Uniform Driver Interface
Encyclopedia
The Uniform Driver Interface (UDI) is a defunct project developed by several companies to define a portable interface for device driver
s.
The Uniform Driver Interface (UDI) allowed device drivers to be portable across both hardware platforms and operating system
s without any changes to the driver source. With the participation of multiple OS, platform and device hardware vendors, UDI was intended to be the first interface which was likely to achieve such portability on a wide scale. UDI provided an encapsulating environment for drivers with well-defined interfaces which isolated drivers from OS policies and from platform and I/O bus dependencies. In principle, this allowed driver development to be totally independent of OS development. In addition, the UDI architecture was intended to insulate drivers from platform specifics such as byte-ordering, DMA
implications, multi-processing, interrupt implementations and I/O bus topologies.
While UDI could potentially benefit open source operating systems such as Linux
and *BSD
by providing more driver support from companies, some open source
/free software
advocates feared that UDI would cause a proliferation of closed source drivers and a reduction in open source support by companies, undermining the purpose of the free software and open source movements. Richard Stallman
(the leader of the free software movement
) has claimed that the project does not benefit the free software movement. http://linuxtoday.com/developer/1998100500205OP
Device driver
In computing, a device driver or software driver is a computer program allowing higher-level computer programs to interact with a hardware device....
s.
The Uniform Driver Interface (UDI) allowed device drivers to be portable across both hardware platforms and operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s without any changes to the driver source. With the participation of multiple OS, platform and device hardware vendors, UDI was intended to be the first interface which was likely to achieve such portability on a wide scale. UDI provided an encapsulating environment for drivers with well-defined interfaces which isolated drivers from OS policies and from platform and I/O bus dependencies. In principle, this allowed driver development to be totally independent of OS development. In addition, the UDI architecture was intended to insulate drivers from platform specifics such as byte-ordering, DMA
Direct memory access
Direct memory access is a feature of modern computers that allows certain hardware subsystems within the computer to access system memory independently of the central processing unit ....
implications, multi-processing, interrupt implementations and I/O bus topologies.
While UDI could potentially benefit open source operating systems such as Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
and *BSD
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...
by providing more driver support from companies, some open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
/free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
advocates feared that UDI would cause a proliferation of closed source drivers and a reduction in open source support by companies, undermining the purpose of the free software and open source movements. Richard Stallman
Richard Stallman
Richard Matthew Stallman , often shortened to rms,"'Richard Stallman' is just my mundane name; you can call me 'rms'"|last= Stallman|first= Richard|date= N.D.|work=Richard Stallman's homepage...
(the leader of the free software movement
Free software movement
The free software movement is a social and political movement with the goal of ensuring software users' four basic freedoms: the freedom to run their software, to study and change their software, and to redistribute copies with or without changes. The alternative terms "software libre", "open...
) has claimed that the project does not benefit the free software movement. http://linuxtoday.com/developer/1998100500205OP
See also
- I2OI2OIntelligent Input/Output is a defunct computer input/output specification. I2O emerged from Intel in the mid 1990s with the publication of the I2O specification in 1996 by the Intelligent I/O Special Interest Group....
- Network Driver Interface SpecificationNetwork Driver Interface SpecificationThe Network Driver Interface Specification is an application programming interface for network interface cards . It was jointly developed by Microsoft and 3Com Corporation, and is mostly used in Microsoft Windows, but the open-source NDISwrapper and Project Evil driver wrapper projects allow...
(NDIS) - Open Data-Link InterfaceOpen Data-Link InterfaceThe Open Data-Link Interface , developed by Apple and Novell, serves the same function as Microsoft and 3COM's Network Driver Interface Specification . Originally, ODI was written for NetWare and Macintosh environments. Like NDIS, ODI provides rules that establish a vendor-neutral interface between...
(ODI) - Universal Network Device InterfaceUniversal Network Device InterfaceUniversal Network Device Interface is an application programming interface for network interface cards used by the Preboot Execution Environment protocol.-See also:* Network Driver Interface Specification...
(UNDI) - PC/TCP Packet DriverPC/TCP Packet DriverPC/TCP Packet Driver is an API created in 1986 by FTP Software for network cards under x86-DOSes like MS-DOS, DR-DOS, FreeDOS, etc. It uses the x86 interrupt number between 60h .. 80h. The exact number is detected at run-time...