USB 2.0 in some Power Mac G4 MDDs? UPDATE: Apple Replies

UPDATE: Apple replies We've now received Apple's official response on the USB 2.0 issue. Nathalie Welch, a corporate spokesperson, told us simply:

"Apple does not provide USB 2.0 functionality on any of its products and we don't comment on our system-level components."

So while the Power Mac G4 MDD may have USB 2.0 capacity on some level, the I/O standard will likely not ever be a supported, promoted capability for current generation Power Macintosh G4 MDD models. We are continuing to investigate some innovative approaches to enabling the functionality, and hope to have some news to report shortly.

Original Report: MacFixIt reader Hyok Ki Chung reports that while browsing a Korean Mac magazine site, he found an article about the USB 2.0 controller chip set on MDD Power Mac 1.25 and 1.42 GHz motherboards.

"According to this article, the controller is made by NEC, model number µPD720101. The article is in Korean, but basically what it describes the NEC USB 2.0 controller. It also mentions the driver saying that a Mac version is not available yet.

"It looks like we already have USB 2.0 built-in Power Macs. I guess it's just matter of time."

NEC's documentation reveals that the chip set has one EHCI (Enhanced Host Controller Interface ) and two OHCI (Open Host Controller Interface) modules. The EHCI specification describes the register-level interface for a Host Controller for USB Revision 2.0, and while some Windows operating systems can natively recognize OHCI-compliant devices, Apple will need to release an updated driver package to take advantage of the chip set - if indeed it is being included on the latest Power Mac G4 MDD models.

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