windows drivers theoretically

Hello,

I try to learn a bit about driver development for windows.
I need to sort information which I have about driver development in Windows.
Particullary, I'm interested in NDIS drivers, but my question is more generic.

I have read a book about WDM driver development. I know something about WDM
and NDIS stack, now. But I need to connect those two topics together. I would
like to know how does the WDM model fits together with NDIS. I know that NDIS
is a wrapper, but how does it fit into WDM structure? Is there any
relationship, or those two things are not connected? Is there any diagram
available, where global windows driver structure can be seen?

Thank you for a help.

"mchf" <> wrote in message
news:41234B2F-CF63-4BB7-826F-...
> Hello,
>
> I try to learn a bit about driver development for windows.
> I need to sort information which I have about driver development in
> Windows.
> Particullary, I'm interested in NDIS drivers, but my question is more
> generic.
>
> I have read a book about WDM driver development. I know something about
> WDM
> and NDIS stack, now. But I need to connect those two topics together. I
> would
> like to know how does the WDM model fits together with NDIS. I know that
> NDIS
> is a wrapper, but how does it fit into WDM structure? Is there any
> relationship, or those two things are not connected?

NDIS is not exactly a wrapper ( though you could find wording "NDIS wrapper"
in older docum and code ).
NDIS framework has a very long history. It precedes WDM, and, on the other
hand,
it exists on platforms where there's no WDM ( = NT driver model) at all.
Because of that, NDIS has it's own ways for connecting various parts and
levels of the stack,
and even duplicates (or well - wraps) some services of underlying OS.

Changes in NDIS are driven by development of hardware and network technology
(ethernet, WAN, fast ethernet, ever faster ethernet, IP filtering,
wireless),
but it's mainly changes in PC connectivity (direct (PCI) -> USB and other
"protocol buses" - high speed fabric)
cause it to interact thru WDM with various device stacks and models.

> Is there any diagram
> available, where global windows driver structure can be seen?

Have not seen anything on the web that is both modern and correct.

If your studies are in context of a specific commercial project, I'd
suggest
to look for a consultant.
A consultant can help to architect the solution and start development in the
right direction,
so that it has better odds to complete successfully in a reasonable time.

People rarely learn such things for fun or theoretic research. If this is
your case, IMHO better switch to Linux, or maybe join MS Research

Regards,
--pa