INTRO(4)            NetBSD/macppc Kernel Interfaces Manual            INTRO(4)

NAME
     intro -- introduction to macppc 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 specifi-
     cation 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 sys-
     tem and network related information.  The networking support is intro-
     duced in netintro(4).

MACPPC DEVICE SUPPORT
     This section describes the hardware supported on the Power Macintosh.
     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 autoconfigura-
     tion time it is not accessible at any time afterwards.  To enable a
     device which did not autoconfigure, the system will have to 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), awacs(4), bm(4), gem(4), mc(4), tlp(4)

HISTORY
     The macppc intro man page first appeared in NetBSD 1.5.1, based on the
     NetBSD/mac68k intro(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.

     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.

     Additionally, the following specific devices are supported:
           adb       Apple Desktop Bus event interface.
           awacs     Audio Waveform Amplifier and Converter -- Apple Sound
                     Chip (supported systems include 603 and 604 based
                     machines, and Open Firmware 3 based machines).
           bm        BMac Ethernet.
           de        DECchip 21x4x based Ethernet cards (see also tlp(4)).
           esp       NCR 53C9x built-in SCSI interface.
           gm        GMac Ethernet.
           kmem      kernel virtual memory.
           mc        MACE Ethernet.
           mem       physical memory.
           mesh      MESH built-in SCSI interface (most Old World machines up
                     to the 1999 series of G3 PowerBooks).
           nvram     NVRAM access.
           ofb       PCI based frame buffer with Open Firmware support.
           openfirm  Open Firmware access.
           tlp       DECchip 21x4x based Ethernet cards.
           wdc       Standard on-board IDE controller.
           zsc       Zilog Z8530 built-in serial interface.

NetBSD 5.0_STABLE                April 4, 2001               NetBSD 5.0_STABLE
