C# driver development?

Question

Before I jump headlong into C#...

I\'ve always felt that C, or maybe C++, was best for developing drivers on Windows. I\'m not keen on the idea of developing a driv

Answer 1

It's not direct answer to your question but if you're interested you might look at Singularity project.

Answer 2

Writing device drivers in .net makes no sense for current versions of windows.

<speculation>
Rumors are that MS is investing a lot of money in bringing Singularity to the next level. Just look for Midori. But that's 2015+
</speculation>

Answer 3

Can anyone speak to the reliability and safety of running a C# program closer to Ring 0 than would normally be the case?

C# runs in the .NET Virtual Machine, you can't move it any closer to Ring 0 than the VM is, and the VM runs in userspace.

Answer 4

Microsoft has a number of research projects in the area of having a managed-code OS, in other words kill with Win32 API.

See Mary Jo Foley's article: Rebuilding a Legacy

Answer 5

If you're willing to have a go at a proprietary framework, Jungo's WinDriver toolkit supports user-mode driver development (even in managed code) for USB, PCI, and PCI-E devices.

Answer 6

This shall help you in a way: Windows Driver Kit