Linux Device Drivers

by Jonathan Corbet, Alessandro Rubini, Greg Kroah-Hartman

Device drivers literally drive everything you're interested in--disks, monitors, keyboards, modems--everything outside the computer chip and memory. And writing device drivers is one of the few areas of programming for the Linux operating system that calls for unique, Linux-specific knowledge. For years now, programmers have relied on the classic "Linux Device Drivers" from O'Reilly to master this critical subject. Now in its third edition, this bestselling guide provides all the information you'll need to write drivers for a wide range of devices.

Over the years the book has helped countless programmers learn: how to support computer peripherals under the Linux operating system how to develop and write software for new hardware under Linux the basics of Linux operation even if they are not expecting to write a driver The new edition of "Linux Device Drivers" is better than ever. The book covers all the significant changes to Version 2.6 of the Linux kernel, which simplifies many activities, and contains subtle new features that can make a driver both more efficient and more flexible. Readers will find new chapters on important types of drivers not covered previously, such as consoles, USB drivers, and more.

Best of all, you don't have to be a kernel hacker to understand and enjoy this book. All you need is an understanding of the C programming language and some background in Unix system calls. And for maximum ease-of-use, the book uses full-featured examples that you can compile and run without special hardware.

Today Linux holds fast as the most rapidly growing segment of the computer market and continues to win over enthusiastic adherents in many application areas. With this increasing support, Linux is now absolutely mainstream, and viewed as a solid platform for embedded systems. If you're writing device drivers, you'll want this book. In fact, you'll wonder how drivers are ever written without it.

Genres: Programming, Computer Science, Technical, Reference, Technology, Nonfiction, Computers

636 pages, Paperback

First published February 7, 2005

Reviews

[Ietrio · Rating 2 out of 5]

If all you want is to pass the kernel bureaucrats and have your name on the list of kernel contributors, this might have been a good book. If you want to become accustomed to the writing routine of these people, the volume could have been a good start. Now, secure programming, memory safety, in general becoming a better programmer instead of just adhering to ”standards”, these are things you can't learn from here as the authors can't do that themselves. And, it's dated. So much for the wonderful perishable examples.

[Cole Shaffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introduction for writing Linux drivers. It covers the basics succinctly. After reading it, I feel I am up to the task of diving deeper into specifics.

It is dated, but it's at least based on Kernel 2.6 so it includes the Device Model.

The accompanying source code was useful to play with alongside the reading.

That said, essentially all the code is based on virtual devices - it would have been nice to have more examples utilizing actual hardware. Nevertheless, I found this to be the best introduction material I came across and put me in a much better place to explore other tutorials/texts accompanied by actual hardware.

[Pablo Weremczuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book starts great, you will be creating your first Linux device driver in no time, but it becomes harder and harder to keep up, since the examples build in the top of each other, and you can quickly lost track if you don't read this book in a secuencial way and writting the code in front of the computer.

This fact is very important since it's a "tutorial book", not reference material.

Still have very important concepts explained in a clear way. Not for the faint of heart tho.

[Robert Berger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard for beginners, outdated.

[Kasia Dec · Rating 4 out of 5]

Szkoda że nie ma nowszej wersji.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

As good as it gets... unfortunately it is wildly outdated.

[Luis Cacho]

Great book to understand the Linux kernel space to work with usb device drivers

[Kenneth Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good, certainly an excellent primer. But by no means can it compete with the actual source code or LXR itself. I would note that this is not a criticism, as documentation has to remain up to date.

It's best to derive the documentation needed directly from the kernel code itself. This book provides some examples, and the narrative helps explain subtleties that otherwise might have been missed to less driven programmers.

I'm very nearly done, requiring only the last two chapters, one crucially on block drivers.

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good information, the first two thirds are definitely worth it, and you can skim from there. It's a little dense and doesn't hit all the kernel subsystems I'm interested in (sound, for one, and input for another), but it seems to be the only place to get started with this stuff. It does succeed at that, at least.

[Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty well written book like a lot of older O'Reilly titles. The main reservations I have about it have issues to do with the emphasis on completeness. I think some of the background content which can be found to some extent in Understanding the Linux Kernel could be removed and the book would be shorter and more focused.

[Tolga · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have a little background about linux, This book will help you very much in order to understand how to interact with peripheral on linux. You will really enjoy programming with device drivers ;)

[Detu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must-have-to-read for linux kernel developer wanna-be

[Allisonperkel · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are some books that you are better off not reading. This is one of them

[Libertyy · Rating 5 out of 5]

an essential book for any linux kernel developer

[Acayf]

good for fresheners

[Salma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book for writing device driver ...

[Mahesh Jadhav · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Book but need some background study before taking this book in hand.