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Date:      Thu, 13 Aug 1998 09:05:06 +0100
From:      Karl Pielorz <kpielorz@tdx.co.uk>
To:        hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Device / Driver presentation advice needed...
Message-ID:  <35D29E32.81A62F7D@tdx.co.uk>

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Hi All,

I'm now getting on quite well with the device driver I'm writing, but I'm stuck
as to how best it is to present the 'device' to the outside world...

If I reserve 3 bits of the minor number to indicate the actual card in the
system, I can then use the remaining 5 bits to give different 'presentations' of
the device (Is this good practice?)

The device in question has 8 x 16 bit input registers. I can either let the
application software select these via ioctl(), or I can use the minor bits to
map out say,

/dev/daqb0a
/dev/daqb0b
...

(With 1 /dev/daqb device for each channel).

Latency when switching between channels is fairly high (though exactly how high
I haven't measured yet - when you switch channels you have to wait for the
hardware to become ready again)

Which is the preferred method? - by using the minor bits to map out multiple
devices (one per channel) or by making the application issue ioctl()'s to
control it? - Or is it just a design decision? <G>

Regards,

Karl Pielorz

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