On Sun, 6 Feb 2005 20:46:18 +0100, Lars Roland <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi all > > I have been doing Linux kernel development for many years, but have > always wanted to get into the Windows NT kernel, so some time ago I > convinced my company to give me a MSDN subscription. > > I have studied some of the Windows DDK example drivers (mainly the > frame buffer and Permidia 2/3 driver examples) and have found them to > be understandable. > > So based on this small research, I have convinced myself that I will > be able to do a graphics driver for the NT kernel (or at least help > with creating one) - The level of directx 3D acceleration in this > driver, is a completely different thing. It seams to be much harder to > this generically, given that people can have different directx > versions installed. > > I have the following questions: > > 1) Can we release a driver that is developed using the Windows DDK, as > open source (GPL) - I remember reading in the PDF that Timothy put > together that there was some possible problems with IP rights on the > Windows platforms.
One thing that comes to mind is that there is a certain way that MS wants you to deal with patterns. But rather than building that into GDI, they give you source code, tell you to use it, and tell you that you're only allowed to use it with Windows (talk about viral!). I'll talk to our Windows guy (who hated Windoes even more after he had to write drivers for it) and see if he has any other examples. > > 2) Doing open source driver development with the Windows driver > development kit, is somewhat limiting given that the DDK is not free > (nor is Visual Studio) - this will possible limit the community that > could help developing a Windows driver - on the other hand it could be > argued that anyone serious about Windows driver development will own > the appropriate tools for doing so. Note that the ReactOS people offered to help. Perhaps they have an unencumbered DDK or something. > 3) Does anyone have an idea of how Nvidia have created there unified > driver architecture. I have always found it to be really pleasant to > install NVidia drivers on Windows (and Linux), because it is so simple > - I just cannot comprehend if this is done using clever install code > hacks, like MSI on Windows or auto tools on Linux. I suspect that they abstracted out the OS layer. Figure out what's common for all platforms, develop a common interface, write the code, and then write wrappers for each platform. > I have no experience in developing cross platform drivers, so if > anyone have any input on this it would be nice to hear it. The work is divided up amongst enough people that we might want to consider not (right away) unifying the development. One disadvantage to that is that we can't share bug fixes so easily. Or, we can try doing something novel and actually DESIGNING them first before coding. This way, we can figure out what's common and share code. :) _______________________________________________ Open-graphics mailing list [email protected] http://lists.duskglow.com/mailman/listinfo/open-graphics List service provided by Duskglow Consulting, LLC (www.duskglow.com)
