摘要 |
A computer system for dynamically configuring device drivers of removable system resources. The computer system comprises a processor, a system memory and an interface for receiving removable system resources such as feature cards. Each feature card includes a card memory area comprising: 1) a full device driver portion, and 2) a stub device driver portion. Upon insertion of a card into the computer system, the device driver stub code image is read from the card memory area and transferred into an area of computer system memory. The device driver stub code is then executed by the processor of the computer system from computer system random access memory. Conversely, the full device driver code is not transferred to the computer system random access memory; rather, the full device driver is executed while still resident on the card. Upon execution, the device driver stub enables access to the full card resident device driver by allowing memory mapping to the full device driver. The full device driver may then be activated by the processor. Upon removal of a feature card from the computer system, the device driver stub disables access to the full card resident device driver by disallowing memory mapping to the full device driver.
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