Solaris 8 Features and Benefits: Universal Serial Bus

Universal Serial Bus (USB)

Description

The Universal Serial Bus (USB) simplifies the connection of peripheral devices, such as keyboards, mice, and external storage, to a computer. USB is a hot-pluggable bus that supports up to 127 devices on a single bus.

This feature is now found on most PC systems and will be supported as a peripheral bus for both SPARC^TM and Intel platforms in the Solaris^TM 8 Operating Environment.

The Solaris 8 Operating Environment implementation includes the basic I/O framework necessary to support USB, host controller drivers (UHCI for Intel platforms, OHCI for SPARC^TM platforms), and device (or target) drivers for keyboards, mice, and hubs. Additional target drivers will support mass storage devices.

Requirements

SPARC or Intel hardware
Solaris 8 Operating Environment

Benefits

Eliminates the need to install cards into dedicated computer slots and reconfigure the system by providing plug-and-play capabilities of computer peripherals.
Computer peripherals can be automatically configured as soon as they are physically attached, without the need to reboot or run setup.
Makes it easier for hardware vendors to write and test device drivers on the Solaris^TM Operating Environment.