Maybe you didn't know, but erm, there is no such thing as USB 2.0
Its something the press started calling that and it couldn't be swept away thus it has been adopted by many fabrics.
I note this because its the answer to your question.
the "new" USB you are refering to is USB v1.1 in HiSpeed mode.
So yes theoratically you can connect any USB "2.0" system to a USB 1.1 port. Altho it is possible some hardware vendors made there drivers check if hispeed is enabled or not, making it impossible to use it withoud some driver hacking ( or using linux
) or just to display a message.