Writing Windows VxDs and Device Drivers, Second Edition [Paperback]

Karen Hazzah (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0879304383 | ISBN-13: 978-0879304386 | Publication Date: January 26, 1996 | Edition: 2

Software developer and author Karen Hazzah expands her original treatise on device drivers in the second edition of Writing Windows VxDs and Device Drivers. The book and companion disk include the author's library of wrapper functions that allow the progr

Find out why MSDN has called this book 'the only really systematic and thorough introduction to VxD writing.' For this second edition, Karen Hazzah has included expanded coverage of Windows 95.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Karen Hazzah is a professional software developer. Her experience includes developing device drivers for DOS, Windows, and OS/2, using both C and assembly language. She has also published articles on this and other subjects in such journals as Windows Developer's Journal and Windows Tech Journal.

Product Details

• Paperback: 479 pages
• Publisher: CMP; 2 edition (January 26, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879304383
• ISBN-13: 978-0879304386
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #707,072 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, but limited to hackers., September 20, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Manchester NH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Writing Windows VxDs and Device Drivers, Second Edition (Paperback)

I needed to write a basic driver that an application could access through standard Win32 API's - CreatFile, OpenFile, ReadFile, WriteFile, etc. While the author does indeed provide lots of samples that are easy to follow and will work, - they are limited to use for custom or special-purpose I/O access. There is no discussion about the varios types of file or IO systems and types of drivers - i.e., File System Drivers (FSD), Input/Output Supervisor (IOS), Communications (COMM), Miniport, MCI, etc. There is no discussion about how to install & register your driver properly, creation of INF files, etc. So who is this book written for? Hacks that simply want a quick way to access hardware without creating system errors. It is not for engineers that want to create an installable device driver for a common I/O devices and distribute it with their hardware so that it will work seamlessly with the operating system and other existing, professionaly written, application software. If you need to create a driver for a standard I/O device already supported by Microsoft API's, keep looking. If you have a custom i/o board and a low-level driver that can access it & handle interrupts, but plan on providing your own high-level custom API software so your customers can access it (i.e., a proprietary solution), this is for you. Good luck!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good basic introduction on drivers for windows 95., December 17, 1998

By 

Doug Coulter [e-mail] (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Writing Windows VxDs and Device Drivers, Second Edition (Paperback)

I sure wish I'd had this book when I started out writing drivers, it would have saved me a ton of time and grief. I too, wish there were more information on specific driver types, such as soundcards, but that stuff is in the DDK anyway, once you know what to look for -- and this book will tell you that, and a lot quicker and better than the DDK will. Any of the other required tools will tell you how to install or load a VXD, so I don't consider that a big problem. I could wish that this book also covered Windows NT, but was extemely glad for the plug and play coverage, which other information sources obfuscate badly. Good information on windows innards, useful to an overall understanding.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for starters, September 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Writing Windows VxDs and Device Drivers, Second Edition (Paperback)

There are not much books on this topic that explain the real problems faced by the starters. This is an excellent book and a MUST for the beginners and students that want to learn system programming