Solaris Support for USB Devices (System Administration Guide: Devices and File Systems)

System Administration Guide: Devices and File Systems

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
USB 1.1	SPARC and x86	SPARC and x86
USB 1.1 audio devices	Not supported on a USB 2.0 hub	Not supported on a USB 2.0 hub
USB 2.0	SPARC	SPARC and x86 (Solaris 9 4/04)
USB 2.0 audio devices	Not supported	Not supported
USB 2.0 storage devices	Supported on a USB 2.0 hub	Supported on a USB 2.0 hub (Solaris 9 4/04)

*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.

Note –

In the Solaris 9 9/04 release only, USB 1.1 devices will operate on USB 2.0 hubs that are connected to 2.0 ports.

The following table provides a summary of USB support on Sun SPARC 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)

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 Edition with UHCI host controllers provide USB 1.1 support.

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