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Luis Sanchez
Quite interesting reading you guys. I didn't know about the upcoming LightPeak, ...
IqbalSingh.Josan
It will be great to see USB 3.0 ports everywhere few years from now. However USB ...
Can SMSC controller kick-start USB 3.0?
Rick Merritt
9/7/2010 7:00 AM EDT
SAN JOSE, Calif. – SMSC has added graphics to the list of uses for the USB 3.0 interconnect, rolling out is ViewSpan controller to link a secondary monitor to a PC or notebook. The part is the last piece of the puzzle SMSC needs to create a future integrated USB 3.0 controller for a docking station or thin-client computer.
The new uses for USB 3.0 could help speed adoption of the interface which has suffered so far from lack of support in Windows and PC chip sets.
To date the 5 GHz maximum transfer rate of the USB 3.0 interconnect has mainly been applied to controllers linked to serial ATA enabling fast connections between PCs and home storage hubs. SMSC and others also have fielded USB 3.0 links to Gbit Ethernet and flash media devices.
SMSC (Hauppauge, N.Y.) uses one lossless and two lossy compression algorithms to enable USB 3.0 to carry the data needed to support an external display. The interconnect would not be suitable for a primary display because it lacks compression and BIOS standards.
Computer makers such as Acer, Asustek, LG, Toshiba an Samsung have supported secondary displays with the 480Mbit/s USB 2.0 standard for the past two years. They are expected to upgrade to USB 3.0 support soon, said a spokesman for SMSC.
“We believe the popularity of multiple display monitors in both the home and office will continue to rise and USB will connect a significant share of those displays,” said Brian O’Rourke, a principal analyst with market watcher In-Stat.
SMSC is sampling its ViewSpan controller now in versions for USB 2.0 and 3.0. The part is ready for production, but the company is not disclosing any pricing information. Competitor DisplayLink demoed a USB 3.0 graphics controller in January.
Sometime in 2012, SMSC aims to integrate its USB 3.0 display, Ethernet and flash-media controllers into one chip for use in a notebook dock or thin-client computer. Such a chip could "dramatically lower" the cost and pin count of today's docking stations that typically cost about $100 and use an 80-100 pin interface, the SMSC spokesman said.
It's been a long road to market adoption for USB 3.0 which some had hoped would take off in 2009.
Intel still does not support the interface in its chip sets, something that caused frustration among the technology's backers a year ago. Advanced Micro Devices is said to be sampling now the first PC chip set to support USB 3.0.
Two sources said Intel actually held up the release of version 1.0 of the USB 3.0 specification, delaying initial release of products originally expected to ship in 2009.
NEC, the main supplier of discrete USB 3.0 controllers, is said to be doubling its production of the parts now. The first hard drives and flash media readers to use USB 3.0 are said to be on their way to market.
Microsoft has not developed native Windows 7 drivers for USB 3.0 yet. Some sources say Microsoft may not support the interface with its own drivers until the next major release of Windows.
"I think in 2011 we will see native USB 3.0 chip sets in the market for tier one OEMs, and we expect 2012 will be a big year for its adoption because a significant percentage of systems will ship with USB 3.0 by then," said the SMSC spokesman.
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kinnar
9/7/2010 10:49 AM EDT
Great news, in a very near future it will be only USB connectors every where, and people will not have to look for different connecting options. USB will become a Universal Connector.
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Kiran_NSN
9/7/2010 1:08 PM EDT
Interfacing secondary displays with the USB3.0 seems to be really good idea instead of using the VGA or a DVI-D connector in the laptops. For some reason Intel and Microsoft are not greatly supporting the USB3.0 into the market.
Can it also compete with HDMI interface? What are the main challenges to design USB3.0 Transceiver and main challenges for the USB3.0 interface when it comes to electrical design point of view on the PCB and the external cables? What
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Rick Merritt
9/7/2010 1:54 PM EDT
My big question is how's the USB 3.0 roll out going? I know there have big concerrns for sometime with the lavck of support in Intel chip sets an Windows
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BalaLak
9/8/2010 1:29 AM EDT
Intel seems to be pushing Light Peak more than USB 3.0. Perhaps they will back USB 3.0 if demand is there (from their customers), else will push Light Peak. But while backward compatibility (to existing USB devices) exists in USB 3.0 spec, it is not clear what the strategy will be if they push Light Peak instead of USB 3.0.
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chanj
9/7/2010 8:16 PM EDT
It is very interesting to have a graphic interface on USB 3.0. It seems to me it is not only supporting 2ndary display but also competing against HDMI. Yet, there are some primary differences between USB and HDMI. USB is a shared channel. The number of pins for data is very limited in USB. With these differences, HDMI has a better chance to outpace USB in terms of data rate.
Nonetheless, I am sure the more interfaces there are, the better chance it will succeed. I can't wait to see it becomes truly universal.
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halarpd
9/8/2010 1:48 PM EDT
DispalyLink has been doing USB connected display for a while now.
On USB3 vs LightPeak.
USB3 is real today. There is a standard from USB IF for USB3. There are silicon providers like NEC, TI and others (like Intel's competition in the CPU). You can also buy USB3 hard drive today.
LightPeak is a technology demonstration for a while now. LightPeak will not provide power over the cable and that is a big limitation.
Also, the desire from Intel is to provide DisplayPort and USB on single connection LightPeak. This means there has to be logic to multiplex DisplayPort and USB in the host to share the bandwidth and also need a logic to demultiplex in the device. So this will not be simple. We will also see how low the cost of optical cable will be. But like anything else eventually LightPeak may succeed in the future.
While USB3 is here, Intel likes it or not.
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IqbalSingh.Josan
9/9/2010 6:05 PM EDT
It will be great to see USB 3.0 ports everywhere few years from now. However USB 3.0 will have to co-exist with HDMI, for a while, due to HDMI's higher bandwidth of 10.2 Gbit/sec compared to 5 Gbit/sec for USB 3.0.
After successful adoption of USB 3.0, its next revision (4.0 ?) may challenge HDMI interface, because ultimately consumers need simplified and unified serial high speed interfaces that can connect any type of peripheral device. It will be interesting to see the battle between competing high speed interface standards,as higher data bandwidth becomes more available.
Regards. Visit us at uspurtek.com
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Luis Sanchez
9/17/2010 5:57 PM EDT
Quite interesting reading you guys. I didn't know about the upcoming LightPeak, an optical cable? That sounds as it will have a higher throughput since it is optical fiber and wavelength multiplexing allows for parallel transmission. While USB stands for universal Serial Bus. Parallel is always faster isn't it?
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