INTRO(4)INTRO(4)NAMEintro - 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 ALSOintro(4N), autoconf(4), config(8).
4th Berkeley Distribution June 1, 1986 INTRO(4)