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do PnP devices use user mode drivers?

R

rookie1010

Senior member

hello

in this article
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/driver/wdf/UMDF_FAQ.mspx

from the answer to the question
What are the constraints on user-mode drivers?

i get the feeling that all hardware that require interrupts require a kernel mode driver, hence all hardware on the PCMCIA bus would require a kernel mode driver, hence all Pnp devices require a kernel mode driver.

however scrolling down, i came across the folwloing answer to the question
What is the difference between a user-mode driver and an application?

and from it i understand that PnP devices can use user mode drivers, correct?
 
I'm not real familiar with stuff up in user mode but as I understand...

The limitation on user mode drivers is really a contstraint to certain devices... typically USB "stuff".

PnP still works ... it's not a user/kernel thing really. Once a device attaches the PnP ID gathered by the OS and it whips through it's .infs to find a driver for it. So I don't believe you'll find any real PnP limitations as long as the device is supported for user mode.
 
i get the feeling that all hardware that require interrupts require a kernel mode driver, hence all hardware on the PCMCIA bus would require a kernel mode driver, hence all Pnp devices require a kernel mode driver.
Click to expand...

It just requires enough of a kernel mode driver to acknowledge the interrupt and copy the data (if there is any) to somewhere that the userland portion can do something with it. I have no idea how Windows handles this though.
 
Originally posted by: Nothinman
i get the feeling that all hardware that require interrupts require a kernel mode driver, hence all hardware on the PCMCIA bus would require a kernel mode driver, hence all Pnp devices require a kernel mode driver.
Click to expand...

It just requires enough of a kernel mode driver to acknowledge the interrupt and copy the data (if there is any) to somewhere that the userland portion can do something with it. I have no idea how Windows handles this though.
Click to expand...

There are usermode calls with kernel mode equivalents..and some heavy checking inbetween.
 
thanks for the replies

so effectively you could have the driver of your PC Card device(GPRS) written in entirely user mode?
 
Originally posted by: rookie1010
thanks for the replies

so effectively you could have the driver of your PC Card device(GPRS) written in entirely user mode?
Click to expand...

>>A user-mode driver cannot directly access hardware or use kernel-mode resources. For example, it cannot perform direct memory access (DMA), handle interrupts, or allocate memory from nonpaged pool. However, you might be able to split your driver so that part of it runs in kernel mode and part of it runs in user mode.

No....
 
thanks for the reply

so a PCMCIA card driver has to be in kernel mode or at least a part of it has to be in kernel mode?
 
so a PCMCIA card driver has to be in kernel mode or at least a part of it has to be in kernel mode?
Click to expand...

THe user mode driver stuff you linked to is really for USB devices. MS is (finally) making it so device manufacturers can write a simpler user mode component and not a full driver. MS is providing the underlying driver that deals with the bus and makes the data available to usermode.

Very similar to what was done with printer drivers in NT 4 and what they want to finally get to with video drivers. The more drivers out of kernel land, the better.

DRM is pushing alot of this, the drm chain breaks as soon as you have unknown drivers in the kernel. So there is a strong push to get as many drivers out of there as possible. The plus side for users is better stability, you might lose your usb device if the driver dies but you won't bluescreen.

Bill
 
thanks for the reply bsobel

so a PCMCIA card drive would be of two parts (kernel mode and user mode), i geuss thek ernel mode would be its PnP and ACPI part and that would be provided by microsoft, and all the drive rdevelope needs to do is add the user mode functionality (e.g. WiFi driver, or GPRS driver ) functionality.

is this the Kernel Mode Driver Framework or the user mode framework?

how is digital rights management affected by kernel mode drivers?
 
how is digital rights management affected by kernel mode drivers?
Click to expand...

MS is in a tough spot trying to convert the open PC architecture into something that can reliably access protected content without people easily being able to steal the content. Most DRM systems are closed (think DishNetwork box, your cable box, etc), you can't load your own software onto them and change their functionality. With your PC you can, and one of the easiest ways to get access to controlled content would be via a driver. Since a driver basiclally has complete access to the box (memory, etc) it could directly 'steal' information and there is no other mechanism in the architecture to avoid that. So, MS deals with this by restricting access to drm content depending on if known vs unknown drivers are loaded into the system.
 
Originally posted by: bsobel
so a PCMCIA card driver has to be in kernel mode or at least a part of it has to be in kernel mode?
Click to expand...

THe user mode driver stuff you linked to is really for USB devices. MS is (finally) making it so device manufacturers can write a simpler user mode component and not a full driver. MS is providing the underlying driver that deals with the bus and makes the data available to usermode.

Very similar to what was done with printer drivers in NT 4 and what they want to finally get to with video drivers. The more drivers out of kernel land, the better.

DRM is pushing alot of this, the drm chain breaks as soon as you have unknown drivers in the kernel. So there is a strong push to get as many drivers out of there as possible. The plus side for users is better stability, you might lose your usb device if the driver dies but you won't bluescreen.

Bill
Click to expand...


....Print drivers in NT 5 actually but yeah Version 3 (NT 5.x) printer drivers are a great example of this. The worst you can do in NT 5 with a version 3 print driver is crash the spooler service. The box as a whole remains up.

Anyone that has spent any time with NT 4 Citrix boxes knows the pain of version 2 drivers.
 
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