Manual page for INTRO(4)
intro - introduction to special files and hardware support
DESCRIPTION
This section describes special files, related driver functions,
and networking support
available in the system.
In this part of the manual, the SYNOPSIS section of
each configurable device gives a sample specification
for use in constructing a system description for the
config.8
program.
The DIAGNOSTICS section lists messages which may appear on the console
and/or in the system error log
/usr/adm/messages
due to errors in device operation;
see
syslogd.8
for more information.
This section contains both devices
which may be configured into the system (``4'' entries)
and network related information
(``4N'', ``4P'', and ``4F'' entries).
The networking support is introduced in
intro.4n
DEVICE SUPPORT
This section describes the hardware supported on the NeXT computer.
Software support for these devices comes in two forms. A hardware
device may be supported with a character or block
device driver,
or it may be used within the networking subsystem and have a
network interface driver.
Block and character devices are accessed through files in the file
system of a special type; c.f.
mknod.8
Network interfaces are indirectly accessed through the interprocess
communication facilities provided by the system; see
socket.2
A hardware device is identified to the system at configuration time
and the appropriate device or network interface driver is then compiled
into the system. When the resultant system is booted, the
autoconfiguration facilities in the system probe for the device
on either the UNIBUS (or Q-bus) or MASSBUS and, if found, enable the software
support for it. If a UNIBUS device does not respond at autoconfiguration
time it is not accessible at any time afterwards. To
enable a UNIBUS device which did not autoconfigure, the system will have to
be rebooted. If a
MASSBUS device comes ``on-line'' after the autoconfiguration sequence
it will be dynamically autoconfigured into the running system.
The autoconfiguration system is described in
autoconf.4
SEE ALSO
intro(4N),
autoconf(4),
config(8).
Created by unroff & hp-tools.
© somebody (See intro for details). All Rights Reserved.
Last modified 11/5/97
