[casimir]

What would be an easy driver to start on for development??

Because I want to start developing drivers, and I need something easy to start with.

Thanks

[lomax]

Good question, I'm a newbie as well and I would really like to get to know driver programming, but I need more knowledge first.
My guess is it's probably the easiest to start with a piece of hardware you already have in your posession.
I think, from what I've read so far, that an ethernet driver with existing documentation (from the manufacturer) is probably the easiest thing to start with.
There are some examples with source code available to get you started.

Good luck!

[GregC]

A couple hints:

The most important thing is to try and get the specification of the device, or specifications of the specific parts used on the device. For example, a Netgear NIC, might actually use a generic National Semiconductor Ethernet chip on the PCB. When a chip company like National Semiconductor makes a generic ethernet chip to sell to anybody that will buy it, it is generally VERY easy to get excellent documention (go to their websites!). The specs will explain all the registers, how they are used, maybe power-up or initialization sequences. Sometimes even psuedo-code. It might take a little homework to discover if the actual parts are generic parts or custom IC's. The Creative labs EMU10k series are custom chips that have no published documentation and are kept confidental, although several of the support chips used on the soundcards are common devices with specs freely available.

Next, try and find something that has some open source drivers already developed for Linux or BSD. It is helpful to be able to look at other code to see how it is done. We are lucky that there is lots of sample code for BeOS drivers too. Take a look at it! Even if its for a completely different device.

I wouldn't recommend trying to write a driver for the 'latest and greatest' hardware. It is often more complex then hardware released just a couple years ago (like video cards). Also, manufacturers are more likely to share specifications for their products if it's not a competitive risk (example- the EMU8k spec was released and easily obtainable, while the EMU10k is not ).

Finally- subscribe to the BeDriver mailing list and feel free to ask any questions!

[jefro]

Be sure to read the Be's driver examples in the developement kit. Most driver authors say that they learned by looking at the notes left in the code.

[casimir]

Ok, cool thanks for the advice. I think I will look at an already made driver and re-make it. Not to make it better, but to go through the process.
Thanks. I signed up for bedrivertalk. Hopefully in a while I will be pumping out drivers =)


Thanks