External Documentation Links
Contents
CPU
x86
Intel
(check intel.com for misc. docs and possible updates)
- Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual – Volume 1: Basic Architecture
- Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual – Volume 2A: Instruction Set Reference, A-M
- Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual – Volume 2B: Instruction Set Reference, N-Z
- Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual – Volume 3A: System Programming Guide
- Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual – Volume 3B: System Programming Guide
- TLBs, Paging-Structure Caches, and Their Invalidation
- Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Optimization Reference Manual
Processor specific
- Intel CPUs – features, datasheets etc., only for newer models though
AMD
(check amd.com for misc. docs and possible updates)
- AMD64 Architecture Programmer's Manual Volume 1: Application Programming
- AMD64 Architecture Programmer's Manual Volume 2: System Programming
- AMD64 Architecture Programmer's Manual Volume 3: General-Purpose and System Instructions
- AMD64 Architecture Programmer's Manual Volume 4: 128-Bit Media Instructions
- AMD64 Architecture Programmer's Manual Volume 5: 64-Bit Media and x87 Floating-Point Instructions
- Software Optimization Guide for AMD Family 10h Processors
Processor specific (see amd.com for other models)
- AMD Phenom™ Tech Docs
- AMD Athlon™ Tech Docs
- AMD Opteron™ Tech Docs
- AMD Sempron™ Tech Docs
- AMD-K6™ Processor Tech Docs – datasheets, manuals etc. of K6 series
Peripherals
USB
Specifications
- Universal Serial Bus Revision 2.0 specification - "provides the technical details to understand USB requirements and design USB compatible products. Modifications to the USB specification are made through Engineering Change Notices (ECNs)." Enclosed in this zip file are the following documents:
- The Original USB 2.0 specification released on April 27, 2000
- Errata to the USB 2.0 specification as of December 7, 2000
- Mini-B connector Engineering Change Notice to the USB 2.0 specification.
- Pull-up/pull-down Resistors Engineering Change Notice to the USB 2.0 specification.
- Errata to the USB 2.0 specification as of May 28, 2002
- Interface Association Descriptor Engineering Change Notice to the USB 2.0 specification.
- Rounded Chamfer Engineering Change Notice to the USB 2.0 specification as of October 8, 2003
- Unicode Engineering Change Notice to the USB 2.0 specification as of February 21, 2005
- Inter-Chip USB Supplement Revision 1.0 as of March 13, 2006
- USB On-The-Go Supplement Revision 1.3 as of December 5, 2006
- Micro-USB Cables and Connectors Specification Revision 1.01 as of April 4, 2007
- USB 2.0 Link Power Management Addendum Engineering Change Notice to the USB 2.0 specification as of July 16, 2007.
- High-Speed Inter-Chip USB Electrical Specification Revision 1.0 as of September 23, 2007
- Suspend Current Limit Changes ECN as of April 9, 2008
- Enhanced Host Controller Interface (EHCI) Specification
Windows specific
- USB FAQ – Introductory Level
- USB FAQ – Intermediate
- Some useful articles
- USB Drivers Included with Windows – What USB drivers are included with each Windows edition.
White papers
- USB in a NutShell – Provides good overview of the whole USB architecture. Recommended.
- USB Made Simple – Another very good overview
- Linux USB Project - "This web site was created to serve as a central point of information for USB support under Linux."
- Wikipedia – Short, shallow overview.
(the following comes from usb.org)
- HID Parser Error Checking - "The following is a list of the error conditions that a version 1.1 compliant HID parser should check and report. To facilitate debugging HID devices it is important that a HID parser report the detection of any of the following Errors in detail. The checking for and reporting of Warnings is optional but recommended."
- Handling The IRP_MN_START_DEVICE PnP IRP - "This white paper summarizes the proper steps required in configuring an USB device and provides generic code that accommodates any device. This paper assumes that the reader has some experience with WDM drivers."
- A Technical Introduction to USB 2.0 - "This document introduces the features and benefits of USB 2.0 and describes its impact to users, PC manufacturers and PC peripheral manufacturers. Following a recap of USB 1.1, this paper overviews the technical aspects of USB 2.0 whose details are in the specification draft released in October"
- CYCLIC REDUNDANCY CHECKS IN USB - "The USB specification calls for the use of Cyclic Redundancy Checksums (CRC) to protect all non-PID fields in token and data packets from errors during transmission. This paper describes the mathematical basis behind CRC in an intuitive fashion and then explains the specific implementation called for in USB. Perl programs to generate these CRCs are provided and several examples are used to clear up possible ambiguous areas."
File systems
CDFS (ISO 9660)
Specifications
White papers
- Introduction to ISO 9660 - "what it is, how it is implemented, and how it has been extended"
- ISO 9660 Simplified for DOS/Windows – overview
UDF
Specifications
- Universal Disk Format Specification, rev. 2.60 – Official specification. Check osta.org for possible updates.
Ext2
White papers
FAT
FAT16
White papers
FAT32
Specifications
VFAT
White papers
NTFS
Specifications There are none available to the public. NTFS format is proprietary by Microsoft. However, white papers below might cover some useful parts.
White papers
File formats
- TypeLib Data Format Specification (unofficial) with open source dumper utility.