Poll: What do you call the small USB device that you plug in to transfer files?

Re:Poll: What do you call the small USB device that you plug... by egamirorrim on Friday July 22, 2022 @02:10PM (#32195255)

Everyone I know calls this a 'Dongle' - how is this not in the list

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Re:Poll: What do you call the small USB device that you plug... by xsmasher on Friday July 22, 2022 @02:40PM (#32195612)

If someone said "dongle" to me today I would assume they mean an adapter of some kind; I've heard it used for the lightning -> audio adapter you need to plug headphones into an iPhone. If I google for "dongle" I see some small USB docks and a few USB=>bluetooth adapters.

I first head "dongle" used to describe the small copy-protection device you needed to plug in to use certain expensive softwares. The software would not launch if it could not detect the dongle.

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Re:Poll: What do you call the small USB device that you plug... by samdunham on Friday July 22, 2022 @02:44PM (#32195662)

Because "dongle" has a very specific, different meaning. A dongle allows connection between two devices that have mismatched connectors. If someone asked me for a dongle, I'd reply, "From what to what?"

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Re:Poll: What do you call the small USB device that you plug... by lessbones on Saturday July 23, 2022 @07:51PM (#32208765)

in my world dongle is either the copy protection USB stick, or specifically the lightning-to-3.5mm headphone adapter, depending on the context...

But I guess since USB-C apple era any usb-c adapter does the dongling.

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