[openbeos] Re: Drivers
- From: "Ithamar R. Adema" <ithamar@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2002 15:57:11 +0100
Hi DarkWyrm :)
Although I'm not from the Kernel Team, I am involved in several ways
with NewOS and I thought I might just as well comment on this. There is
a "BeOS Compatibility Layer" in NewOS already, which makes it possible
to load and use some BeOS drivers already. This layer needs some work
and I guess Travis leaves this up to OpenBeOS to do or not to do. It is
really pretty simple to extend, and if we put enough effort in there,
we can make it work for almost all drivers.
This means, that anyone who =5Fwants=5F to use drivers from BeOS (which we
cannot ship with OBOS, IMHO) he could try and see if it works. However,
if we want to be able to extend the OS, we need the driver source, so
all drivers that =5Fcan=5F be rewritten for NewOS (read: has public
datasheets / source) should be implemented as such, as it will improve
performance in a lot of cases.
So yes, a certain level of BeOS drivers will work, but we'll need to do
some work on that, and test heavily. Preferred way (if at all possible)
is implement the drivers natively....
Regards,
Ithamar.
>
>We're going for binary compatibility and all, but what about device
drivers=3F
>One of the things that I've heard numerous times about BeOS is that
there
>isn't enough hardware support. Ithamar mentioned that we'll probably
need to
>write new ones to take advantage of the new whistles and bells in the
kernel,
>but I'm not so sure that's a good idea with (seemingly) so few people
able
>and willing to do it. Anyone from the Kernel Team willing to comment=3F
>
>--DarkWyrm
>
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