De opkomende linux kernel, versie 2.4.19 zal voor het eerst USB 2.0 support adden in Linux.
The new version won't instantly enable USB 2.0 to work with Linux-based devices, but will let the legions of Linux programmers get down to serious work writing "drivers," the software interfaces to all those devices.
"Before (the new version of Linux), it wasn't really practical for developers to start writing drivers for those devices," said David Brownell, a key programmer for the USB 2.0 features. But just this week, he's seen improvements for high-resolution Webcams, and the ability for a single USB port to simultaneously communicate with a handful of high-speed networking cards.
Some USB support has been included in the most recent versions of Linux sold by Red Hat and SuSE through custom patches, but the coming kernel will mean that the "stock" versions of Linux will include it.
Newer versions of Microsoft Windows, by far the most popular operating system for desktops and laptops, began supporting USB 2.0 earlier this year through the company's Windows Update service. USB 2.0, though, didn't start to take off until recently, after Intel incorporated the functions to control it in its desktop chipsets.
Het werk aan de performance moet wel nog starten , want terwijl sommige apparaten tegen 200 megabit/sec data kunnen uitwisselen lukt het nu nog maar tegen ongeveer de helft daarvan. De maximale snelheid die met USB 2.0 te halen valt is 480 megabits/sec btw.
