USB kernel driver

USB kernel driver

[jochen]

Hi,

can somebody tell me if it is possible to integrate an USB kernel driver
(f. ex. linux-2.6.0\drivers\usb) into GRUB2 to access USB devices?

If possible, it would be great if somebody could tell me what basic steps
I have to do.

Thanks a lot,
Jochen

Re: USB kernel driver

[Marco Gerards]

jochen@mades.net writes:

Hi,

> can somebody tell me if it is possible to integrate an USB kernel driver
> (f. ex. linux-2.6.0\drivers\usb) into GRUB2 to access USB devices?
>
> If possible, it would be great if somebody could tell me what basic steps
> I have to do.

I don't think it is possible.  Linux has multitasking, interrupt
handing, a drive framework including the required bus drives, etc.

For GRUB we have to write our own drivers, I think.  And besides that,
I don't think it is nice to maintain the glue code.

--
Marco

Re: USB kernel driver

[Jonas Smedegaard]

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On Tue, 18 Oct 2005 18:03:08 +0200
Marco Gerards <metgerards@student.han.nl> wrote:

> jochen@mades.net writes:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> > can somebody tell me if it is possible to integrate an USB kernel
> > driver (f. ex. linux-2.6.0\drivers\usb) into GRUB2 to access USB
> > devices?
> >
> > If possible, it would be great if somebody could tell me what basic
> > steps I have to do.
> 
> I don't think it is possible.  Linux has multitasking, interrupt
> handing, a drive framework including the required bus drives, etc.
> 
> For GRUB we have to write our own drivers, I think.  And besides that,
> I don't think it is nice to maintain the glue code.

How about borrowing from etherboot?

NIC drivers were borrowed from there in the past - is that (gonna be)
the case with v2 as well?

Perhaps it would be relevant to share some of their work on getting USB
NICs to work as well?


 - Jonas

- -- 
* Jonas Smedegaard - idealist og Internet-arkitekt
* Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/

 - Enden er nær: http://www.shibumi.org/eoti.htm
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Re: USB kernel driver

[Marco Gerards]

Jonas Smedegaard <dr@jones.dk> writes:

> How about borrowing from etherboot?
>
> NIC drivers were borrowed from there in the past - is that (gonna be)
> the case with v2 as well?
>
> Perhaps it would be relevant to share some of their work on getting USB
> NICs to work as well?

Etherboot has USB drivers?  Etherboot is easier because it has to
function in about the same circumstances as GRUB does.  So that would
be possible.

I wonder how portable the etherboot drivers are to architectures like
the PPC and sparc.

--
Marco

Re: USB kernel driver

[Jonas Smedegaard]

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On Tue, 18 Oct 2005 18:25:45 +0200
Marco Gerards <metgerards@student.han.nl> wrote:

> Jonas Smedegaard <dr@jones.dk> writes:
> 
> > How about borrowing from etherboot?
> >
> > NIC drivers were borrowed from there in the past - is that (gonna
> > be) the case with v2 as well?
> >
> > Perhaps it would be relevant to share some of their work on getting
> > USB NICs to work as well?
> 
> Etherboot has USB drivers?  Etherboot is easier because it has to
> function in about the same circumstances as GRUB does.  So that would
> be possible.

Arrh - had a quick look just before but looking again it shows that USB
is only mentioned in a header file of a wireless driver. No support for
USB busses :-(


> I wonder how portable the etherboot drivers are to architectures like
> the PPC and sparc.

Oh yes - that's right :-)


 - Jonas


- -- 
* Jonas Smedegaard - idealist og Internet-arkitekt
* Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/

 - Enden er nær: http://www.shibumi.org/eoti.htm
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AW: USB kernel driver

[jochen]

Hi,

because of not knowing the GRUB 2 architecture very well so far, it would
be nice if you could give me some tipps about
- what does the GRUB development enviroment looks like (means how does
your test PCs look like, how to put updates on the test PC an so on)
- ways to debug my code
- where in source code should I place my test driver

Thx
Jochen

 --- Ursprüngliche Nachricht ---
Datum: 20.10.2005 01:37
Von: The development of GRUB 2 <grub-devel@gnu.org>
An: The development of GRUB 2 <grub-devel@gnu.org>
Betreff: Re: AW: USB kernel driver

> On Wednesday 19 October 2005 08:07 am, jochen@mades.net wrote:
> > So it seems to me the only way is to write it our own. Or are there
any
> > more ideas where to "borrow" code from?
>
> You can refer to other code for a reference purpose, but it is important
to
> keep it in mind that the operating environment of GRUB is fundamentally

> different from OS. Since OS wants complete control of hardware, it
usually
> reconfigures many parameters and makes use of hardware interrupts for a

> performance reason, while GRUB tries to keep an underlying system as
intact
> as possible for safety. So, in GRUB, interrupt-driven code is
inappropriate,
> and a polling-based approach is often nicer.
>
> > Writing a own GRUB USB driver seems to be a complicated task,
starting
> > with the three standards UHCI, EHCI and OHCI.
>
> It is complicated if you attempt to obtain a perfect thing from the
beginning.
> To start a project, the best way is, IMO, to start from what you really
need
> yourself. For example, you should have a system which has one of the USB

> systems, but not all of them. So I'd recommend you implementing "just
work
> for me" code as a first step.
>
> > Furthermore I have no experience with GRUB drivers! Is there any
> > documentation besides the source code?
>
> No, but you don't need it, since the environment is quite simple. GRUB
is just
> a single task, and there is little concern about security or
performance.
>
> Okuji
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Grub-devel mailing list
> Grub-devel@gnu.org
> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/grub-devel
>

Re: USB kernel driver

[Hollis Blanchard]

On Oct 21, 2005, at 1:09 AM, jochen@mades.net wrote:
>
> because of not knowing the GRUB 2 architecture very well so far, it 
> would
> be nice if you could give me some tipps about
> - what does the GRUB development enviroment looks like (means how does
> your test PCs look like, how to put updates on the test PC an so on)

There is some information in the wiki: 
http://grub.enbug.org/TestingOnX86 . If you have more specific 
questions, please ask on the list and then update the wiki with the 
answers. :)

> - ways to debug my code

grub_printf, pretty much exclusively. Also, please consider using 
grub_dprintf for generally useful debug messages. Consider when 
somebody runs your code on different hardware and it doesn't work: you 
can then "set debug=usb" and the debug messages you've left in will be 
displayed.

I've been thinking about a memory dumping and editing command, but 
haven't needed it enough to implement it so far.

If you have other suggestions, feel free to make them here...

> - where in source code should I place my test driver

There is a top-level "video" directory, so I guess you could make a new 
directory like "usb". Or we may want to move things into a "drivers" 
directory, but that should be a small matter compared to getting the 
code working. :)

-Hollis