Solaris Support for USB Devices (System Administration Guide: Basic Administration)

System Administration Guide: Basic Administration

Solaris Support for USB Devices

The following table describes Solaris support for USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 devices:

	Solaris 8 HW* releases	Solaris 9 releases	Solaris 9 4/04
USB 1.1	SPARC and x86	SPARC and x86	SPARC and x86
USB 2.0	SPARC	N/A	SPARC and x86

*Note that this is not the Solaris 8 releases, but the Solaris 8 HW releases, starting with the Solaris 8 HW 5/03 release. The patch number for the USB dual framework found in the Solaris 8 HW 5/03 release is 109896.

The following table provides a summary of USB support on Sun hardware:

System Type	Solaris Releases	USB Device and Speed Support
Sun Blade 100, 150, 1000, and 2000	Solaris 9 releases, before the Solaris 9 4/04 release, and Solaris 8 releases before the Solaris HW 5/03 release	All USB devices at 12 Mb/sec
Sun Blade 100, 150, 1000, and 2000	Solaris 9 4/04 and Solaris 8 HW 5/03	USB 1.1 devices at 12 Mb/sec (connected to any USB ports) USB 2.0 devices at 12 Mb/sec (connected to motherboard ports) USB 2.0 devices at 480 Mb/sec (connected to ports on add-on PCI USB 2.0 card)
Sun Blade 1500 and 2500	Solaris 9 4/04 and Solaris 8 HW 5/03	USB 1.1 devices at 12 Mb/sec (connected to any USB ports) USB 2.0 devices at 12 Mb/sec (connected to motherboard ports) USB 2.0 devices at 480 Mb/sec (connected to ports on PCI combo card)
Other Sun SPARC PCI platforms	Solaris 9 4/04 and Solaris 8 HW 5/03	USB 1.1 devices at 12 Mb/sec USB 2.0 devices at 480 Mb/sec (connected to ports on add-on PCI USB 2.0 card)
Sun x86 systems including the Sun Fire V20z, SunFire V40z, Sun Fire V60x, and V65x systems	Solaris 9 4/04	USB 1.1 devices at 12 MB/sec USB 2.0 devices at 480 Mb/sec (connected to ports on an add-on PCI USB 2.0 card)

For information about PCI cards verified on the Solaris release, go to: http://www.sun.com/io_technologies/USB.html

Sun Microsystems platforms that provide support for USB devices include the following:

SPARC based systems with OHCI host controllers that support USB 1.1 provide low- and full-speed devices:
- Sun Blade^TM systems that run the Solaris 8 or 9 releases.
- Netra^TM X 1/T1 and some Sun Fire^TM systems that run the Solaris 9 release.
SPARC based systems with OHCI and EHCI host controllers, such as the Sun Blade 1500 or 2500 systems, provide high-speed support for USB 2.0 devices and low- and full-speed support for USB 1.1 devices. Systems include any PCI-based sun4u system that run the Solaris 8 HW 5/03 release or Solaris 9 4/04 release, including the systems listed above when they are equipped with a USB 2.0 PCI card.
x86 based systems that run the Solaris 8 or 9 x86 Platform Editions with the following controller types:

OHCI or UHCI host controllers provide USB 1.1 support
EHCI and OHCI host controllers together provide USB 1.1 and 2.0 support
Use of USB 2.0 devices on ports that are operated by host controller hardware with EHCI and UHCI on the same chip or PCI card, is not recommended.

For additional USB support information, see Overview of USB Devices.