Top Story Next Version of Windows to Support System on a Chip This might be old news to the hardware industry, but it is still big news. MHN would be remiss to not mention it. As announced at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the next version of Windows will support System on a Chip (SoC) architectures, including ARM-based systems. At CES, in a technology preview, Microsoft demonstrated Windows running on new SoC x86 and ARM-based systems. The opportunities that this development affords the Windows hardware ecosystem and the importance of collaboration to achieve success in this arena were emphasized by Steven Sinofsky, President of Windows: "It takes experienced partners to help deliver Windows to a whole new set of devices, and we're pleased that NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and Texas Instruments have joined us in this technology demonstration. We look forward to even more robust collaboration between silicon partners and a broader set of partners as we work together to bring new PCs and devices-from tablets on up-to market with the next version of Windows." Read more:
News for Hardware and Driver Developers WHDC Re-Launching on MSDN in February 2011 Coming in February, the Windows Hardware Developer Central (WHDC) website will re-launch with a new look and location as the Windows Hardware Development website on the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN). WHDC is relocating the international WHDC sites to MSDN, as well. Although WHDC will have a new URL and a different design, you will find the same Windows hardware- and driver-focused content as today, only better. The WHDC team took this opportunity to advance the site to help you: - Get started
- Download kits and tools
- Connect to the deep reference content that you need
- Interact with the Windows hardware development community
For those core WHDC customers who also develop Windows-based applications, this move to MSDN will bring WHDC into proximity with the Windows Application Development website, with whom WHDC will share a common webpage design, and the Windows Server Application Development website. Redirects will be in place for all pages that are on WHDC today. The redirects will send you to the new location of WHDC content on MSDN, so you will not lose the location of any WHDC content you have bookmarked or saved to your favorites. The WHDC team will continue to encourage and welcome your feedback on the new WHDC on MSDN. Your feedback is the best way to make the site better for you. In February, MHN will run a special newsletter that will focus on the new WHDC. At that time, there will be more information about what's new, as well as specifics about how you can provide feedback and some live links to featured content on the new site. Until then, please keep utilizing WHDC as you always have. See you soon on MSDN!
Recently Published on WHDC Mobile Broadband Driver Development This paper discusses how to write drivers for mobile broadband devices by using the Windows mobile broadband driver model, which is part of Windows 7. The information in this paper is useful to independent hardware vendors (IHVs), original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and driver developers. Read more: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/connect/mb/mb_drvdev.mspx
Introduction to Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) This paper provides information about Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) for Windows operating systems. It provides an overview for portable-device manufacturers that want to understand the benefit of supporting MTP In their hardware. And, it outlines how MTP results in significant performance improvements over the alternative mass-storage solutions. Read more: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/wpd/mtp-intro.mspx
Designing Digital Video Cameras to Meet Windows Logo Program Requirements This paper provides guidelines for designing a file-based digital video camera that meets the Windows Logo Program requirements for Windows 7. The guidelines include general transport, protocol, and feature implementation details as well as device installation and device enumeration specifics for a portable device. The guidelines provide general direction whereas the Windows Logo Program requirements provide implementation details that must be supported in order to qualify to use the Compatible with Windows 7 logo. The requirements are verified during self-test assessment of the hardware using the Windows Logo Kit. For your convenience each of the guidelines references a corresponding logo requirement or requirements; the applicable logo program requirements are provided in the Appendix section of the paper. Read more: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/media/video-cameras-logo.mspx
What's New in Blogs for Hardware and Driver Developers "How to Generate a Container ID for a USB Device" by Kristina Hotz in "Microsoft Windows USB Core Team Blog" Hi, I'm Kristina Hotz, a Program Manager on the USB team. In this post, I'll explain how you can create a container ID for a USB device by using the same mechanism as Windows 7. You will find the information useful if you are developing a USB driver stack that replaces the Microsoft-provided USB driver stack or if you are a USB device manufacturer and would like to know how your device is recognized by the Windows 7 version of the operating system. Read more: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/usbcoreblog/archive/2010/12/07/how-to-generate-a-container-id-for-a-usb-device.aspx
"Sensors and Windows" in "Windows Portable Devices Team Blog" Prior to the introduction of WPD, developers wrote a significant amount of code to integrate data from sensors into their Windows applications. But, with the release of WPD, it was possible to create a driver that handled communications between the operating system and the remote device. And, once the driver was written, a developer could write an application with a minimal code footprint-200 lines or less-to retrieve sensor data. For an example, refer to the downloadable whitepaper and code at: http://wpdtempsensor.codeplex.com/. (For an example WPD driver, refer to the WpdBasicHardwareDriver that ships in the Windows Driver Kit.) For Windows 7, Microsoft introduced the Sensors and Location platform. This platform includes both a driver model for IHVs and an API for application developers. Microsoft recently released a sample driver, sample firmware, and a sample application on the MSDN Code Gallery to demonstrate the use of this new platform. See: http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/motionsensor. This sample, like the WPD sample above, interacts with the Parallax BS2 microcontroller; and, it's intended as an enhancement (or replacement) of the WPD sample. So, you may be wondering: "When should I use WPD to support my sensors and when should I use the Sensors and Location Platform?" Read more: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/wpdblog/archive/2009/12/17/sensors-and-windows.aspx
Windows Logo Program News Winqual Account Holders Must Link Account to a Windows Live ID The Windows Quality Online Services (Winqual) website will be down for maintenance from approximately 08:00 PST February 10 to 08:00 PST February 11. After the site reopens on February 11, users must link their existing Winqual account to a Windows Live ID. This change in authentication method improves your experience when browsing between different Microsoft portals that use Windows Live ID credentials for sign in. Use the following best practices to ensure a consistent experience across MSDN, Connect, and Winqual: - When possible, use your work email address for the Windows Live ID you use to sign in to Winqual. This will streamline the user information when you set up your Winqual account.
- If you use a Windows Live ID with the Microsoft Connect or MSDN sites, use the same ID for Winqual. This will allow you to move seamlessly among these sites, without the need to sign in again.
- If you already have a Winqual account (Winqual username/password), use the migration link to change your Winqual account to Windows Live ID authentication. This will ensure that the permissions and settings you have through your Winqual account will persist after the migration.
Note: A single Winqual account can have only one Windows Live ID. You can sign up for a Windows Live ID by going to http://www.live.com or by clicking the Sign In link on the Winqual site after the February release. Winqual recommends that all users have their own unique Windows Live ID and Winqual account.
Announcing the Windows Logo Kit 1.6 Release Schedule Windows Logo Kit (WLK) 1.6 is expected to be released to manufacturing (RTM) on approximately January 28, 2011. It will then be released to the web (RTW) within a week. WLK 1.6 will become a required kit for logo submissions effective June 1, 2011. Until that date, partners can choose to use either WLK 1.5 or WLK 1.6 for logo submissions. WLK 1.5 expires at 23:59 Pacific Time on May 31, 2011. Obtaining a logo for Windows XP can only be done using WLK 1.5 and only until 23:59 Pacific Time on May 31, 2011. Partners can, however, obtain a driver signature for Windows XP by submitting through the "Unclassified" program in WLK 1.6. Drivers submitted through the Windows XP Unclassified category are eligible to go on Windows Update. For more information, see http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/whql/resources/news/whqlnews_120710.html. Partners are required to use Windows 7 Service Pack 1 to test their submissions 90 days after the RTM of the service pack. This is documented in Policy-0002. Subscribe to the Windows Logo Program Newsletter: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/newsreq.mspx
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