Read Me First
Welcome to Take Control of Untangling Connections, version 1.2.1, published in November 2022 by alt concepts. This book was written by Glenn Fleishman and edited by Joe Kissell.
Learn how to understand the capabilities of your devices’ peripherals connections for storage, video, networking, scanning, printing, and input; learn how to find the right cables, hubs, switches, docks, and adapters; and gain expertise in troubleshooting mismatched connections and performance issues.
If you want to share this ebook with a friend, we ask that you do so as you would with a physical book: “lend” it for a quick look, but ask your friend to buy a copy for careful reading or reference. Discounted classroom and user group copies are available.
Copyright © 2022, Glenn Fleishman. All rights reserved.
Updates and More
You can access extras related to this ebook on the web (use the link in Ebook Extras, near the end; it’s available only to purchasers). On the ebook’s Take Control Extras page, you can:
Download any available new version of the ebook for free, or buy any subsequent edition at a discount.
Download various formats, including PDF, EPUB, and Mobipocket. (Learn about reading on mobile devices on our Device Advice page.)
Read the ebook’s blog. You may find new tips or information, as well as a link to an author interview.
If you bought this ebook from the Take Control website, it has been added to your account, where you can download it in other formats and access any future updates.
What’s New in Version 1.2.1
Intel announced the “next generation” of Thunderbolt: USB4’s 80 Gbps flavor plus DisplayPort 2.1. While there’s no shipping date for products using this specification, I expect we’ll see it alongside USB4 80 Gbps by the middle of 2023. I’ve updated the book throughout to note this upcoming, not-yet-numbered release of Thunderbolt, with a pithy explanation in Future Thunderbolt Capabilities.
This version also addresses the quasi-disappearance of DisplayPort 2.0 in favor of 2.1, which you can read about in Where Did DisplayPort 2.0 Go?
What Was New in Version 1.2
Since the previous version of the book, the USB trade group announced a new, faster version of USB4 and settled on a simplified set of branding and icons to identify what was becoming an increasingly complicated set of consumer-facing standards.
Also since the last version, I learned more about some of the limits with USB4 cables, an improvement in performance coming with USB4 80 Gbps, and a new active USB4 80 Gbps cable.
The book is now updated throughout to incorporate that information, including an overhaul of the USB Capabilities section. These changes also percolated into The USB Standard, USB and Thunderbolt Data, Thunderbolt 3 Capabilities, and Thunderbolt 4 Capabilities.