INTRO(4) (SPARC64)

INTRO(4) | Kernel Interfaces Manual (SPARC64) | INTRO(4)

# NAME

intro — introduction to sparc64 special files and hardware support

# DESCRIPTION

This section describes the 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(1) program. The DIAGNOSTICS section lists messages which may appear on the console and/or in the system error log /var/log/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 and network related information. The networking support is introduced in netintro(4).

# DEVICE SUPPORT

This section describes the hardware supported on the SPARC64 platform. 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; see 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 and, if found, enable the software support for it. If a device does not respond at autoconfiguration time it is not accessible at any time afterwards. To enable a device which did not autoconfigure, the system must be rebooted.

The autoconfiguration system is described in autoconf(4). A list of the supported devices is given below.

# SEE ALSO

config(1), autoconf(4), cd(4), cgsix(4), ch(4), kbd(4), le(4), magma(4), mem(4), ms(4), openprom(4), scsi(4), sd(4), ss(4), st(4), tcx(4), uk(4)

# LIST OF DEVICES

The devices listed below are supported in this incarnation of the system. Devices are indicated by their functional interface. Not all supported devices are listed.

auxio
  Auxiliary I/O & LED
bpp
  Bi-directional Parallel port
cgsix
  8 bit obio (sun4c & sun4m), Sbus color graphics frame buffer
com
  PC-style serial port
eeprom
  Sun non-volatile configuration RAM driver
esp
  ESP200 SCSI controller
  FSBE/S (X1053A, part # 501-2015) Fast SCSI-2/Buffered Ethernet Sbus controller
fdc
  Floppy Disk Controller
ffb
  Creator & Creaor3D graphics frame buffer
isp
  Qlogic ISP Sbus and PCI SCSI controller
kbd
  Sun type 2, type 3, type 4, and type 5 keyboards (on zs or com)
le/lebuffer
  AMD 7990 LANCE Ethernet controller
lpt
  PC-style parallel port
magma
  Magma Sp Serial/Parallel board device driver
ms
  Sun mouse (on zs or com)
openprom
  Sun Open boot PROM (what became IEEE 1275) configuration driver
power
  power management halt(8) and shutdown(8) commands can use it to power down the system.
sab
  Siemens 82532 & 83538 serial controller
zs
  Zilog 8530 serial controller

PCI devices are supported through the pci(4) bus and associated devices.

PCMCIA devices are supported through the pcmcia(4) bus and associated devices.

Cardbus devices are supported through the cardbus(4) bus and associated devices.

USB devices are supported through the usb(4) bus and associated devices.

# UNSUPPORTED DEVICES

The following devices are not supported, due to unavailability of either documentation, sample hardware, or willing volunteer:

atifb
  ATI 3D Rage Pro VGA graphics adapter (Ultra5, Ultra10)
fdc
  sun4u floppy drive controllers (EBus based machines only)
cgfourteen
  24 bit Sbus color frame buffer
cgthree
  8 bit Sbus color frame buffer

# HISTORY

This sparc64 intro appeared in NetBSD 1.6. Large chunks of text carefully recycled (shamelessly appropriated) from NetBSD/sparc intro.

May 10, 2007 | NetBSD 5.99