Posted by kohlschuetter 4 days ago
Too bad there's no standard for debug accessory connections. Also, at that point (putting a USB-C TCPC on your board) you might as well do full usbserial…
NB: there's no orientation detection in debug accessory mode.
Adding more colors would multiply their logistic and inventory requirements, which are already hard with so many different connectors multiplied by number of pin options. Multiplying that even further by number of colors that most people would never buy isn’t a win.
LEGO knows exactly the demand for every color of every piece because they make the sets.
If they made 10 different colors of the connector, they’d still sell mostly white and black. Then the rest would sit on shelves and take up manufacturing line time and shelf space. Then they’d have to reprice them to sell off the colors that weren’t moving.
LEGO has none of these problems. Everything goes into a set or retail package they make. The individual loose bricks go into a limited number of options at a few retail stores.
If you have a portable device which needs serial connector, don't bother with weird connector and bespoke adapters which will get lost. Go for USB-C directly. As an extra bonus, USB-C is significantly more electrically rugged than raw UART input.
(this does not apply if you have some sort of multi-port serial port server, but those are pretty rare, and most likely use real RS232 voltages anyway)