Newbie Question: How to extend the i810 driver

[Joseph Adams]

I'm a newbie to driver development (of any kind) and I'm wondering
where a good place to start learning driver development would be.
Specifically, I want to improve (or help someone improve) the i810
driver so the performance of an Intel 82845G/GL (my graphics chipset)
on Linux is more on par to Windows.  I really think the reduced
framerate of many 3D games on Linux using this card is due to lack of
support for many 3D primitive drawing functions available in the
chipset.  I just don't have a clue where to get documentation for the
82845G/GL or how the heck people "hack up" graphics drivers.  I know
this is a broad question, I just want to know a good starting point
(beyond downloading and building the source code).  Thanks!

P.S.  This is my first post to a mailing list, so please don't be
offended if I don't notice the response to my question soon after it
is posted (but I'll try to look for it).