Actually, when it comes to drivers it's usually not
"RTFM" it's "RTFS" - Read the Fucking Source :)
Seriously, none of us sit down and write a man page
about how to WRITE a device driver. the simple way is to take
a device similar to what you are looking at porting to and start
reading code.
For example, let's say you have a particular ethernet card,
for which there is support in say, linux, or netbsd, but not in
OpenBSD. Find a card for which there is support in both. Now read
the source code for both device drivers, and compare how both
OS's do things slightly differently. Now use the device driver
code from the other OS, and start bringing it over into OpenBSD.
During the process you'll probably learn how to break the
kernel 50 different ways, but you'll learn something.
Writing a driver from a spec provided by a vendor is also possible
too, but again, you start with a similar driver and adapt while you
learn.
Having said that, what I was talking about is the Google
contest, it's closed to new "project" submittors, so I won't be
doing this for OpenBSD this year :)
-Bob
* Josh Tolley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [2005-06-03 14:15]:
> Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the intent of your email, but I'll bite.
> I'm a CS student (nearly graduated) with a job, family, and
> programming projects on the side, but one of my dreams would be to be
> able to, say, write drivers (provided hardware manufacturers ever
> release docs...) and I'd love to learn how. My first goal, though,
> would have to be getting more proficient in C and making sure I can
> use it effectivley on OpenBSD.
>
> So as I said, perhaps I'm barking up the wrong tree, but where do I
> start? What resources are there? I love the man pages, but so far as
> I've seen anyway, there's not a place where I can begin to say "Here's
> step 1 of 1549 in writing a driver". Nor is there a place I've seen
> that says, "This needs to be written, wouldn't take tons of
> experience, but takes time no one has wanted to spend on it -- go to".
> Can you offer suggestions?
>
> I appreciate any help you can give, even if it's just "RTFM". Thanks.
>
> -Josh Tolley
>
> On 6/3/05, Bob Beck <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > I'd have no problem coming up with or supervising a few projects for
> > students like this, unfortunately, they aren't taking other projects
> > anymore...
> >
> > -Bob
> >
> >
> > * Dunceor . <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [2005-06-02 23:45]:
> > > I'm actually tryin to do some of the NetBSD projects to OpenBSD
> > > directly, without caring about the google contest.
> > > I still think it's a good motivation for a student to spend alot of hours
> > > on it.
> > > But in the end, nobody should code on suchs projects for the money,
> > > but for the fun.
> > >
> > > I got a few plans as I said, I just need to do some research around it.
> > >
> > > // Dunceor
> > >
> > > On 6/3/05, Ted Unangst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > > > On Fri, 3 Jun 2005, Dunceor . wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > > Ed White wrote:
> > > > > > > http://code.google.com/summerofcode.html
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Where is OpenBSD ?
> > > >
> > > > why is your email two days late?
> > > >
> > > > > Well I think it's a great oppertunity to let a student dive into the
> > > > > OS and they would probobly continue to work on the project afterwards.
> > > > > I saw that and missed OpenBSD also.
> > > > > They had some nice projects over at NetBSD actually.
> > > >
> > > > it's not like a bsd rsync, or a better ffs, or ... wouldn't help openbsd
> > > > either.
> > > >
> > > > hell, go do something for openbsd, port to netbsd, claim the money.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > all we're waiting for is for something worth waiting for
> > >
> >
> > --
> > Bob Beck Computing and Network Services
> > [EMAIL PROTECTED] University of Alberta
> > True Evil hides its real intentions in its street address.
>
--
Bob Beck Computing and Network Services
[EMAIL PROTECTED] University of Alberta
True Evil hides its real intentions in its street address.
