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September 8, 2003
The Microsoft Hardware Newsletter provides information about the Microsoft® Windows® family of operating systems for hardware manufacturers and driver developers.
| In This Issue | |
| Noteworthy News | General Contents |
| For more information about this newsletter and your subscription, please see the "About This Newsletter" section at the bottom of this mail. |
|
Noteworthy News
New "Toaster" Driver Sample Code Comments in Windows Server 2003 SP1 Beta DDK
With the release of the Microsoft® Windows ServerTM 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Beta Driver Development Kit (DDK), the Toaster driver sample now features comprehensive code comments targeted from the novice to the intermediate level driver writer
The Toaster driver code sample found in the DDK is based on the Windows Driver Model (WDM) and provides support for a hypothetical "Toaster bus," which is similar to a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) or 1394 bus. The Toaster bus supports simulated toaster-class devices. The Toaster sample includes a bus driver to support the Toaster bus, a function driver to support toaster-class devices, and filter drivers to demonstrate how to filter I/O requests as they traverse the levels of the device stack.
The new code comments for the Toaster in the Windows Server 2003 SP1 Beta DDK illustrate the basic functionality required to write a driver.
Call to Action
Driver developers are encouraged to review the Toaster sample and the new code comments in the Windows Server 2003 SP1 Beta DDK. The Toaster sample is located in the Src\General\Toaster subdirectory of the DDK. The sample is divided into several subdirectories that separate it into component parts, such as its drivers, installation files, and executable programs.
To download the Windows Server 2003 SP1 Beta DDK, you must be enrolled in the Microsoft beta program. To register for the Windows Server 2003 SP1 Beta DDK program, contact your Microsoft representative.
A white paper that contains an overview of the information found in the Toaster sample, "Toaster Sample Drivers in the Driver Development Kit," was released by Windows Hardware and Driver Central (WHDC) in May 2003. To view the white paper, see:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hwdev/driver/toastersamp.mspx
For any questions or comments related to the Toaster sample in the Windows Server 2003 SP1 Beta DDK, email:
IMPORTANT: The ddksurv1@microsoft.com email address is for questions and comments from current users of the Windows Server 2003 SP1 Beta DDK only. Any inquiries sent to this email address to request information about signing up for the beta program or where to download the beta version of the DDK will not be answered. To request admission to the Windows DDK beta program, please contact your Microsoft representative.
Microsoft Driver Development Conference 2003
Register before October 31, 2003 and save $100 USD!
Microsoft Windows Hardware and Driver Central (WHDC) is hosting the first annual Windows Driver Development Conference 2003 (Driver DevCon), a one of a kind event to provide deep technical and hands-on training and knowledge sharing specific to Microsoft® Windows® driver developers and testers.
Key reasons why you don't want to miss Driver DevCon include:
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Content, content, content: No keynotes—just four full days of hands-on interactive and education sessions on designing computer systems, devices, and other components that work well with the Windows platform (current and future) and deliver the best possible user experience.
Straight from the source's mouth: Hands-on use and application of Windows development kits and testing tools for developing drivers and other kernel-mode software for Windows-taught by the people who created these tools.
Have a dialogue with your Microsoft peers: Five hours per day of "Ask the Experts" roundtable discussions-you'll have plenty of extra non-classroom time with Microsoft developers and testers across all Windows technologies.
By popular demand: The daily "Ask Adrian" session is your chance to ask the tough questions to Microsoft Software Design Engineer, Adrian Oney. Adrian will be available for a couple of hours each day for one-on-one or small group discussions.
Imagine all of this for only $495 USD if you register before October 31, 2003 and $595 USD if you register November 1, 2003 or after (including on-site).
Register for Windows Driver Development Conference online at:
https://www.wellsregister.com/DriverDevCon/CreateAccount.asp
More information and a detailed conference agenda is available on the WHDC Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/resources/events/driverdevcon.mspx.
Note: Driver DevCon is targeted for the intermediate- to advanced-level driver developer and tester. If you are new to driver development and testing, or would like to brush up on your skills before the conference, the following Driver DevCon pre-training might be of interest to you. Either way, the Driver DevCon pre-training is a great way to ensure that you hit the ground running on November 11.
For anyone wanting to hone their driver development skills before the upcoming Driver DevCon in November, we suggest attending the Windows Kernel Developer's Conference September 29-October 3, 2003, hosted by Driver DevCon sponsor, Azius Developer Training.
The pre-conference event in San Jose, California, will prepare beginner- to intermediate-level developers for Driver DevCon. The Windows Kernel Developer's Conference offers hands-on labs and lectures from top Azius instructors that will teach you internals, the Windows Driver Model (WDM), network drivers, and debugging skills.
To register for the Windows Kernel Developer's Conference, go to:
Get 50% off the Windows Driver Development Conference if you attend the Azius pre-conference training!
Updated Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator Version 1.01 Now Available
An updated version of the Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator package (version 1.01) was released to the Web (RTW) on August 22, 2003. The Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator allows a Microsoft® Windows®-based computer to serve as an iSCSI initiator to connect to iSCSI targets on an Internet Protocol Storage Area Network (IP SAN). All iSCSI devices appear in Windows as a local disk and can be managed in Disk Administrator, as any other local disk.
