GEOS device drivers

Edward Ballot (eballot@geoworks.com)
Mon, 22 Jul 1996 18:05:19 PDT

> Under which circumstances is it necessary to write a new device driver
> when I have to support a new device ?
>
> Possibly, this question has to consider 2 cases:
> 1. Is it possible in GEOS to access a new device (e.g. a yet unsupported
> type of
> PCMCIA card) without writing a device driver ?
> If yes, under which circumstances is this possible ?

This is really impossible to answer concretely. As far as I know, the
OmniGo supports SRAM and Serial type PCMCIA cards. If your card
conforms to one of those, then you are set. If your card doesn't,
then you will probably need to write a device driver for it.

> 2. When is it possible to utilize an existing device driver for support
> of new device
> which is similar to some already supported device.
> I assume that the answer to this question is more complex, but has a
> - general part, and
> - a device class specific part
> If so I would be interested to learn about the general part, and the
> specific part for
> PCMCIA cards.

If the device is similar to an already existing device, then "yes" it
will probably work with an existing device driver. If it is radically
different, then it will require a new device driver. What you need to
do is look at the drivers in the SYSTEM directory and determine
whether any of those will work with your device.

- -Ed-