ASPEED AST2400/2500/2600/2700 vHub USB Device Controller
The on-chip USB device ("gadget") controller built into ASPEED's AST2400, AST2500, AST2600, and now AST2700 baseboard management controller SoCs, which sit on the motherboards of most modern servers. It is what lets a BMC present itself to a host or remote operator as virtual USB devices such as keyboards, mice, mass storage, or Ethernet for out-of-band management.
recommendation
It should stay because the hardware is widely used in current server baseboard management controllers and is actively maintained: a November 2025 patch series adds support for the brand-new AST2700 chip, and a targeted bug fix landed in late 2024. There is no sign of retirement, and ASPEED BMC silicon continues to ship in new server hardware in 2025.
repository signals
sources
- lore.kernel.org
Late-2025 upstream patch adds AST2700 support to aspeed-vhub, indicating ongoing enablement for newer ASPEED BMC silicon rather than retirement.
- lore.kernel.org
The driver still received a targeted functional fix in late 2024, showing maintenance beyond treewide churn.
- git.kernel.org
Kconfig describes this as the Aspeed vHub UDC for AST2400, AST2500, and AST2600 SoCs, confirming the hardware family and use case.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Active upstream attention is strong: lore_file_timeline on core.c showed activity through 2025-11-28, including an AST2700 support series, plus a 2024 bug-fix patch; no removal discussion surfaced in the lore evidence gathered. The Kconfig file read via shell confirms this is a real UDC driver for ASPEED BMC SoCs. Hardware-obsolescence judgment is an inference from late-2025 new-silicon support plus the existing AST24xx/25xx/26xx scope: this points to ongoing server/BMC deployments, though the niche is infrastructure rather than consumer. Source acquisition: first two URLs from lore_file_timeline tool output; kernel.org Kconfig URL from canonical recall, with file contents cross-checked locally via shell.