To read USB connections in C++ on Ubuntu, the discussion highlights the use of the "lsusb" command, which can be executed in the terminal to list USB devices. The man page for "lsusb" indicates relevant files to access, specifically in the /proc/bus/usb directory and the /usr/share/usb.ids file. The inquiry focuses on how to replicate this functionality within a C++ program rather than using the command line. While the "system(...)" function in C can execute commands, it primarily returns an integer status code, making it less suitable for capturing output directly. The suggestion is to read the relevant files directly in C++ to obtain the necessary information, although this approach will also yield data in string format.