Writing Windows NT Device Drivers
Your application needs to interface with a hardware device, and like the rest of the world, you are moving to Windows NT. Since user-mode code cannot talk directly to hardware, you need a device driver. Unfortunately, writing drivers in NT requires an intimate knowledge of the Win32 Base System not easily acquired from documentation supplied by Microsoft with its development tools.
This course will provide you with a solid understanding of the NT Executive's I/O architecture, and show you how to integrate new devices into NT's Win32 environment. Through the use of lab exercises, the course places heavy emphasis on developing the practical skills necessary to write device drivers for Windows NT.
You should have at least a year of recent C programming experience and writing code for Win32. Some familiarity with PC hardware concepts is helpful, but not required.
You will be able to write and debug drivers for standard and non-standard hardware. You will also be able to measure the performance of their drivers, and know what coding techniques will lead to platform independence. The class does not deal with user-mode drivers for virtual DOS machines, Win32 graphics and printer drivers, or file system drivers.
- Windows NT I/O architecture
- Kernel-mode driver design
- Managing hardware resources
- Writing standard and optional driver routines
- Performing data transfers
- Kernel threads and synchronization
- Writing higher level drivers
- Miniport driver overview
- Building, installing, and debugging drivers
- Driver Performance
COURSE NUMBER FW181
5 days. $ 1,500. Course includes study-kit, PC for lab exercises.
