diff --git a/drivers/staging/comedi/Kconfig b/drivers/staging/comedi/Kconfig
index 9037d02939ffae751eead2d8b0d9075f55257b77..a1cf0b04c16d45bdee5f0adc5a8e5850cc4dae73 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/comedi/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/staging/comedi/Kconfig
@@ -14,6 +14,26 @@ config COMEDI_DEBUG
 	  This is an option for use by developers; most people should
 	  say N here. This enables comedi core and driver debugging.
 
+config COMEDI_DEFAULT_BUF_SIZE_KB
+	int "Comedi default initial asynchronous buffer size in KiB"
+	default "2048"
+	depends on COMEDI != n
+	---help---
+	  This is the default asynchronous buffer size which is used for
+	  commands running in the background in kernel space.  This
+	  defaults to 2048 KiB of memory so that a 16 channel card
+	  running at 10 kHz has of 2-4 seconds of buffer.
+
+config COMEDI_DEFAULT_BUF_MAXSIZE_KB
+	int "Comedi default maximum asynchronous buffer size in KiB"
+	default "20480"
+	depends on COMEDI != n
+	---help---
+	  This is the default maximum asynchronous buffer size which can
+	  be requested by a userspace program without root privileges.
+	  This is set to 20480 KiB so that a fast I/O card with 16
+	  channels running at 100 kHz has 2-4 seconds of buffer.
+
 menuconfig COMEDI_MISC_DRIVERS
 	tristate "Comedi misc drivers"
 	depends on COMEDI
diff --git a/drivers/staging/comedi/comedi_fops.c b/drivers/staging/comedi/comedi_fops.c
index ef7bbe41661451355acc59fa11ebbe7b19832ed7..3222ac6706b40abbe67b869680de7eb062b82dda 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/comedi/comedi_fops.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/comedi/comedi_fops.c
@@ -55,9 +55,6 @@ MODULE_AUTHOR("http://www.comedi.org");
 MODULE_DESCRIPTION("Comedi core module");
 MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");
 
-#define DEFAULT_BUF_MAXSIZE_KB 64
-#define DEFAULT_BUF_SIZE_KB 64
-
 #ifdef CONFIG_COMEDI_DEBUG
 int comedi_debug;
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(comedi_debug);
@@ -78,17 +75,18 @@ MODULE_PARM_DESC(comedi_num_legacy_minors,
 		 "number of comedi minor devices to reserve for non-auto-configured devices (default 0)"
 		);
 
-unsigned int comedi_default_buf_size_kb = DEFAULT_BUF_SIZE_KB;
+unsigned int comedi_default_buf_size_kb = CONFIG_COMEDI_DEFAULT_BUF_SIZE_KB;
 module_param(comedi_default_buf_size_kb, uint, S_IRUGO | S_IWUSR);
 MODULE_PARM_DESC(comedi_default_buf_size_kb,
 		 "default asynchronous buffer size in KiB (default "
-		 __MODULE_STRING(DEFAULT_BUF_SIZE_KB) ")");
+		 __MODULE_STRING(CONFIG_COMEDI_DEFAULT_BUF_SIZE_KB) ")");
 
-unsigned int comedi_default_buf_maxsize_kb = DEFAULT_BUF_MAXSIZE_KB;
+unsigned int comedi_default_buf_maxsize_kb
+	= CONFIG_COMEDI_DEFAULT_BUF_MAXSIZE_KB;
 module_param(comedi_default_buf_maxsize_kb, uint, S_IRUGO | S_IWUSR);
 MODULE_PARM_DESC(comedi_default_buf_maxsize_kb,
 		 "default maximum size of asynchronous buffer in KiB (default "
-		 __MODULE_STRING(DEFAULT_BUF_MAXSIZE_KB) ")");
+		 __MODULE_STRING(CONFIG_COMEDI_DEFAULT_BUF_MAXSIZE_KB) ")");
 
 static DEFINE_SPINLOCK(comedi_file_info_table_lock);
 static struct comedi_device_file_info