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by Retr0id 943 days ago
Type-C hubs are annoyingly expensive, because they all assume you want all the USB 3.x speed and/or power delivery bells and whistles - but for connecting simple peripherals none of that is necessary.

I built my own based on a USB 2.0 hub IC, but I never got around to publishing the design files. I should get on that!

Even building a single prototype unit cost me about the same as a single off-the-shelf type-C hub, but of course, building subsequent units would be substantially cheaper.
3 comments
vladvasiliu 942 days ago
> Type-C hubs are annoyingly expensive, because they all assume you want all the USB 3.x speed and/or power delivery bells and whistles - but for connecting simple peripherals none of that is necessary.

I've also noticed there are next to no usb-c hubs, apart from "docks" that usually do many more things are bigger. But, don't they have to provide the specced power to be "compliant"?

What I find annoying is that even "higher end" docks don't have many usb-c ports. I'm typing this through a HP dock that has a big-ass power adaptor and is quite big and heavy itself (has a huge heatsink), yet it still provides only one usb-c port. At least it seems to implement PD (I can charge a laptop through the downstream port), even though I think it only provides 15W.

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0x38B 943 days ago
I was outraged when I couldn’t find a small, simple USB 2.0 USB-C hub for my Framework! (1)

1: the four USB-C ports it provides aren’t enough for my use; one is occupied by Apple’s USB-C DAC (the Framework’s 3.5mm port is unusably noisy with my Shure IEMs). Then add my charger, tethered iPhone, and a peripheral like a mouse or drawing tablet, and you can see why I need a hub.

P.S. if you did release the files and it was a reasonably affordable DIY project (e.g some soldering and assembly), I’d love that. Although I guess you’d need to buy a fair number of all the components to bring the price down.

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jorvi 943 days ago
> Type-C hubs are annoyingly expensive, because they all assume you want all the USB 3.x speed and/or power delivery bells and whistles - but for connecting simple peripherals none of that is necessary.

Meanwhile the most frequent complaint I read about USB-C is trickster/confusing cables or hubs because they don’t support everything

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Retr0id 943 days ago
My theory is that's why it's so hard to buy a "featureless" hub - consumers will demand refunds if feature X is not present.
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antifa 942 days ago
I have more trouble using Amazon's useless filters or finding products that even try to be more specific than just "USB-C".
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