INTRO(4)            NetBSD/acorn32 Kernel Interfaces Manual           INTRO(4)

NAME
     intro -- introduction to acorn32 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).

DEVICE SUPPORT
     This section describes the hardware supported on the acorn32 (RiscPC)
     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 autoconfigura-
     tion 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)

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.

           vidcvideo
                    VIDC20 device interface
           com      NS8250-, NS16450-, and NS16550-based asynchronous serial
                    communications device interface
           ea       Ether3/Ether5 podule device interface.
           eb       EtherB network slot device interface.
           eh       EtherH network slot device interface.
           ie       Ether1 podule device interface.
           lpt      Parallel port device interface
           mem      Main memory interface
           wd       Standard Internal RiscPC IDE device interface
           fd       Standard Internal RiscPC floppy device interface
           asc      Acorn SCSI I card device interface
           csc      Cumana SCSI II card device interface
           ptsc     Powertec SCSI II card device interface
           oak      Oak SCSI I card device interface

HISTORY
     The acorn32 intro appeared in NetBSD 1.2.

NetBSD 5.0_STABLE               March 13, 2004               NetBSD 5.0_STABLE
