Barrel jacks were awesome, they could go in any orientation. The only downside was the many different forms of barrel jack and lack of a standard. My question is: why isn’t there a cylindrical USB port? You would be able to rotate it any way you want within 360 degrees!
As a matter of fact, why isn’t there a cylindrical power plug? You’d get the benefits of a recessed plug like Type-C (EU) and Type-F (Schuko), you’d get the benefits of reversible plugs like Type-A (North American) and more so as you get 360-degree rotation, and it would be MUCH harder to break/bend compared to two flimsy pins (the UK plug has three thicker pins, but a chunky cylinder would be much more difficult to bend than the pins)
If it was a hollow cylinder (a bit like a vacuum-insulated water bottle), you could feasibly fit some small electronics in it, so things like flush low-power USB chargers and smart home sensors could be made.
The contacts would likely need to be outside the cylinder, similar to the “neutral” pins on Schuko plugs. There would likely need to be some plastic tabs to keep the power bits from touching the non-power bits, and then the socket itself would be able to freely rotate.
Actually, why don’t regular sockets freely rotate? Then it would solve all the issues of non-reversible plugs not able to go upside down and reversible plugs not able to go sideways.
Speaking of cylindrical objects, what happened to camcorders? They sound like the most comfortable and easiest way to record videos, with straps and everything. They were compact, portable, and wasn’t heavy as all heck.
this is my rant about cylinders, thank you for your time.
In not the person you replied to, and I can’t speak about the engineering merits; but as a user I hate F-type connectors. They’re bad enough when you have to only install them once in the lifetime of the connected device - it’s the threaded screw that’s the worst, I think, for which no non-technical user owns a tool beyond their fingers, from which the bevel invariably strips the flesh; although I’ve also bent enough of those pins trying to get something connected in an awkward place, or because I was tired, or being sloppy. It’s not a connector that’s convenient for amateurs, and most of its users were and are amateurs.
As a connector for multiple, frequent dis- and re-connection, it’s an utter disaster. Sure, that’s not what it’s designed for. It was designed to be a semi-permanent extension of permanent wiring, and I’m sure it’s great at that.
The context of the whole thread, though, was end-user, repeated, frequent connections for people who have to be reminded by a manual that the thing needs to be plugged in. Coax is horrible for that.
so you want BNC
BNC is better, but I’ve only encountered it, like, twice.
Honestly, I’ve never been happier since USB-C took over. I compare today to the early 90s and having 8-12 different connectors - two of which looked identical but were incompatible - to hook up a single Sun workstation. I clearly remember dreaming of a day when there would be a single connector for everything, and we’re really close. Higher wattage demands and video connectors (HDMI, DP, DVI) are the only hold-outs - and I’m not sure why USB-C hasn’t conquered video yet, unless it’s a cost thing, because it’s certainly capable.
USB-C likely will take over video eventually. I use it for video on two out of three of my monitors and the Nintendo switch can be used that way.