On Sat, 2008-09-13 at 20:08 -0400, Steven Toth wrote: > Paul Chubb wrote: > > Hi, > > there is a good book on kernel development by Robert Love - Linux > > Kernel Development. I read about two thirds of it. Lots of useful > > information but I found it difficult to get a wide viewpoint of the > > process. It would be great to have beside you as a reference. Looking on > > Amazon - I wanted to check the details - there are several other books > > including linux device drivers by Rubini. > > > > HTH > > > > Cheers Paul > > > > Joe Djemal wrote: > >> I concur with the below. I can code in quite a few languages including > >> assembly languages and I asked for a pointer on where to get started with > >> learning how to make a Linux driver and there was complete silence as there > >> was with my previous inquiry. > >> > >> Come on guys, I've been Googling but where do I start? > >> > >> Joe > > Hey Joe, I didn't see your first request, sorry. > > The Linux Drivers Manual (oreilly) is a good place to start for a > generic overview of the kernel driver features. It's also online > downloadable for free in PDF form. I'd also recommend Bovet and Cesati _Understanding_the_Linux_Kernel_. It's a little dated in that it covers kernel 2.4.x, but it's got an emphasis of understanding what's going on in critical areas of the kernel. It is not a cookbook for writing drivers. The Linux Device Drivers is quite a good cookbook/reference for how to write a driver. But IMO it doesn't have a strong emphasis on the why, but only the what and how. Both books are valuable for learning and reference. > Jumping head first into linuxtv.org is a steep learning curve if you > haven't done driver work before. Get comfortable building the source > tree (see the wiki). I'd then suggest you look at the small drivers > (common/tuners) would be a good place to start. > > Look at the struct_ interfaces that each of the smaller drivers use and > you'll start to see the major interfaces between different parts of the > kernel (tuners and demodulators) ( files > inlinux/drivers/media/dvb/frontends). In the demodulator drivers you'll > see dvb_frontend_ops, it contains the callbacks allowing other parts of > the kernel (dvb/dvb-core/*.[hc]) to call the demodulators for > configuration and tuning purposes. When applications tune then call > interfaces in dvb-core, this marshals the data and passes those calls > onto the demodulator drivers. > > Tuners and demodulators are a good place to start as the drivers are > generally fairly small. Get to grips with this before you look at the > physical pci/pcie/usb drivers, they get large quickly and can easily > confuse. Limit you learning to a specific field (tuners and demods) and > submit a few cleanup patches. This is how most people start. > No substitute for look at the source code and finding the common > structures that all tuners and demodulators use. I'd also recommend you learn how to use "ctags" to make tag files of the v4l-dvb source and kernel source, and learn how to use tags files within your editor to navigate the source. Tags make life so much easier: structure definitions, defined constants, and function bodies are a keystoke way from where they are used in the source you are reading. Regards, Andy > No good book on linux-dvb exists, apart form the spec (see linuxtv.org) > and the actual project source code. > > This is where I'd suggest you begin your journey. > > Welcome, and good luck! > > - Steve _______________________________________________ linux-dvb mailing list linux-dvb@xxxxxxxxxxx http://www.linuxtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/linux-dvb
