a micro super speed plug granted the super speed type B and micro b plugs do not fit the standard type B and micro b receptacles, but this is all well and good and in fact, until July 2013, USB remained a very clear set of standards.

What happened in July 2013 was the release of the USB 3.1 specification along with the Type C connector, often referred to as USBC, the USB 3.1 specification doubles data transmission speeds over the Super Speed ​​Bus. at 10 gigabits per second and to indicate this, devices labeled Super Speed ​​Plus, meanwhile, the Type C connector provided the apparent advantage of being able to be inserted in either direction, however, there was confusion. It was also introduced as some users came to believe that only a USBC connector can operate at USB 3.1 data speeds, which is not true to create further confusion. The USB Implementers Forum made the strange decision to change the name from USB 3.0 to USB 3.1 gen 1.

Since it does not possess the magical power to remove the USB 3.0 name from all previous products and manuals already published, this was clearly crazy, but contagious crazy since in August 2017, the Forum played its rebranding game again with a USB 3.2 spec at this point. I could throw my hands in the air and go sit in the corner, but instead let's move on to this table illustrating the four versions of USB 3 that exist now, how fast they can transmit data, and what connectors they can use, such as We can see using a USB 3.2 Gen 2 x 2 interface it is possible to transmit data at 20 gigabits per second, but only using a type c connector, as only these support two-lane communication, but the key takeaway from this table is that if If you have a Taipei Blue or Super Speed ​​or Type B connector on your device, you can't know if it can transmit data at 5 or 10 gigabits per second without looking at a label or instruction manual.

Similarly, if your device has USB C ports, while the most likely data transmission speed is currently 10 gigabits per second. Second, you should read or run tests to determine your maximum operating speed. It's also worth noting that some USB ports on some devices support a standard called DisplayPort over USBC, also known as USB Type-C DisplayPort Alternate Mode, which transmits digital video and audio. Therefore, allowing a monitor to connect to a foreign USBC port In August 2019, USB 4 became a thing, as the introduction to the specification noted that USB 3.1 and USB 3.2 were evolutionary steps to increase the width of band, the goal of USB 4 remains the same with the additional goal of helping to converge the USB type c connector ecosystem and minimize end user confusion and the fact that the supposedly superseded term USB 3.1 appears in the

usb4

specification only proves how much confusion there is.

USB 4 uses type c connectors only and initially operates at a theoretical 40 gigabits per second, however, in September 2022 version 2.0 was announced which will double the theoretical speed to 80 gigabits per second, which is equivalent to 600 gigabytes per minute, which is amazingly fast for a consumer connector. USB 4 also supports PCIe Express DisplayPort 1.4 and Thunderbolt 3 alternate mode which uses the same type-c connector since version 1.0. USB connectors have been able to supply electrical power until USB 2.0 output was limited to 500 milliamps at 5 volts and current increased to 900 milliamps in USB 3.0 and 1.5 amps in USB 3.2. via Taipei or type B connectors or 3 amps using a type c connector; however, these are the general USB power specifications and in July 2012 an additional standard called USB Power Delivery or USB PD was released and this allows pdaware USB connectors to negotiate and provide higher currents and voltages for the last 10 years , the USB PD specification has been updated many times with the latest version released in July 2022.

It supports two power ranges, the standard power range which can deliver up to 5 amps at 20 volts, which is equivalent to 100 watts and a Expanded power range that through a USB Type C connector can now offer up to 240 watts. USBC connectors also look set to become an increasingly common means of charging and powering devices including laptops and monitors, as well as tablets and smartphones. The EU has mandated that by the end of 2024, frequently used small and medium-sized portable electronic devices must have a USBC charging port and new laptops in the EU must include USBC charging by 2027. Foreign USB is still the set of standards for physically connecting computers and peripherals, as we have seen over time, data transmission speed and power delivery have increased, although the USB Implementers Forum has created a lot of confusion by changing the name of the standards that are already in use.

We hope this video has helped you understand USB a little. more clearly and if you remember just one point, it should be that you can't determine the speed of a USB connection just by looking at its physical connector, but that's all for another video, if you've enjoyed what you've seen here, hit that. Like button if you haven't subscribed. Subscribe and I hope to talk to you again very soon.