Product Description

Device drivers literally drive everything you're interested in--disks, monitors, keyboards, modems--everything outside the computer chip and memory. And writing device drivers is one of the few areas of programming for the Linux operating system that calls for unique, Linux-specific knowledge. For years now, programmers have relied on the classic Linux Device Drivers from O'Reilly to master this critical subject. Now in its third edition, this bestselling guide provides all the information you'll need to write drivers for a wide range of devices. Over the years the book has helped countless programmers learn: * how to support computer peripherals under the Linux operating system * how to develop and write software for new hardware under Linux * the basics of Linux operation even if they are not expecting to write a driver The new edition of Linux Device Drivers is better than ever. The book covers all the significant changes to Version 2.6 of the Linux kernel, which simplifies many activities, and contains subtle new features that can make a driver both more efficient and more flexible. Readers will find new chapters on important types of drivers not covered previously, such as consoles, USB drivers, and more. Best of all, you don't have to be a kernel hacker to understand and enjoy this book. All you need is an understanding of the C programming language and some background in Unix system calls. And for maximum ease-of-use, the book uses full-featured examples that you can compile and run without special hardware. Today Linux holds fast as the most rapidly growing segment of the computer market and continues to win over enthusiastic adherents in many application areas. With this increasing support, Linux is now absolutely mainstream, and viewed as a solid platform for embedded systems. If you're writing device drivers, you'll want this book. In fact, you'll wonder how drivers are ever written without it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31773 in Books
• Published on: 2005-02-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 615 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Updated to cover version 2.4.x of the Linux kernel, the second edition of Linux Device Drivers remains the best general-purpose, paper-bound guide for programmers wishing to make hardware devices work under the world's most popular open-source operating system. The authors take care to show how to write drivers that are portable--that is, that compile and run under all popular Linux platforms. That, along with the fact that they're careful to explain and illustrate concepts, makes this book very well-suited to any programmer familiar with C but not with the hardware-software interface. It's worth noting that the emphasis in the title is on "device drivers" as much as "Linux". This book will make sense to you if you've never written a driver for any platform before. It helps if you have some Linux or UNIX background, but even that is secondary as a prerequisite to C skill.

For a programming text--and one concerned with low-level instructions and data structures, at that--this book is remarkably rich in prose. You'll typically want to read this book straight through, more or less skipping the code samples, before sketching out your plan for the driver you need to write. Then, go back and pay closer attention to the sections on specific details you need to implement, such as custom task queues. For coding-time details about specific system calls and programming techniques, count on the index to point you to the right passages. --David Wall

Topics covered: Techniques for writing hardware device drivers that run under Linux kernels 2.0.x through 2.2.x. Sections show how to manage memory, time, interrupts, ports and other details of the hardware-software interface.

Review
'Quite simply, It's an inspiration for anyone interested in pushing contemporary computer hardware and GNU/Linux to the limit'. Linux User, October 2001

From the Publisher
Over the years, this bestselling guide has helped countless programmers learn how to support computer peripherals under the Linux operating system, and how to develop new hardware under Linux. Now, with this third edition, it's even more helpful, covering all the significant changes to Version 2.6 of the Linux kernel. Includes full-featured examples that programmers can compile and run without special hardware.

Customer Reviews

Still an essential text
This remains the best all-round introduction to kernel programming where most of us start - writing device drivers.

The third edition has been update to include information on writing VFS/file system drivers: an important update.

The text does remain rather too ia32 centric though.

Excellent but dated
If you want to learn how to write a Linux driver then you MUST buy this book! It gives a very good background into the workings of the Linux device module system. The text is very readable and usually puts (some very complex) ideas across in a manner that doesn't scare the reader off - the multitude of code fragments also help a lot! However, there is one caveat. The book was written at a time when the Linux Module system was in a state of flux. The text is written focusing on version 2.0.x of the kernel but there were some major changes to the structure and some system calls between then and version 2.2.x . There is an attempt, at the back of the book, to outline the new changes (as at version 2.1.43), but these are a bit vague and not many examples are given. Maybe it's not such a bad thing though...The current version of the linux module system as at Version 2.2.x is, I believe, going to be used in the next release. Please, Mr. Rubini, update the text to be more current! If you do I'll buy a copy of the book and recommend it to anyone!

Very good books for begin develop linux device drivers
This book is very useful for people thath wants learn about linux device drivers. The approach followed by the authors is practical oriented and involve the reader.
The descriptions of kernel data structure and subsystem (such as pci and usb) is very clear.