Show HN: WhatCable, a tiny menu bar app for inspecting USB-C cables
github.comUSB-C cables can be a mess. One cable charges at 5W, another does 100W and Thunderbolt 4, and they look identical in the drawer.
WhatCable sits in your menu bar and reads the cable data your Mac already has access to. Plug in a cable and it tells you in plain English what it can actually do: charging wattage, data speed, display support, Thunderbolt, etc.
Built in Swift/SwiftUI. Open source, free, no tracking.
I would like to ask an LLM to rewrite it as Python CLI script. Is it even possible, or some Swift-only functionality is necessary?
P.S. Some time ago I learnt through HN of a one-line command in macOS which revealed the power (Wattage) of the connected charger. Can't find it now, but it was very useful.
This is pretty nice, but why do a lot of Mac apps insist on living in the menu bar?
Making 1 click to access is faster than typing the app name in finder. Dock is usually full and used for different type of apps. Makes also constantly visible output possible with standard ui patterns.
I am definitely gonna contribute or fork to create an open leaderboard of cable brands and quality :D
It won't tell you the _quality_
It just tell you want the e-marker said.
Doesn't work for me. Says "No USB-C ports detected", although I'm pretty sure my monitor is connected via USB-C, and the monitor also has a built-in USB hub where my USB keyboard is connected to.
There's an issue on Github for this now: https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable/issues/2
I remember seeing a recent analysis where the vast majority of cables from Amazon misreported their capabilities. Is this tool going to be able to catch those, or blindly report what the chip advertises?
I think for real cables the delta could also be explained by damage or just a bad plug-in attempt, so even if you're not trying to detect counterfeit cables it could be useful to know:
1. What does the host support
2. What does the cable support
3. What does the device support
4. What actually got negotiated
can something like this be done for linux? maybe a wrapper for lsusb. I just found https://github.com/doug-gilbert/lsucpd which adds PD and more.
Could it be just a console utility?
Yeah I like the sound of the functionality but I don't like the idea of it taking up menu bar space. Console utility would be good or even a gui that can be quickly launched through spotlight
14 Inch 2021 MBPro / M1 Pro chip / Sonoma 14.5
WhatCable says "No USB-C Ports Detected".
System info clearly shows my iPhone attached to USB 3.1 Bus.
There's an issue on Github for this now: https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable/issues/2
...And claude fixed it already https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable/commit/7a3ad1363ae...
I get that the connectors are identical but I find it odd that people find it so challenging. Thunderbolt is the thick and short cable. If it's not thick it's not gonna work well and if it's over a metre it's not gonna work well. cf my pile of thin long "basic" usb c cables.
How do you define "thick" or "short" to a non-engineer/tech person? Relative to what exactly?
Thunderbolt 4 passive (over usb) is 0.8m in length, longer cables are active, up to two meters I think, so they do exist.
Pretty cool. What I don't understand is why both my USB@1 and USB@2 show the same connected devices. I'd expect to only see the respective devices. USB@1 is my USB-hub monitor, the other one is connected to my phone. Both show keyboard, etc. plus my phone as connected devices.
Good stuff, but it's telling me that my USB-C Thunderbolt cable has been plugged in upside down but the connector handled this. I was not aware that you can plug in something into USB-C upside down!
I wasn't either (insomuch as I had never thought about it), but it makes sense if you think about it for a second. If you have one end plugged in one way, and the other end plugged in the other way, each individual wire is flipped from where it should be. The fact that you _can_ plug it in either way means that the device on one end needs to be capable of recognizing that and logically reversing it. Same as automatic crossover in Ethernet.
That's all the program is telling you. It doesn't matter that it's backwards, but technically it is.
It's not always the case that the cable will correctly fix it. I think (hope?) any that any which didn't would be out of spec, but they exist...
Any plans to support installations through Homebrew?
I like the idea and thanks for sharing, but I do think folks who vibe code or use Claude should take their time using, testing, and improving app before rushing to share. This was pushed/deved like 2 hours ago
Just because it got pushed 2h ago it doesn't mean they didn't test it on their end.
Tangential, but LLT recently came out with their own lineup of USB-C cables guaranteed to be up to spec. And they have the main specs printed on each cable end, so you know what you grab.
That should be mandatory.
You mean LTT ?
We type two capital LLs a lot these days.
LoL
The 'plugged upside down' is weird for a USB-cable. Especially as that doesn't work. I tried plugging it 'the other way around' and it showed the same 'upside down' warning
Nice!
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