This chapter presents the PC 98 requirements and recommendations for Universal Serial Bus (USB).
USB provides an expandable, hot-attachable Plug and Play serial interface for adding external peripheral devices ranging from interactive HIDs such as joysticks and pointing devices to isochronous devices such as telephony, audio, and imaging devices. USB allows cascading hubs that can be integrated into desktop devices such as monitors and keyboards.
For PC 98, USB provides a standard, low-cost socket that accommodates volume emerging and legacy I/O devices. This feature is required on all PCs, and migration of I/O devices from legacy ports to USB is recommended. In particular, the joystick, pointing device, and keyboard devices that ship with PC systems should be USB.
For Windows and Windows NT support, devices can use the generic class drivers provided with the operating system, or manufacturers can create drivers or WDM minidrivers (depending on the device class) to exploit any additional unique hardware features. For details, see the “I/O Ports and Devices” chapter in Part 4 of this guide.
Manufacturers should ensure that their USB devices are tested at the compatibility workshops provided by the USB Implementers Forum.