is there any command to know whether I have 2.0 or 1.1 usb ports in my machine?

On my system I have usbview (graphical). If it shows an EHCI controller, it's USB2 if it shows UHCI, it's USB1.

You could also use 'hwinfo --usb' from command-line.

usbview made it, thanks a lot.

I do not have hwinfo though, is this a SuSe-specific command?

I'd guess so. But since I have never used anything else than SUSE, I don't know.

Another question: I also found lsusb which is more specific i guess.

In my pc I have an external usb 2.0 disk.
lsusb tells me about 2 usb devices, one is 2.0 (a plugged disk) and the other is 1.1 (a OHCI controller).
usbview gives me the same info, but the offline disk is controlled by OHCI. Does this mean that the protocol is 1.1 but it could be 2.0 if I used EHCI instead of OHCI?

# lsusb -v

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0d49:7000 Maxtor
Device Descriptor:
bLength 18
bDescriptorType lsusb 1
bcdUSB 2.00
bDeviceClass 0 (Defined at Interface level)
bDeviceSubClass 0
bDeviceProtocol 0
bMaxPacketSize0 64
idVendor 0x0d49 Maxtor
idProduct 0x7000
bcdDevice 2.00
iManufacturer 1 Maxtor
iProduct 3 OneTouch
iSerial 2 A81ZJ59E
bNumConfigurations 1
Configuration Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 2
wTotalLength 39
bNumInterfaces 1
bConfigurationValue 1
iConfiguration 0
bmAttributes 0xc0
Self Powered
MaxPower 0mA
Interface Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 4
bInterfaceNumber 0
bAlternateSetting 0
bNumEndpoints 3
bInterfaceClass 8 Mass Storage
bInterfaceSubClass 6 SCSI
bInterfaceProtocol 80 Bulk (Zip)
iInterface 0
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x02 EP 2 OUT
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type none
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0040 bytes 64 once
bInterval 0
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x88 EP 8 IN
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type none
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0040 bytes 64 once
bInterval 0
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN
bmAttributes 3
Transfer Type Interrupt
Synch Type none
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0002 bytes 2 once
bInterval 32
Language IDs: (length=4)
0409 English(US)

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Device Descriptor:
bLength 18
bDescriptorType 1
bcdUSB 1.10
bDeviceClass 9 Hub
bDeviceSubClass 0 Unused
bDeviceProtocol 0
bMaxPacketSize0 8
idVendor 0x0000
idProduct 0x0000
bcdDevice 2.06
iManufacturer 3 Linux 2.6.9-1.6_FC2smp ohci_hcd
iProduct 2 OHCI Host Controller
iSerial 1 0000:00:0f.2
bNumConfigurations 1
Configuration Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 2
wTotalLength 25
bNumInterfaces 1
bConfigurationValue 1
iConfiguration 0
bmAttributes 0xc0
Self Powered
MaxPower 0mA
Interface Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 4
bInterfaceNumber 0
bAlternateSetting 0
bNumEndpoints 1
bInterfaceClass 9 Hub
bInterfaceSubClass 0 Unused
bInterfaceProtocol 0
iInterface 0
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN
bmAttributes 3
Transfer Type Interrupt
Synch Type none
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0002 bytes 2 once
bInterval 255
Hub Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 41
nNbrPorts 2
wHubCharacteristic 0x0012
No power switching (usb 1.0)
No overcurrent protection
bPwrOn2PwrGood 1 * 2 milli seconds
bHubContrCurrent 0 milli Ampere
DeviceRemovable 0xfe
PortPwrCtrlMask 0x2a
Language IDs: (length=4)
0409 English(US)

On my system, there is only one USB port capable of USB2. All others run on USB1.1. The drivers (UHCI/EHCI) are assigned independently from any device attached. So I guess it may be a hardware, rather than a software/driver issue.