Division of Responsibilities
GDI
Provides software rendering support for Win32 GDI
calls. Creates graphics objects for use by Device
Driver.
Device Driver
Talks to graphics hardware; accesses graphics
acceleration features. Can make use of GDI services
for managing graphics Objects created by GDI.
Video Port Driver/ Video MiniPort
Two tightly coupled drivers; Video Port Driver is
generic and provided by Microsoft. Video Miniport
talks to Video Port Driver and handles device-specific
functions such as graphics hardware initialization,
cursor or pointer hardware on video card, mode-set and
palette operations for MS-DOS sessions.