ISBN:0596005903Amazon.com
Updated to cover version 2.4.x of the Linux kernel, the second edition of Linux Device Drivers remains the best general-purpose, paper-bound guide for programmers wishing to make hardware devices work under the world's most popular open-source operating system. The authors take care to show how to write drivers that are portable--that is, that compile and run under all popular Linux platforms. That, along with the fact that they're careful to explain and illustrate concepts, makes this book very well suited to any programmer familiar with C but not with the hardware-software interface. It's worth noting that the emphasis in the title is on "device drivers" as much as "Linux." This book will make sense to you if you've never written a driver for any platform before. It helps if you have some Linux or Unix background, but even that is secondary as a prerequisite to C skill.
For a programming text--and one concerned with low-level instructions and data structures, at that--this book is remarkably rich in prose. You'll typically want to read this book straight through, more or less skipping the code samples, before sketching out your plan for the driver you need to write. Then, go back and pay closer attention to the sections on specific details you need to implement, like custom task queues. For coding-time details about specific system calls and programming techniques, count on the index to point you to the right passages. --David Wall
Topics covered: Techniques for writing hardware device drivers that run under Linux kernels 2.0.x through 2.2.x. Sections show how to manage memory, time, interrupts, ports, and other details of the hardware-software interface./p>
Reviews From AMAZON.COM
Specialised skills
[A review of the 3RD EDITION, 2005.]
Device drivers will always be a small speciality in any operating system. Linux is no exception. While it grows strongly, most programmers using it simply can ignore issues of hooking up to various hardware items. Someone has already worked those out. Well, here you are that someone and this book addresses many of your needs.
The coding is in C. No fancy object oriented stuff for you. Many higher level OO programmers are simply unaware of the extra overhead it takes. But you need to maximise performance, so it is C for you. Plus, to understand much of the book, it really helps to have written some assembly code, because it makes it easier to understand many low level operations discussed.
Prior acquaintance with the overall design of a linux memory manager and interrupt handlers is also good. The book explains well individual issues as they arise. But having a clear, top-down understanding of the linux kernel may give you more context to understand the chapters.
great book for the right person
I used this book to write a device driver for my computer engineering senior project. It was very helpfull, but could improve. 2nd edition covers almost everything you'll need for 2.4 kernel drivers. Organization is like a text book that includes reference material, but attempts to be a tutorial. Hopefully the 3rd edition will be better organized. I noticed lots of negative reviews on Amazon, but after reading some chapters on safari (the oreilly free book site) I decided to purchase it any ways. If you buy this book and don't have a solid background in operating systems, computer architecture, and microprocessor interfacing you probably won't have an easy time understanding several key topics well enough to write a working driver. This will probably make you mad enough to write another bad review.