wangxiaohu's Journal: An idea of "Hot Driver" for computer devices

skybird at 163 dot com

I just recompiled the Linux kernel of my Gentoo. I configured some drivers to be compiled into modules instead of compiling into the kernel. Nowadays different kinds of new computer peripherals are being produced day by day, so that we can enjoy the our life in new technologies.

As you know, to set up a new device in your computer, you need to first install a driver for it, so that it can work properly. I believe most of us have already adapted this "Driver-Required" life, but we still have some problems here:

1. What if the CD containing the driver is damaged?
2. What if the driver is hard to find or can't be found?
3. What if someone, such as my grandmother, never know how to install a driver for the USB Dish-Cleaner?

Now I have an idea that might solve these problems. Usually the size of a device driver is not too large, let's say 1mb. Now we can add a flash memory of 1mb into the device, and put a copy of the driver program in. Then we can set up a standard such that every OS is able to support this kind of flash memory of the devices. Everytime the OS detects a new device, a USB Dish-Cleaner for example, it will automatically go into the flash memory to download the corresponding driver and install it. Then this whole process can be called "Hot Driver Installation":

[New device detected]->[Search for the flash memory]->[Download driver from it]->[Install and use]

This proposal shouldn't be difficult to implement. Using this method, the installations of new devices, such as USB devices or PCMCIA devices, even a LCD monitor, can be very easy.