Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!know!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!hp-pcd!hpcvra!everett
From: everett@hpcvra.CV.HP.COM (Everett Kaser)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: MOUSE DRIVERS
Message-ID: <27380005@hpcvra.CV.HP.COM>
Date: 2 Oct 90 21:20:41 GMT
References: <3173@s3.ireq.hydro.qc.ca>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Co., Corvallis, OR, USA
Lines: 19

My hunch is that the mouse driver "file" contains a LOT of code for different
pieces of hardware (ie, different mice) besides just Microsoft's, and that
they only keep in memory the code actually needed for the mouse that's found.

For example, the latest mouse drivers from Microsoft know how to work properly
with the HP-HIL mouse that is available for most of HP's Vectra computers.  By
having this code in the mouse driver, they don't need a lot of special drivers
for different mice/computers.  This is especially important in environments
like Microsoft Windows, for example.

So, the file MOUSE.SYS continues to grow as Microsoft supports more and more
hardware, but the amount of memory used by the LOADED driver grows much more
slowly, as only the needed code is kept in memory after initialization.

Then, on the other hand, I could be completely wrong.

Everett Kaser                   Hewlett-Packard Company
...hplabs!hp-pcd!everett        work: (503) 750-3569   Corvallis, Oregon
everett%hpcvra@hplabs.hp.com    home: (503) 928-5259   Albany, Oregon