摘要 |
A method for creating a virtual device driver that runs under both Windows 3.x and Windows 95 operating systems is disclosed. There are two basic obstacles to be overcome in creating a virtual device driver VxD that will operate under both Windows 95 and Windows 3.x. The first obstacle, that of identificational incompatibility, is cured by disguising a Windows 95 compatible driver as a Windows 3.x compatible driver. This is done by renaming the Windows 95 driver with a file name having the three-character extension "386". The version number within a Device Descriptor Block must also be changed in order to effect a total disguise. Once the identificational incompatibility has been cured through the aforementioned steps, Windows 3.x will load the Windows 95 driver. The second obstacle, that of partial functional incompatibility, is cured by appending additional logic and supplementary Windows 3.x emulation routines to the Windows 95 driver. The logic works in the following manner: Whenever a Windows 3.x operating system call is made to the driver, the standard Windows 95 driver interface is granted control whenever that interface is compatible with Windows 3.x. However, whenever direct control by the standard Windows 95 driver interface is incompatible with Windows 3.x, the Windows 3.x driver interface is emulated by the supplementary routines.
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