Re: Why linux is so stupid with hardware drivers?

From: Kasper Dupont (kasperd_at_daimi.au.dk)
Date: 05/09/04 

Date: Sun, 09 May 2004 21:08:10 +0200

Norm Dresner wrote:
>
> There are
> some Windows 95 Device Drivers that can still be loaded and function
> correctly with Windows XP!

Just because it is possible it doesn't mean it is a
good idea. And BTW the op pretended a pre-DOS driver
would work with Windows XP. Either he is lying or XP
is a worse pile of *** than I would have imagined.

Don't take advice from a person who doesn't know the
difference between a databus and a device driver.

> Once a kernel function API is developed, it's
> frozen in concrete and can always be used [until support is removed, which
> does happen but not as often as you'd think it should].

That is exactly what Linus is doing a great effort
to prevent. Don't stop development just because a
few people don't want to follow.

>
> One system I wrote and have maintenance [and upgrading] responsibility for
> runs (currently) on a 1.3 GHz P-III with 512 MB RAM. When it's fully
> operational, there are 12 separate user programs and 11 loadable kernel
> modules in it. I started this using RTLinux with a 2.0.3x kernel and have
> migrated it through 2.2.x and 2.4.x versions. The 2.2.x==>2.4.x evolution
> was mostly painless, though there was at least one Linux kernel feature
> [wait queues] whose API changed significantly enough that I had to re-write
> some code. This has never happened [at least to me] in Windows. The 2.0.x
> ==>2.2.x jump was quite painful and required [IIRC] several months to get
> everything right.

Very few systems are so specialized that they will
not work with mainstream drivers. In that case why
do you upgrade? Linux 2.0 is being maintained. You
decide if it is worth the effort.

Maybe you want the newest and greates kernel, that
is fine, but if you do your own drivers you are the
only person who can port them. And remember, that
if the new kernel would have had to be bawkward
compatible with older drivers, it wouldn't have been
so great.

If you don't want to upgrade your drivers for every
kernel version, try to get them in Linus' tree. All
it requires is a good quality driver for the latest
stable kernel version for some hardware that is
actually generally available. 

-- 
Kasper Dupont -- der bruger for meget tid paa usenet.
For sending spam use abuse@mk.lir.dk and kasperd@mk.lir.dk
I'd rather be a hammer than a nail.