[mythtv-users] pen Source Linux driver for Hauppauge HD PVR 2 (1080p over HDMI) released!

[Keith Pyle]

On 08/24/15 07:00, Mike Perkins wrote:
> On 23/08/15 14:35, eric wrote:
>> >  > I might be wrong, let the knowledgeable people speak up, but for me a
>> >  > driver creates a device like for instance /dev/video0, which will allow
>> >  > other applications, not just testApp, to access the hardware device and
>> >  > make their own capture.
>> >
>> >It is a user space driver, not a kernal v4l driver.
>> >
>> > ...
> What exactly do you mean by a "user space driver"? That sounds like a
> contradiction in terms, or perhaps a misuse of terminology.
>
> What I imagine you mean is a server process that listens to a particular network
> port (or whatever) and translates the HDPVR2 protocol into something that a GUI
> program can make use of (and vice versa).
>
> In a way this would be little different than, say, the way LIRC operates.
"User-space driver" is a standard term.  It applies to code that can 
read and/or write to a device and control it, but that does not need to 
handle device interrupts (interrupt handling needs to be done in kernel 
space).  A user-space driver is also limited to cases where only a 
single process accesses the device.  It doesn't require a daemon, but 
can be implemented in a library that provides the necessary ABI.

Keith