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Difference between revisions of "Drivers and software"
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m (Category talk:Articles moved to Drivers and software: no-one sees the talk pages, better move the content out.) |
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On Windows it seems that (almost) all controller apps have their own drivers. Probably because no good framework existed. | On Windows it seems that (almost) all controller apps have their own drivers. Probably because no good framework existed. | ||
| − | On Linux there exists a system for hardware drivers, which is a kernel module with a common interface to the controller software that is independent of which hardware you choose to use. This is called [[ | + | On Linux there exists a system for hardware drivers, which is a kernel module with a common interface to the controller software that is independent of which hardware you choose to use. This is called [[DMX 4 Linux]]. |
Many drivers don't need to be in the kernel, and for that, there is a driver framework called [LLA]]. | Many drivers don't need to be in the kernel, and for that, there is a driver framework called [LLA]]. | ||
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| − | ''' | + | '''Advise:''' If your are looking for a interface to buy, then start with finding your favorite controller app, and find out which drivers and thereby which hardware is supported. |
[[Category:Articles]] | [[Category:Articles]] | ||
Revision as of 10:51, 13 November 2008
Drivers and software
This is some old general notes, that was kind of hidden in the wiki
There is a number of ways to get a controller application to send DMX data to a hardware interface (that can send the data out on your DMX wire).
Sometime the driver is split up into:
- Hardware driver for sending raw data to and from the hardware.
- Protocol driver for translating the codes from the controller app to codes the hardware can understand (both ways).
Most USB interfaces works as a "virtual com port", which means that there is a real com port in the hardware, and a driver makes a com interface available i the operating system. Most USB com ports are supported 'out of the box' on both Windows and Linux (nice!), so most USB-to-DMX interfaces just need a protocol driver (easy to make and use)
On Windows it seems that (almost) all controller apps have their own drivers. Probably because no good framework existed.
On Linux there exists a system for hardware drivers, which is a kernel module with a common interface to the controller software that is independent of which hardware you choose to use. This is called DMX 4 Linux. Many drivers don't need to be in the kernel, and for that, there is a driver framework called [LLA]].
Remember that it is possible to send DMX data over a network to an other computer or an Ethernet-to-DMX hardware interface. LLA is particularly good at this and in routing the signals between different systems and hardware.
Advise: If your are looking for a interface to buy, then start with finding your favorite controller app, and find out which drivers and thereby which hardware is supported.
