Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The Linux Kernel In 2018 Finally Deems USB 3.0 Ubiquitous Rather Than An Oddity

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #11
    Originally posted by schmidtbag View Post
    I'm confused... do most popular distros enable XHCI by default? Because for several years, I've never had issues using USB 3.x controllers with the increase in bandwidth.

    Also just as a side note, I think it'd be great if Phoronix had a monthly "it's about darn time" section, which are basically major milestones throughout Linux (or just open-source) history consisting of things people have been wanting for years.
    Yes, from the article, "In reality for Linux desktop end-users it shouldn't make a difference since your kernels should already be configured with eXtensible Host Controller Interface (xHCI HCD) enabled, but surprising it has taken until the end of 2018 for it to be part of the default configuration "defconfig" files."

    I usually just cover the things as it happens rather than wait monthly.
    Michael Larabel
    https://www.michaellarabel.com/

    Comment


    • #12
      Originally posted by Chewi View Post
      You say that but I still only have one USB 3 device, a hard drive that is connected to an ARM board with only USB 2.
      The important fact is it enables support for USB 3.0 controllers, which are also used for USB 2.0 devices.

      Contrary to the motion from USB 1.1 to 2.0 (I.e. from OHCI/UHCI to EHCI), where the USB controller included instances of old and new controllers and you would get at least USB 1.1 when EHCI was disabled/had no drivers, XHCI is completely independent.

      (There are a few oddities in the embedded world where the USB controller implements EHCI registers, but not OHCI registers, e.g. Freescale. This is not the case for desktop chipsets from Intel or AMD, or PCI(e) add on controllers.)

      Comment


      • #13
        I am in the middle of testing USB3 controllers and devices on Linux. Some odd behaviors where the controller will detect a device at boot as USB 1.1/2.0. But if I do a insertion post boot it recognized properly as 3.x. I tested some USB 3.1 SSD's using the new USB 3.1 coax cables on an Asmedia 2142. It's blazing fast, checking to see how much the cable matters. Can't tell if UASP is active in the transfers.

        Also testing to see if any of Windows disk tools make a difference when they run in Wine. Most of them work, some have variances. Probably related to ext4.

        Comment


        • #14
          Free?

          Comment


          • #15
            Originally posted by M@GOid View Post
            Well, my slowest USB3 HDD do ~90MB/s, the fastest 170MB/s.
            170MB/s? What magic hard drive is that?

            I hope you are talking about a long sustained read or write operation not just a short burst, who cares about a short burst when he complained of 4 TB worth of stuff?

            Comment


            • #16
              Originally posted by Weasel View Post
              170MB/s? What magic hard drive is that?

              I hope you are talking about a long sustained read or write operation not just a short burst, who cares about a short burst when he complained of 4 TB worth of stuff?
              Sustained reads of large single files, from a external USB3, 3TB Samsung (in reality Seagate) to a internal SATA 240GB Samsung SSD. It can write ~120MB/s, but only when the disk is not almost full, as is normal for HDDs.

              There is nothing magical about it, as this is normal for modern, above 2TB, 7.200 RPM drives. Here you can see a test of a 8TB Seagate hitting 200 MB/s reads:

              Comment


              • #17
                Oh my goodness. I'm still getting over the shock, after moving to Manjaro, of having my optical disk drive automatically unmount when I press the hardware eject button!. And now this?

                Seriously though, I love Linux and wouldn't use anything else as my primary OS, but there are some seemingly simple and fundamental things that it misses out on from time to time. I'm glad they got this one fixed.

                Comment


                • #18
                  Originally posted by Chewi View Post
                  You say that but I still only have one USB 3 device, a hard drive that is connected to an ARM board with only USB 2.
                  Similar experience here, I have PC's with the blue USB3 ports, but I don't think I own any USB3 devices. About the only USB stuff I use is keyboards and mice. My Tripp lite UPS is connected via USB, and I think I have a USB microphone somewhere.

                  Comment


                  • #19
                    Originally posted by Weasel View Post
                    170MB/s? What magic hard drive is that?
                    Guess you haven't been keeping up, but the latest spinning platter hard drives can top 250 MB/s sustained sequential transfer rate.

                    Comment


                    • #20
                      Since I build my own kernels it's useful to have little reminders like these. I had XHCI/USB3 support built as a module since way back when it first became an option for the Linux kernel. Back then I only had one device that could use USB3. This just reminds me that I should build it into the kernel proper rather than as a module.
                      Last edited by cbxbiker61; 10 October 2018, 09:57 PM.

                      Comment

                      Working...
                      X