Open AccessA comparison of the Linux and Windows device driver architectures
Author(s) -
Melekam Tsegaye,
Richard Foss
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
acm sigops operating systems review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.18
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1943-586X
pISSN - 0163-5980
DOI - 10.1145/991130.991132
Subject(s) - operating system , computer science , embedded system , microsoft windows , process (computing) , embedded operating system , linux kernel , device file , software , computer file
In this paper the device driver architectures currently used by two of the most popular operating systems, Linux and Microsoft's Windows, are examined. Driver components required when implementing device drivers for each operating system are presented and compared. The process of implementing a driver, for each operating system, that performs I/O to a kernel buffer is also presented. The paper concludes by examining the device driver development environments and facilities provided to developers by each operating system.
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