On Mon, 2009-06-22 at 15:30 -0400, Duane Ellis wrote: > All - I believe - I am not sure - that the primary benefit of > "libft2xxx" is as follows: > > (a) It is measurably faster. > > That just requires "work" to make it faster. > > (b) It works on more platforms, ie: Win7, WinVista, because drivers > exist for those platforms. > > This is tough/hard, nobody on this list is a "windows driver developer". > Grrr. Such is life. > > (c) Nobody was offering a universal "libusb" - type "INF" files for > windows. > > Looks like Freddie Chopin is working on that :-) Perhaps - we could > have a "contrib" folder with a *binary* libusb0.sys file > and associated "INF" files that references *ALL* ftdi based dongles > - (The VID/PID list is in the source file...) > That *INF* file and matching SYS file should be deliverable with > OpenOCD. > > (d) There is another choice - "WinUSB" > > http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa476426.aspx > > As I understand, it is a a multi-(windoze)-platform solution that > exposes the USB device, functionally in the same manor and style as > "libusb" does, ie: the ablity (1) to rd/wr endpoints, (2) send control > commands. > > I believe there is the only open question that needs to be asked and > answered. > > The MS-WinUSB driver - did not *ship* with WinXP, but is available as a > "co-install" for WinXP. > > As I understand (I have not confirmed, and I do not know all the details > of it), the driver and associated OS-libraries/headers are *PRESENT* on > Vista, and I presume Win7 (with appropriate dev tools installed), > therefore it functionally *SHIPS* with the operating system, and as such > it sould fall under the standard operating system component exception to > the GPL. > > This solution is - by design - something that can be added to WinXP (the > co-install solution). I think of it sort of like this: "The old system > only supplied a CDROM (read-only) driver" - later - new systems come > with CD-WRITER (and today, we have CD-RW) - the *new* os does not > require an upgrade, the *old* os has an upgrade path to make the > CD-WRITER (and now CD-RW) work. > > I should - as a user of that old system - install the OS update - and be > able to make use of that GPL software. > > All is not rosy and perfect, "WinUSB" would require an INF file that > *points* to the driver - much like the work that Freddy is working > towards with a universal libusb inf file > > Agree? > > -Duane.
This is a VERY interesting suggestion. WunUSB *is* a system library, as it comes from the OS vendor and provides general services for many devices, not just one subset of devices. It is a General USB interface. This should also have the advantage of being signed by microsoft so it will install on all (current) versions of the windows operating systems. The question I have is... If we have an INF file pointing to a signed driver, does the INF/Driver pair need to be signed, or is the signing just the authenticate the driver CODE as being trusted? If it is just the driver code, then I think this is the most stable long term solution above all. Now assuming libftdi interfaces to a USB library that could mean that the 32/64 bit issues can be handled in winusb, since USB is just a frame based communications pipe (byte stream) Tom _______________________________________________ Openocd-development mailing list Openocd-development@lists.berlios.de https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/openocd-development