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Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 08:27:05 +0200 (CEST)
From: Federico Bianchi <bianchi AT pc-arte2 DOT arte DOT unipi DOT it>
To: Chris Telting <telting AT sprynet DOT com>
cc: Cygwin Mailing List <cygwin AT sourceware DOT cygnus DOT com>
Subject: Re: Cygwin NT DDK Project
In-Reply-To: <000b01beeddc$66f19910$2bc856d1@hercules>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.10.9908240802030.6648-100000@www.arte.unipi.it>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII


Quite , to say the least.

a) NT 5.0 (Win2k) drivers are similar to NT 4.0 ones, but there are some
   key differences, notably in the PnP support; moreover, the video
   subsystem has changed and the IFS layer (which is not documented at
   all, as you already know) has been extended quite a bit. And I left 
   out the whole "streaming API" concept (which I am not sure I fully
   understand myself), with all of its implications on most drivers
   (video, network, audio, input).This is why, e.g., Micro$oft lets you
   download both DDKs.
b) Microsoft DDKs are closely linked to MSVC (by the way, the supported
   version is still 5.0), with all its quirks, its calling conventions and
   its extensions (see the full plethora of __declspec and #pragma
   options, for example). And it's not just good old C: the NT 5.0 IFS kit
   is supposed to use C++ features (notably virtual class members), and NT
   5.0 WDM may use floating point code. And I didn't mention the
   problems related to the absence of a C run-time library (much less a
   CygWin-like one). If you _REALLY_ want to sidestep Microsoft compilers
   for DDK usage, NASM might be a good candidate, even if optimizing
   assembler for the new CPUs is getting harder and harder.

In short: CygWin is a (_GREAT_) porting tool, with MinGW a very good
target for "usual" applications. Using it for driver purposes looks to me,
at this stage, a waste of time; full support for all the available user
mode APIs would be a much more useful project.

Best regards to you all

	 		Federico Bianchi
			Dipartimento di Storia delle Arti
			Universita` degli Studi di Pisa
			p.zza S.Matteo in Soarta, 2 - 56127 Pisa (Italy)
			tel. +39-050-587111 (cent.), +39-050-587224 (uff.)
			fax. +39-050-580128; e-mail: <f DOT bianchi AT arte DOT unipi DOT it>
			===================================================
			!DISCLAIMER!: my e-mail reflects _my_own_ opinions!
			===================================================



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