Supported Operating Systems:
- Windows Server 2003
- Windows XP Service Pack 1
- Windows XP 64-Bit Edition
- Windows XP Professional
- Windows 2000 Service Pack 3
Issues addressed in the v1.01 Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator:
- Increased default device queue depth (number of outstanding requests) from 16 to 255
- Increased the maximum allowed serialnumber size from 32 to 255
- Fixed a problem that was causing the driver to not respond to MaxOutstandingR2T key during login phase
Call to Action
Download the appropriate Microsoft iSCSI v1.01 package for your operating system at:
For more info on usage of the Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator v1.01, please see the user's guide included with the package.
Events
Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC) 2003
October 26-30
Los Angeles Convention Center
Los Angeles, CA
This is your last chance to register by September 10, 2003 and save $300.00 USD!
Microsoft will unveil the next generation of platform software and make our developers available to answer your questions at PDC 2003 this fall in Los Angeles, California. PDC offers the only opportunity for engineers, designers, coders, and IHVs and OEMs to get hands-on experience with nascent Microsoft technologies still in development.
Microsoft PDC 2003 offers developers an early look at the next wave of software platform technologies for building the next generation of applications. It is a critical event for developers seeking to plan their Windows-powered hardware product release cycles for the next couple of years.
Key PDC Sessions
- Introducing "Avalon," the Next Generation of Windows Presentation Services: A Technology Overview
- Building Applications with Windows "Longhorn" Presentation Services ("Avalon") Controls and Dialogs
- Windows "Longhorn" Graphics and Media (Part 1): The Longhorn Graphics Overview
- Windows "Longhorn" Graphics and Media (Part 2): Using Graphics and Composition in Your Applications
- Windows "Longhorn" Graphics and Media (Part 3): Advanced Use of Audio, Video, Animation, and More
- Designing Mobile Applications: Overview for Laptops and Tablet PCs-Networking, Offline, Power and Other Considerations
- File System and Storage: (Part 1) Using Windows "Longhorn" Storage ("WinFS") in Your Application
- File System and Storage: API (Part 2) Building Business Logic and Rich Views into Your Application
- Next Generation Secure Computing Base Overview and Drilldown
Early-Bird Registration Fee: $1695.00 USD.
Standard Registration Fee: $1995.00 USD.
Pre-Conference Sessions, October 26: $149.00 USD (Must be purchased in conjunction with Conference Registration).
Tradeshow-only Pass: $149.00 USD (Access to tradeshow only).
To register for Microsoft PDC 2003 and for more information, visit:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/events/pdc/
Microsoft Driver Development Conference 2003
November 11-14
Microsoft Corporate Campus
Redmond, WA
More information, including registration and a detailed conference agenda is available on the Microsoft Driver Development Conference 2003 Web site.
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/resources/events/driverdevcon.mspx
Developer Resources
This Web site contains a list new white papers, tools, and kits available on WHDC for hardware developers and driver writers to develop, debug, and test their products.
Community Newsgroups and Online Events
The following Microsoft MSDN® Chats are designed for the Microsoft® Windows® hardware and driver developer audience.
To participate in these online chats, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/chats/.
Windows Installer Chat - General Discussion
September 16, 2003
11:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M. Pacific time
2:00 – 3:00 P.M. Eastern time
19:00 – 20:00 GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)
After two months without a single MSI chat, the experts from the Windows Installer team at Microsoft are warming up their keyboards in preparation for the great MSI questions you'll be asking in the September Windows Installer chat. No specific focus area is scheduled for this month, so enter the MSDN chat room and ask about merge modules, rollback, custom actions, advertisement, external UI, patches and upgrades, validation, assemblies, or any other MSI topic. This chat will focus on released versions of the Windows Installer and will not cover any beta or pre-release information.
To add a reminder for this chat to your Microsoft Outlook® Calendar, click: http://msdn.microsoft.com/chats/outlook_reminders/MSI_Sept16.vcs
Newsgroups
Do you have a development question you'd like to discuss with someone at Microsoft? Join Microsoft developers, testers, program managers, and other specialists who regularly participate in discussions and answer questions online.
The nine newsgroups listed in the following table are the key newsgroups that Microsoft recommends for hardware and driver development discussions. These groups have a high level of Windows team member participation and support.
| Newsgroup Type | Name |
| Microsoft Public | microsoft.public.development.device.drivers microsoft.public.windbg microsoft.public.windowsxp.winlogo |
| Microsoft Beta | microsoft.beta.netserver.ddk microsoft.beta.netserver.windbg microsoft.beta.netserver.hct |
|
OSR http://www.osr.com |
lists.osr.com: ntdev lists.osr.com: ntfsd lists.osr.com: windbg |
Microsoft Weblogs
MSDN is hosting the Weblogs of Microsoft developers. A Weblog is an individual's journal posted on the Internet; as personal as a diary and as interactive as a newsgroup.
This month's featured Microsoft Weblog is from Development Lead, John Lawrence. John's current focus is on the Microsoft Speech Application SDK, a set of tools used to author, debug, and tune speech-enabled ASP.NET Web applications designed to run on the nascent Microsoft Speech Server. John's blog contains information for those developers looking for insights on Microsoft audio and speech recognition technology strategies.
To read John's Weblog, go to:
http://blogs.gotdotnet.com/johnlawr/
To view the list of all MSDN-sponsored Weblogs, visit:
About This Newsletter
The Microsoft Hardware Newsletter, a publication of Windows Hardware and Driver Central, is a monthly resource for developers creating new hardware and drivers for Microsoft® Windows® operating systems.
To subscribe to additional Microsoft newsletters or unsubscribe to this newsletter, visit
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/newsreq.mspx.
Current information about Windows hardware and driver development is available at:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/.
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