On Wed, 2002-12-04 at 10:34, Aitor Santamaria Merino wrote: > > And I'll admit that I don't know much of the internal structure of NT, > > but I'm pretty sure that at least until 4.0, you could have device > > drivers that would run in kernel mode, which would be indicative of a > > monolithic kernel. Perhaps you misunderstood what I meant? (Just > > asking 'cause I know that under the best circumstances I can be > > cryptic sometimes, lol). > > No, but I believed that drivers in WinNT run in usermode (ring3) whereas > in VMM they run at ring0, or at least, they have IOPL0.
Windows NT 3.1 through 3.51 ran drivers in user mode, Windows NT 4.0 and later run drivers in ring 0 for performance reasons. Microsoft used to beat OS/2 up over the fact that OS/2 2.0 the drivers ran in ring 0 and so could crash the kernel, but they switched when as a server 0S/2 out performed them. NT was originally headed up by the guy who headed development VMS for Digital Equipment Corporation, so there is some similarity there. Anyway I've had enough of this thread. Regards, Paul ---------- list options/archives/etc.: http://www.topica.com/lists/fd-dev unsubscribe: send blank email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bz8Rv5.bbRv4l.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
