Driver to drive?

[Al Borowski]

Hi,

Dear All,
Why not burn burn device driver into device directly, when
device install to Windows/Linux/OS2..., system could get driver from
device directly?
( I mean USB devices)

Well I'm not expert, but I can think of some problems with this. First,
it's cost more. You'd need a big chunk fo flash ROM to store the
drivers. This reason alone probably makes it unfeasible. Also what
happens when the company wants to update the drivers? Most devices are
shipped with old version. You'd probably want to download the latest
ones from the web anyway.

I don't think the extra cost/complexity outweighs just shipping the
customer a CD with the product.

cheers,

Al

 

[boki]

Dear All,
Why not burn burn device driver into device directly, when
device install to Windows/Linux/OS2..., system could get driver from
device directly?
( I mean USB devices)


Best regards,
Boki.

 

[Ian Stirling]

Hi,


Well I'm not expert, but I can think of some problems with this. First,
it's cost more. You'd need a big chunk fo flash ROM to store the
drivers. This reason alone probably makes it unfeasible. Also what
happens when the company wants to update the drivers? Most devices are
shipped with old version. You'd probably want to download the latest
ones from the web anyway.

I don't think the extra cost/complexity outweighs just shipping the
customer a CD with the product.

If things were logical, the USB association website would have a
database frontend, where it takes the ID returned by the device,
and gives a URL to download the driver, so it all just worked automatically.

 

[Chaos Master]

boki puts out:

Dear All,
Why not burn burn device driver into device directly, when
device install to Windows/Linux/OS2..., system could get driver from
device directly?
( I mean USB devices)

And how would you go to update the driver, specially with operating systems
like Linux that often get kernel updates, or with various Windows versions?

[]s
--
Chaos Master®, posting from Brazil.
"People told me I can't dress like a fairy.
I say, I'm in a rock band and I can do what the hell I want!"
-- Amy Lee

The Evanescen(t/ce) HP: http://marreka.no-ip.com

 

[Ian Stirling]

boki puts out:

And how would you go to update the driver, specially with operating systems
like Linux that often get kernel updates, or with various Windows versions?

There are a couple of ways this could have actually worked.

Basically, you have a high-level language describing the device and
its interface, that can be run on any platform.

Combine this with stricter licensing requirements (you can't put the USB
logo on a webcam if it doesn't conform to the webcam standard and work
in a standard defined way (though the maker is free to add extras)), and
it could have worked quite well.

For fixed hardware enviroments, "firmware on the device" is the standard
way to go.
Consider 99% of PCI cards.
Tbey are programmed with x86 machine language in the BIOS, and the
BIOS won't work in a system that doesn't at least emulate it.