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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.

1 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. Re:multi-lane? by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 5, Informative

    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?