USB 3.2 Work Is On The Way For The Linux 4.18 Kernel: Report (phoronix.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: USB 3.2 was announced last summer as an incremental update to the USB standard to double the bandwidth for existing USB Type-C cables. We haven't seen much in the way of USB 3.2 mentions in the Linux kernel yet but then again we haven't really seen USB 3.2 devices yet. USB 3.2 brings a multi-lane operation mode for hosts and devices using existing Type-C cables as well as a minor update to the USB hub specification. USB 3.2 allows for new 10 Gbit/s and 20 Gbit/s rates using two lanes, USB 3.2 Gen 1x2 and USB 3.2 Gen 2x2, respectively. It looks like kernel developers are now working on getting their USB 3.2 Linux support in order. We were tipped off that as of last week there are some USB 3.2 patches queued in the usb-next tree maintained by Greg Kroah-Hartman's.

Comments

Re:multi-lane?

[bluefoxlucid]

Not really.

A parallel bus uses a parallel data lane: an 8-pin parallel data lane sends one byte by sending 8 bits all at once, such that the single clock across all buses synchronizes all bits.

A multi-lane serial bus is sending data in packets, such that the data coming down any one lane is self-consistent. For example: bonded ethernet adapters send entire frames down each link, rather than spreading a frame out across multiple links in an alternation of bits.

That means any one lane is sending a complete signal, and any interference causing errors down another lane don't affect the unaffected lane (in parallel buses, an error in one line would affect the entire signal: if you send a packet and one line has noise, you get an erroneous packet--all of the data sent down all lines is erroneous, even though most lines are noise-free).

Weird, huh?

Parallel vs. multiple serial links

[DrYak]

The printer ports or the ISA bus on your old computer that is gathering dust in a corner of your basement are true parallel connection:
Each bit of a 8bit byte is traveling in parallel in a neighboring conductor.

(But this would be a technical nightmare on modern speed used in modern system, as you'd need to make sure that all the bits arrive at the exact same time in perfect unison at the destination. lenght of conductor and speed of light/speed of electricity in a medium start to matter a lot.
See the complicated squiggly traces between DIMMs and memory controllers to make sure that the path takes the exact same amount of time.
That's why it's being abandoned in modern buses)

DVI, SATA-Express, PCI-Express, USB 3, etc. have all multiple conductor, but they are all in essence still serial.
Each bit of a word is travelling one after the other in the same conductor.
And the above standard just happen to have multiple serial-links that can be used concurrently : the system can send multiple data packet more or less at the same time, each sent serially along a different line.
(And in the cases of standards such as PCIe, the various serial links might not be even talking to the same device).

Unlike the parallel situation, you do not need to make sure that the bits travel in unison down different conductors : each serial link is sending different data packets, they can arrive with slightly different timing.

(Basically, is like plugging 2 network cables in 2 ports of the same server using link aggregation. You didn't suddenly turn ethernet into a parallel bus, you just have more interfaces to spread the load of sending your packet over).

So no. Latest iteration USB are still serial. They can just have more independent serial-links used concurrently, but the bits still travel one after the other on the same link, the other link is used to send a different data packet concurrently)

At best you could invent a new term like "multi-serial" or "concurrent serial".

Re:Will we finally get Network Bridging?

[Anonymous Coward]

we still can't use a native USB cable to network two linux boxes.

you dumb-shit, it's been possible for over a decade

https://developer.ridgerun.com/wiki/index.php/How_to_use_USB_device_networking

google for "RNDIS", get yourself a machine with an OTG USB port and you're off to the races