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Tutorial on Linux Device Drivers

Posted by Hemos on from the but-it-still-won't-explain-winmodems dept.

vorsprung directed my attention span of a gnat to Linux Device Drivers Demystified, an interesting tutorial giving an overview of Linux device drivers (No kidding). As well, they've got devtective, a search facility to check any (Surprise!) devices you want to check to see if they are supported currently. Lastly, for those of you who really want to get into it, read the review of Linux Device Drivers.

2 of 29 comments (clear)

  1. What's really needed... by edhall · · Score: 4
    What's really needed is something that an engineer at a random hardware manufacturer can pick up and run with--not so much the why or even the what of Linux devices drivers as the how. Although Linux Device Drivers is a good start, it's getting a little long in the tooth and will rapidly get outdated with some of the resource management changes that will appear in 2.4 (and are already in the development 2.3 version). New device types like USB (a whole suite of issues here), video capture, and so on, need to be treated, along with better coverage of issues like the SCSI interface.

    Ideally, all an engineer should need to do is find a driver for the device most similar to his/her new device, and follow some general steps in indentifying and making the necessary adaptations. In a perfect world, the engineer would understand the Linux kernel inside and out, but chances are he/she will be completely Linux-ignorant, and will have a matter of a few weeks in which to produce the driver. Thus it would be helpful to draw parallels to Windows drivers (which are likely to be already available or at least more familiar to the engineer), and perhaps cookbook methods for translating them for Linux. Put a limit on theory, history, and other details that don't help the engineer get the job done, fast.

    I know that this attitude might be a bit controversial, but in the real world, non- support for a prefered device is a frequent show-stopper for Linux. Let the open-source community work on making the drivers work well--but there has to be a driver in the first place.

    Let's hope Alessandro Rubini, or someone of his knowledge and abilities, can produce such a book. It's one of the more crucial issues blocking Linux World Domination(tm).

    -Ed
  2. New Revision of Device Driver Book Needed by Amoeba+Protozoa · · Score: 5

    I own the "Linux Device Drivers" by Alessandro Rubini. It is a good book for learning the (somewhat) confusing driver interface under Linux. However, I think a new revision of this book is needed to address things like:

    • Operating within an SMP environment.
    • Programming to the new APIs, such as:
    • ISDN4Linux
    • Video4Linux
    • I2O
    • Dare I say, USB
    • Insert your favorite new API here.

    Tuning your device drivers; specific hints for character drivers, block drivers, and net drivers.

    A special section devoted to writing and maintaining a kernel version independant, mostly binary, device driver (for more closed companies). This could yield a wider base of companies that support Linux, as they don't want to, "give away the family jewels."

    What we need is the definitive guide. A portable, referrable, assemblance of all Linux device driver knowledge to promote the growth and acceptance of Linux as an O/S in the buisness and even the hobbiest communities. Such a book would also raise the bar for performance within the average driver-- something which would help Linux win those benchmark tests. To support this argument, approach your favorite monolithic hardware manufacturer and ask him what tools they are using to support Linux into the future. If they answer with:

    You can see there is a definite need. I would hope that Alan Cox and Donald Becker would be contributing authors.

    If I could write, and could write good enough driver code, I would do it myself.

    -AP