Linux first to support USB 3.0
IT LOOKS like Linux has stolen the march on proprietary operating systems when it comes to the new USB 3.0 standard.
USB 3.0 is supposed to be the next big thing for wires out the back of PCs and hardware manufactures are falling all over themselves to make stuff for them. However so far there has been no operating system that supports the new standard.
The Vole and Apple are not including the new standard in the Windows 7 or Snow Leopard operating systems. But it looks like Intel's open sauce community is rushing to fill the gap.
Sarah Sharp, a self-styled "geekess" and Linux developer at Intel's Open Source Technology Centre has been working on the Linux USB subsystem.
Writing in her bog, Sharp writes that the xHCI (USB 3.0) host controller driver and initial support for USB 3.0 devices is now publicly available on her kernel.org git tree.
She said that this means that Linux will be the first operating system with official USB 3.0 support and she is working with Keve Gabbert, who is the OSV bloke at Intel, to make sure that Linux distributions like Ubuntu and Red Hat pick up the xHCI driver.
Sharp hopes that USB 3.0 vendors who have prototypes will test with her driver and get the standard out there, er... sharpish. µ
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MS is usually late on standards. This is not a bad thing, as many times the first itteration of a new standard has a lot of problems.
problems? Alright Ill give you that. New hardware has issues most of the time. However we still need drivers to have them. So I for one am glad that Ubuntu will have USB 3.0 support even if USB 3.0 has an issue or two. Id rather have it half working than not running at all because of a simple lack of driver.
To be fair Snow Leopard is due out any time now and Windows 7 is not far off going gold and hasn't the standard for USB only recently been sorted out?
Not to mention that aren't Intel the ones who came up with the spec, so they're simply putting support in themselves as they have access to the Linux Kernel Sources. It's not as if they have access to the Windows 7 kernel source (or at least I'd assume not).
I assume that USB 3 support will come to Snow Leopard with an update (or alternatively come when Saint Jobs announces a new Mac with USB 3 and maybe a new release of OSX) and it'll probably come to Windows 7 (and maybe Vista) in a service pack.
No before anyone accuses me of being a Windows or Mac fanboi, I actually run Linux on the majority of my machines and I'm a self-confessed Linux advocate, I just think that Linux got a bit of a head start because of Intel working on it so they have a vested interest in it.
Rob
Windows will require an entire new version to include USB 3 support.
Intel does have some, not all, but some of the source code for windows. AMD too for that matter. MS is very VERY selective about who they can give code to and seeing as INTC chips are in 70-90% of winboxes (WINTEL!), I'd say that chipzilla has a big chunk of it.
That is part of why MS is scared of Moblin.
AMD, I'm sure that they have some win-source too. Helping with win development and such. If only INTC/AMD would build their own cpu-scheduler and plug the module into the OS. Proper multi-core goodness!
@hoohoo: The last time that happened was w95(+/-OSR2) or w98 supporting USB1.0 and plug'n'pray. I am so glad to be past those days.
Gee I sure hope that no hardware vendor has the inclination to write a device driver for their USB3 implmentation, that might allow current Micr0$uck$ LoseDoze XP, Vista, or Lose7 users to upgrade without the blessing of the mighty Vole.
Finally, some leverage to FORCE users to upgrade O/S, for all you dinosaurs stuck in XP. Linux will never be a viable option, it requires the user to have a double-digit IQ minimum.
Shut the hell up, and pay up, NOW!
HB
While I applaud the effort, it really is not significant to me that an OS is first to have drivers for a standard that won't even have consumer devices for it for another year. They're not even testable at this point.
Accepting some random hacker's device driver is simply not how commercial OS providers operate anyway. Drivers need to be tested and certified, at least on Windows, and that is usually the responsibility of the device manufacturer.
UMM OK!, wohoo some womanizer hacker broad comes up wit the drivers... where is the hardware?
Nowhere, Linux FAiL.
"working with Keve Gabbert, who is the OSV bloke at Intel"
Urban dictionary says the "bloke" refers to a male ... which Keve isn't.
Okay, you guys(or gals, or guy and gal; yes I'm OCD) get either a reading comprehension fail or a troll fail. You two(and me, to be fair) have no freakin' idea how good or bad this woman's programming skills are. At a guess, I'd say they're probably pretty decent, and since she's programming for Linux, that severely reduces the chance there will be any weird surprises when the update goes out.
Linux rocks, Windows is cocks, and Apple has too many locks.
Well bugger me - its got to the stage where MS now keep the info on their driver interface secret from Intel!
If Intel don't know how to write a driver for MS then MS next version will be Windows 11th Hour!
Or perhaps its just their interface is a dogs dinner third time round.
{The Geekess: Linux, bicycling, open source, gardening, amateur rockets, and other seemingly unrelated hobbies.}
Takes notes of who searches for "husband" on her blog.
Also a tea snob.
I wonder how she'd feel about a nite of dining and dancing at Taco Bell?...
I would love to run Linux again. I used to run it about 8 years ago. Then the Linux community got too smart for themselves and began not testing or updating older device drivers.
So now I can't get on the InterWeb to find drivers for my printers or graphic cards and of course my POTS analog modems. I'm not saying the drivers are not out there. I tried four Linux Distros and each one gets "something" to work, only windows XP (may God help me) works with everything I add to my system.
I don't want to waste my time any longer going through the next 46 Linux distros. "Can't we all just get along."
Here myself and many others are still having USB1/2 issues on the latest Ubuntu build and there is already USB 3.0 support? I dont get it! Fix whats already out there before you spend time making an unofficial standard work please!
Why? Nothing but another marketing ploy that'll never live up to the spec.
Gravy... Most of your issues might be chipset/device related. I've had very few issues with USB1/2 on Ubuntu And those were lack of proper driver support from the device manufacturer.
And now the fun one
Now that MS has some code they can nick and port to Winblows. USB3 support from them shouldn't be too far away.
LoCatus :)
"Now that MS has some code they can nick and port to Winblows. USB3 support from them shouldn't be too far away."
Didnt anyone else realise that was kinda the point? Intel made a new standard, and needed to ensure that it got support in Windows 7 and Snow Leopard asap, what better way than to write the drivers IN OPEN SOURCE, there for everyone to look at. How long do you think until Microsoft and Apple announce they have drivers now?
"However so far there has been no operating system that supports the new standard"
LMAO, desperation comes to mind. You have to feel sorry for Linux geeks
woot! go linux!
remember: if it isn't linux, it's M$ claiming to be the first to have drivers (ready for win8, to be released 3 quarters after win7's launch) or apple, claiming rose leopard to be the first with it's new $10,000 macbook.
sooo... woot! go linux!
How ironic Hucklebuck, you said "Duh". I don't need to as I have a above average triple digit IQ, and develop software, and prefer Windows, despite it's annoyances. I tried Linux, but it _still_ lacks polish, is even more annoying, ...and... lacks lots of useful application, and utility software e.g. where are the "killer apps", like Directory Opus, and VideoRedo, for Linux eh!?