The Linux kernel is a complex, portable, modular, and widely used piece of software, running on around 80% of servers and embedded systems in more than half of the devices throughout the world. Device drivers play a critical role in the context of how well a Linux system performs. As Linux has turned out to be one of the most popular operating systems interest in developing personal device drivers is also increasing steadily.
A device driver is the link between the user space and devices, through the kernel.
This book will begins with two chapters that will help you understand the basics of drivers and prepare you for the long journey through the Linux kernel. This book will then cover driver development based on Linux subsystems such as memory management, PWM, RTC, IIO, GPIO, IRQ management. The book will also cover practical approach to direct memory access and network device drivers.
Source code in this book has been tested on both x86 PC and UDOO Quad from SECO, which is based on an ARM i.MX6 from NXP, with enough features and connections to allow us to cover all of tests discussed in the book. Some drivers are also provided for testing purposes for inexpensive components such as MCP23016 and 24LC512, which are I2C GPIO controller and eeprom memory respectively.
By the end of this book, you will be comfortable with the concept of device driver development and will be in a position to write any device driver from scratch using the latest kernel version (v4.13 at the time of writing).