Thesis (M. Sc. (Computer Science))--Rhodes University, 2004.

Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Users are not supposed to modify an operating system kernel, but it is often necessary to add a device driver for a new peripheral device. Device driver development is a difficult and time-consuming process that must be performed by an expert. Drivers are difficult to debug and a malfunctioning driver could cause the operating system to crash. Ways are therefore needed to make the development of device drivers safer and easier. A number of different device driver development methods are examined in this thesis. An existing micro-kernel that supports in-kernel device drivers as well as extensible device drivers has been modified to support user-level and loadable drivers. These extensions ensured that all the development methods were implemented in the same environment and a comparison could thus be made on a fair basis. A comparison of the different methods with respect to the efficiency of the resulting device driver, as well as the ease of the development process, is presented. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Gebruikers is nie veronderstelom aan 'n bedryfstelsel te verander nie, maar tog is dit gereeld nodig om 'n toesteldrywer vir 'n nuwe randapparaat by te voeg. Die ontwikkeling van 'n toesteldrywer is 'n tydrowende en moeilike proses en moet deur 'n kundige aangepak word. Toesteldrywers is moeilik om te ontfout en kan deur verkeerde werking die hele stelsel tot stilstand bring. Daar is dus tegnieke nodig om die ontwikkeling van toestelhanteerders makliker en veiliger te maak. 'n Aantal verskillende ontwikkelingsmetodes vir toesteldrywers word in hierdie tesis ondersoek. 'n Bestaande mikro-kern wat in-kern, sowel as uitbreibare toesteldrywers ondersteun, is aangepas om gebruikersvlak en laaibare toestelhanteerders te ondersteun. Hierdie uitbreiding het verseker dat al die ontwikkelingsmetodes in dieselfde omgewing geïmplementeer is. Dit was dus moontlik om die metodes op 'n regverdige grondslag te vergelyk. Die vergelyking is gedoen ten opsigte van die effektiwiteit van die resulterende toesteldrywer sowel as die moeilikheidsgraad van die ontwikkelingsproses.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 137-154).

New peripheral devices are being developed at an ever increasing rate. Before such accessories can be used in the UNIX environment (UNIX is a trademark of Bell Laboratories), they must be able to communicate with the operating system. This involves writing a device driver for each device. In order to do this, very detailed knowledge is required of both the device to be integrated and the version of UNIX to which it will be attached. The process is long, detailed and prone to subtle problems and errors. This paper presents a menu-driven utility designed to simplify and accelerate the design and implementation of UNIX device drivers by freeing developers from many of the implementation specific low-level details.

New hardware devices are continually being released to the public by hardware manufactures around the world. For these new devices to be usable under a PC operating system, device drivers that extend the functionality of the target operating system have to be constructed. This work examines and compares the device driver architectures currently in use by two of the most widely used operating systems, Microsoft’s Windows and Linux. The IEEE1394 (high speed serial bus) device driver stacks on each operating system are examined and compared as an example of a major device driver stack implementation, including driver requirements for the upcoming IEEE1394.1 bridging standard.

Thesis (M.Eng. and S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, June 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 20-21). / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Linux has become a viable alternative to Windows in recent years. This investigation looks at the feasibility of porting the software for a PC-based medical device to Linux. Using an open-source operating system frees developers from the constraints imposed by relying on a single company for the development platform. Several porting methods are considered. The port method chosen allows development on the Windows version to continue while simultaneously testing on Linux, without creating separate versions of the software. Differences in the way the software interacts with the operating system and with the hardware have to be addressed. A Linux environment was created in which to run the software and determine how to reconcile these differences. No major hurdles to using Linux exist, so it appears to be a viable platform on which to conduct future development. / by Steven B. Lustbader. / M.Eng.and S.B.

Thesis (M.S.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Computer Science and Engineering. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Includes index. / Also issued online.

Thesis (M.S. in Systems Engineering)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2004. / Thesis advisor(s): Singh Gurminder, John Gibson. Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-66). Also available online.

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / As more and more devices with a variety of capabilities are Internet-capable, device independence becomes a big issue when we would like the information that we request to be correctly displayed. This thesis introduces and compares how existing standards create a profile that describes the device capabilities to achieve the goal of device independence. After acknowledging the importance of device independence, this paper utilizes the idea to introduce a Device-Aware Network (DAN). DAN provides the infrastructure support for device-content compatibility matching for data transmission. We identify the major components of the DAN architecture and issues associated with providing this new network service. A Device-Aware Network will improve the network's efficiency by preventing unusable data from consuming host and network resources. The device profile is the key issue to achieve this goal. / Captain, Taiwan Army