[openbeos] Re: USB Mass Storage driver (Was RE: Re: Driver Tutorial)

  • From: Siarzhuk Zharski <zharik@xxxxxx>
  • To: openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2006 11:06:17 +0200

Hi,

Personally, I hope the USB Mass Storage driver has higher priority... :-D 
This is going to sound really stupid, but _theorectically_ how difficult
would it be to create a USB mass storage driver?  (I'm guessing the answer
will range from 'hard' to 'impossible' ;) ).

What I mean is:

- is it _just_ a case of creating a mass storage driver?
It is just the case of creating SCSI interface module. Standard USB storage protocols use SCSI commands to interact with such hardware. There are also some non-standard ones that can use all that they wants to use. Old Datafab card readers, for example, use IDE ATA interface. :-) So Linux implementation of the Datafab driver perform SCSI --> IDE conversion in this driver. :-) Anyway, the main problem in support of those USB plugs is that hardware vendors make them "Windows-compatible" instead of "Standard-compatible". Every alternative driver implementation (FreeBSD, Linux etc.) contains lot of "quirks" to tune it for different USB Mass Storage devices. My implementation of the BeOS USB Storage Module is also need lot of them. :-\
- does the USB stack need overhauling/rewriting?
No. USB Storage SIM interact with stack interfaces in normal way. Usually it is not required. There are some "impossible" things that cannot be done in current BeOS USB interface but it was only once in my practice. ( USBVision TV tuner requires send an request to non-default end-point ).
- have I just not understood the scale of the problem? ;)
You have just not observed the Haiku SVN. :-) This module was already implemented for BeOS and just need to be adapted for Haiku. :-)
I ask these questions as I'm looking for a worthwhile driver project and
this seems it - firstly my test PC has 2 USB ports (a good start) and I have
numerous memory sticks and external USB media adapters that I can test with,
as well as a couple of SE mobiles that export their internal memory as Mass
Storage...
The better way is publish here the list of hardware you have. :-) I still consider that complete Bluetooth stack is a bit complicate for beginning with. :-\

By the way, I hope you'll agree to test all your USB storages with my USB SIM as soon as I finish required changes? :-) Could you, please, write me private e-mail with some information about them now? Thanks!

*The Question to All*: There are bedrivers mail-list on yahoo Groups. Should we move this driver-specific discussion there?

----
Regards,
  S.Zharski


Other related posts:

  1. Home
  2. haiku
  3. Archive
  4. 09-2006