Driver wrapper
Encyclopedia
A driver wrapper is software that functions as an adapter
between an operating system
and a driver, such as a device driver
, that was not designed for that operating system. It can enable the use of devices for which no drivers for the particular operating system are available. In particular, Microsoft Windows
is the dominant family of operating systems for IBM PC compatible
computers, and many devices are supplied with drivers for Windows but not other operating systems.
drivers under another operating system, such as Linux
.
Examples include network drivers for wireless cards (such as NdisWrapper
for Linux
or Project Evil for FreeBSD
) and the NTFS
file system
(see Captive NTFS
).
The common thread among these examples is the use of wrapper technology, which allows execution of the drivers in a foreign environment.
Limitations for driver wrappers include the lack of an ability to function at real time. An example of this limitation includes latency problems as those associated with attempts to make compatible with Linux
the ZoomR16 audio DAW sound recorder and control surface.
Adapter pattern
In computer programming, the adapter pattern is a design pattern that translates one interface for a class into a compatible interface...
between an 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...
and a driver, such as a device driver
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....
, that was not designed for that operating system. It can enable the use of devices for which no drivers for the particular operating system are available. In particular, Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
is the dominant family of operating systems for IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...
computers, and many devices are supplied with drivers for Windows but not other operating systems.
Windows driver wrappers for Linux
Several open source software projects allow using Microsoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
drivers under another operating system, 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...
.
Examples include network drivers for wireless cards (such as NdisWrapper
NdisWrapper
NDISwrapper, is a free software driver wrapper that enables the use of Windows XP drivers for network devices , on Linux only operating systems. NDISwrapper works by implementing the Windows kernel and NDIS APIs, and dynamically linking the Windows drivers to this implementation...
for 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...
or Project Evil for FreeBSD
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...
) and the NTFS
NTFS
NTFS is the standard file system of Windows NT, including its later versions Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, and Windows 7....
file system
File system
A file system is a means to organize data expected to be retained after a program terminates by providing procedures to store, retrieve and update data, as well as manage the available space on the device which contain it. A file system organizes data in an efficient manner and is tuned to the...
(see Captive NTFS
Captive NTFS
Captive NTFS is a discontinued open-source project within the Linux programming community, started by Jan Kratochvíl. It is a driver wrapper around the original Microsoft Windows NTFS file system driver using parts of ReactOS code...
).
The common thread among these examples is the use of wrapper technology, which allows execution of the drivers in a foreign environment.
Limitations for driver wrappers include the lack of an ability to function at real time. An example of this limitation includes latency problems as those associated with attempts to make compatible with 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...
the ZoomR16 audio DAW sound recorder and control surface.