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  • Another great example of why proprietary connectors are stupid as hell. I'm going to be upset when my 2DS XL charger breaks and I can't get an easy replacement.

    • in this case, apple display connector (adc) predates dvi, so they didn't really have any other option for supporting an all-digital signal path to an lcd monitor, especially not one that could also power the monitor and provide usb.

      this happens a lot with apple proprietary connectors. lightning predated usb-c by almost 5 years, and it was a much better connector than the existing industry standard at the time (usb micro-b). it didn't really start to feel like a problem until many years later when usb-c started offering most of the same advantages and more.

      • Then they could have released an open standard instead of creating a proprietary connector.

        • the adc connector was mostly proprietary in the sense that nobody else used it. third party manufacturers had no problem making adapters and cables without apple's permission, as evidenced by the the belkin dongle this article is talking about.

          what you're really asking for is an industry standard, which is different from an open standard. however, an industry standard requires the industry as a whole to buy in to it. if they say no, but you still want to solve a problem that their existing standards do not, what do you do?

          industry standards also do not typically appear overnight. usually, companies put out multiple solutions trying to solve new problems, and eventually the industry coalesces around a preferred solution. USB was introduced in 1996 with full support for mice and keyboards, but it took nearly a decade to become the de facto connector for mice and keyboards.

          • I am asking for specifications to be released without patents or have patents signed over to an organization like VESA. Whether it becomes popular or not is another story.

            • i don't think adc was encumbered by patents, at least not in any way that prevented other manufacturers from making use of it. it wasn't locked down behind special handshakes and a certification program like lightning is. it used the same signaling protocol that dvi ended up using, which is why passive adapters like the belkin one above were possible. the additional pins on the connector were used for power and usb. the specifications were freely available, and monitors, gpus, and kvms were released that used the connector in the late '90s and early '00s.

              the problem people are haivng is that this connector did not see wide use, so cables and adapters are hard to come by 25 years after the fact.

              putting vesa in charge wouldn't change anything here unless vesa decided to ditch dvi and push this connector instead. however, that probably wouldn't have happened, because their constituents (most wintel pc makers) would have preferred the cheaper solution of not bundling video, power, and usb in a single cable.

    • Luckily they are popular enough that you can get pretty inexpensive cables that allow USB charging.

      • Where? I haven't been able to find it

        • Really? If you just look up "3DS USB charging cable" on a popular jungle themed online retailer it comes up with loads of them. Sure you can find the same on AliExpress or eBay.

          And yes yours uses the same cables/charger as the 3DS.

    • Aren't those cables available in quantities though?

    • Thankfully, at least recently, most devices have settled on only a few standards. And some older devices can be modded to work with newer ports. I know rhere are some mods to add a usb-c port to the 2ds, and from what I understand they're not too difficult to do.

      • Also thanks to the EU forcing the manufacturers (of smartphones at least) to go for the same standard

        • The newest law covers pretty much everything one could think of being powered by usb, and more, especially now that with usb-c it can deliver higher voltages and currents, not just 5V/2A.

      • Yes. I have and will be doing type C conversions a lot.

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