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You could write it up as a feature! Hey kids, this port right here is
a smartphone charger!
No? ;-)
Well, then I think your "not used" label approach is just fine.
On Thu, Aug 5, 2010 at 10:35 AM, McLauchlan, Kevin
<Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com> wrote:
>
> In documenting a hardware product that uses a chassis
> common to several other of your company's products,
> how do you refer to unused physical features like (say)
> an electrically live USB port or a specialty port that
> doesn't have a function in the current product.
>
> My default reaction is to just stick arrows and letters
> on such items in the diagram, and then in the call-out
> list say (for items "e" and "f" in this case):
>
> a. ....framistan
> b. ....doohickey
> c. ....thingamajig
> d. .... network ports 0 and 1
> e. (Not used in this application - do not connect)
> f. (Not used in this application - do not connect)
> g. Hot-swap power supply 1
> h. Hot-swap power supply 2
> i. ..........
>
> There's no danger of loss or damage. If you connect something
> to those ports, simply nothing useful happens, and whatever
> you thought might happen... probably doesn't, not even a bad
> smell... probably.
>
> OR
>
> Is it cool to have curious little items like that simply
> ignored? Not acknowledged in the docs at all? (I vote "no"
> on that, but I would be happy to learn counter-arguments.)
>
> Kevin McLauchlan
> Senior Technical Writer
> SafeNet, Inc.
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