Essential Linux Device Drivers (Prentice Hall Open Source Software Development Series)
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| Essential Linux Device Drivers (Prentice Hall Open Source Software Development Series) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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“Probably the most wide ranging and complete Linux device driver book I’ve read.” --Alan Cox, Linux Guru and Key Kernel Developer
“Very comprehensive and detailed, covering almost every single Linux device driver type.” --Theodore Ts’o, First Linux Kernel Developer in North America and Chief Platform Strategist of the Linux Foundation
The Most Practical Guide to Writing Linux Device Drivers Linux now offers an exceptionally robust environment for driver development: with today’s kernels, what once required years of development time can be accomplished in days. In this practical, example-driven book, one of the world’s most experienced Linux driver developers systematically demonstrates how to develop reliable Linux drivers for virtually any device. Essential Linux Device Drivers is for any programmer with a working knowledge of operating systems and C, including programmers who have never written drivers before. Sreekrishnan Venkateswaran focuses on the essentials, bringing together all the concepts and techniques you need, while avoiding topics that only matter in highly specialized situations. Venkateswaran begins by reviewing the Linux 2.6 kernel capabilities that are most relevant to driver developers. He introduces simple device classes; then turns to serial buses such as I2C and SPI; external buses such as PCMCIA, PCI, and USB; video, audio, block, network, and wireless device drivers; user-space drivers; and drivers for embedded Linux–one of today’s fastest growing areas of Linux development. For each, Venkateswaran explains the technology, inspects relevant kernel source files, and walks through developing a complete example.
• Addresses drivers discussed in no other book, including drivers for I2C, video, sound, PCMCIA, and different types of flash memory • Demystifies essential kernel services and facilities, including kernel threads and helper interfaces • Teaches polling, asynchronous notification, and I/O control • Introduces the Inter-Integrated Circuit Protocol for embedded Linux drivers • Covers multimedia device drivers using the Linux-Video subsystem and Linux-Audio framework • Shows how Linux implements support for wireless technologies such as Bluetooth, Infrared, WiFi, and cellular networking • Describes the entire driver development lifecycle, through debugging and maintenance • Includes reference appendixes covering Linux assembly, BIOS calls, and Seq files |
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| 09-20-08 | 5 | (NA) |
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The book covers in detail changes in the 2.6 kernel for driver developers including the various class es out there. It is an easy read and gives some good examples.
(Review Data Last Updated: 2008-10-11 06:53:53 EST)
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| 07-17-08 | 5 | (NA) |
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This book combined with Linux Device Drivers, 3rd Edition, must be available in the library of all the emebedded system developers, based on Libux.
This book, give more information than linux device drivers, another iformations for the new developers, that are starting developing emebedded systems based on Linux. So buy it. (Review Data Last Updated: 2008-09-21 05:37:46 EST)
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| 07-13-08 | 5 | (NA) |
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Without a doubt, this is the best driver book I've ever purchased. In the first few chapters the author walks you through boot, interrupts, builds, installs etc so that you can make the most of his outstanding knowledge of drivers and driver design which fills 3/4 of the book. Even if you don't want to design or build your own driver, the first few chapters alone are worth the cost of the book and the knowledge he imparts about drivers is priceless. If you are a Linux Kernel analyst, you can do no better than purchase this. And as to his writing style.. I've read plenty of dry, boring Linux technical books but this one even has a most outstanding writing style. It was enjoyable to read. I cannot praise this book enough. If you're a newbie Linux Kernel Techie or someone who thinks they already know everything... you cannot go wrong. Buy it, read it and you will learn more about drivers than from any other book, and you'll learn a whole lot more besides.
(Review Data Last Updated: 2008-07-17 17:08:40 EST)
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| 06-20-08 | 5 | (NA) |
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This detailed guide to writing Linux device drivers is a solid acquisition for collections strong in advanced Linux programming: it's for audiences with a working knowledge of operating systems and C - but not necessarily device driver writing - and brings together all the basic concepts and methods needed to address common programming scenarios. Many driver are discussed in no other book, making Essential Linux Device Drivers a 'must have' for any collection serious about Linux programming applications.
Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch (Review Data Last Updated: 2008-07-14 05:38:39 EST)
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| 05-06-08 | 5 | (NA) |
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I've been frustrated by many other Linux kernel and device driver books. The authors often make assumptions about the readers knowledge and gloss over areas that can be quite confusing.
To some extent, that's unavoidable: the Linux kernel is monstrous and very complex, and the hardware that drivers control can also be dark and mysterious territory. I really appreciated this books approach. It's not that everything is explained in complete detail; that would be impossible. However, the author obviously tries very hard to give an overview, an orientation that will hopefully set your mind in the right direction, before diving into details. Throughout the book he adds "go look at this" suggestions that can help you understand whatever he's dealing with at this point. I think Chapter 2, which is a high level fly-by of the kernel in general, is an absolute masterpiece. That starts by pulling typical kernel boot messages and explaining what they mean and what's going on in code to produce them. It then goes on to discuss kernel locks, briefly looks at procfs and memory allocation, and closes (as each chapter does) with pointers to where to look in the source for the subjects discussed. Chapters 3 and 4 flesh out basic concepts more, and then after that the book goes into details, picking both real world and fanciful examples of hardware and giving sample device drivers. Simple devices are presented first, while later chapters get into more complicated hardware, but in each case the same general format is followed: overview of the how and why, sample driver(s), how to most easily debug, and pointers to real kernel sources. Very well done. I have no complaints - oh, a few minor typos, maybe, but nothing serious. (Review Data Last Updated: 2008-06-21 04:50:14 EST)
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| 05-05-08 | 5 | (NA) |
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I'd been frustrated by the fragmented and incomplete nature of documentation surrounding linux driver development. This is the book I was looking for, I guess.
I specifically liked: 1. the way the author ties all the pieces together. For example, in the PCMCIA subsystem, the diagrams give you the broader picture architecturally, and the code snipppets give you the minutia you'll need. 2. the fact that it is up-to-date as far as the kernel version is concerned. 3. how it resolved a lot of questions I'd had about the scheduler. 4. the really good handling of USB and the video subsystem. It is a little light on SMP and portability issues, but overall a very good book. (Review Data Last Updated: 2008-06-21 04:50:14 EST)
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| 04-13-08 | 4 | 8\11 |
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Writing a device driver in linux is not for the faint hearted. As this book makes clear, it requires the intersection of a set of skills. C programming, for one. Apparently, all serious [ie. practical] driver coding is done in C. There is no need for the higher level object oriented languages like C++ or Java. Plus, drivers often need the utmost in efficiency, and C appears best for this. It should be said that the book does not really argue for the use of any other language. Code snippets are in C, and that's it. But an associated reason is that linux itself [not just its device drivers] is written in C. And if you want to study other device drivers, these are invariably also done in C.
An important idea explicated in the book is to use prior drivers as inspiration. See how they work. Often, you can borrow as much of their source code as you wish, if those drivers were released as open source. In fact, you are shown how to find archives of drivers. Very useful. Another skill described in the book is a close acquaintance with various types of hardware that need drivers. The hardware might be a mouse, joystick or trackball. These have fairly low bandwidths. But the book also explains drivers for disks and memories [think flash cards or USB drives], where the bandwidth needs are far greater. The book also explains why linux is so popular for the writing of drivers. Turns out that the kernel abstraction has layers that insulate the upper level operating system and applications from the gritty hardware details. Alas, for those writing drivers, it is these gritty details that you must contend with. One slight puzzle is the continual reference to PCMCIA. The book came out in 2008. I thought that several years before, the computer industry agreed to drop that acronym in favour of the simpler "PC Card". (Review Data Last Updated: 2008-05-20 04:57:46 EST)
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