mac driver moded to run on linux

[alexp195]

can a driver built for a mac be modified to run on linux.
the premise for my idea stems from the fact that they are both unix environments.
thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[Intell]

A rare few can, but it takes a massive amount of work and isn't really worth it.

 

[MisterMe]

can a driver built for a mac be modified to run on linux.
....

Driver for what?

 

[larkost]

can a driver built for a mac be modified to run on linux. the premise for my idea stems from the fact that they are both unix environments. thanks in advance for any replies.

The basic problem is that while both are unix-like environments (MacOS X actually has the certification as an official Unix environment... but that is not really much of a point), the driver model is not part of that specification (some of what they expose is, but that is relatively little of the driver).

linux and MacOS X are actually not that similar when you get down in the kenel regions. There are some places where they share code, or similar code, but most of the driver space is different. There was a real push a while ago to get FreeBSD lined up more with how MacOS X did things, but I have not paid much attention to that in a long time.

Regardless, you would have to have the source code for all of it, and the driver would have to be for something more generic like a network driver. Anything approaching a video card driver would probably be too far off.