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

NAME
     intro -- introduction to alpha 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 by NetBSD/alpha.  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)

HARDWARE
     DEC and Compaq have produced a series of the Alpha CPU, some of which are
     listed below, along with some systems which contain them.

     The NetBSD Project distributes binary programs for its Alpha port com-
     piled for the lowest common denominator CPU instruction set, to guarantee
     binary compatibility across all supported Alpha systems.  However, it is
     possible to sacrifice binary compatibility for additional performance on
     later model CPUs with performance enhancing instructions (e.g. the
     21164-A and later with the BWX extensions).  This requires recompiling
     from source code, with appropriate options given to cc(1) to indicate the
     target CPU.

     "EV" stands for "Extended VAX" (or "Electro Vlassic") and the number fol-
     lowing is a reference to the CMOS process used to make the chips.  "LCA"
     stands for Low Cost Alpha, and "PCA" stands for PC-architecture Alpha.

     21064      EV4 (100-200 MHz, 0.75 micron)

                AlphaPC 64 (EB64)

                Jensen family
                      DECpc AXP 150 (Jensen)
                      DEC 2000/300 (Jensen)
                      DEC 2000/500 (Culzen)

                Avanti family
                      Digital's lower-end PCI-based workstations.

                      AlphaStation 200 4/100-166 (Mustang)
                      AlphaStation 400 4/166 (Chinet)

                Sable family
                      AlphaServer 2000 4/200 (Demi-Sable)
                      AlphaServer 2100 4/200 (Sable)

                Pelican family
                      Low-end TURBOchannel based workstations.

                      DEC 3000/300 (150 MHz) (Pelican)
                      DEC 3000/300X (175 MHz) (Pelican+)
                      DEC 3000/300L (100 MHz) (Pelica)
                      DEC 3000/300LX (125 MHz) (Pelica+)

                Sandpiper family
                      High-end TURBOchannel based workstations.

                      DEC 3000/400 (133 MHz) (Sandpiper)
                      DEC 3000/600 (175 MHz) (Sandpiper+)

                Flamingo family
                      High-end TURBOchannel based workstations.

                      DEC 3000/500 (150 MHz) (Flamingo)
                      DEC 3000/500X (200 MHz) (Hot Pink)
                      DEC 3000/800 (200 MHz) (Flamingo II)

     21064-A    EV45 (225-333 MHz, 0.50 micron)

                DEC 3000/700 (225 MHz) (Sandpiper45)
                DEC 3000/900 (275 MHz) (Flamingo45)

                Alpha XL 233-266 (XL)
                AlphaPC 64 (EB64+)

                Avanti family
                      Digital's lower-end PCI-based workstations.

                      AlphaStation 200 4/233 (Mustang+)
                      AlphaStation 205 4/133-333 (LX3)
                      AlphaStation 250 4/300 (M3+)
                      AlphaStation 255 4/133-333 (LX3+)
                      AlphaStation 300 4/266 (Melmac)
                      AlphaStation 400 4/233-300 (Avanti)

                Sable family
                      AlphaServer 2000 4/233-275 (Demi-Sable)
                      AlphaServer 2100 4/233-275 (Sable)

                AlphaServer 2100A (Lynx)

     21066      LCA4 (166-233 MHz, 0.75 micron)

                NoName family
                      Digital's lowest-end family of PCI-based systems.

                      DEC AXPpci33 (NoName)
                      Universal Desktop Box AXPpci166MT (UDB/Multia)

                21066 evaluation motherboard (EB66)

     21066-A    LCA45 (233 MHz, 0.50 micron)

                21066-A evaluation motherboard (EB66+)

     21068      LCA4s (66-233 MHz, 0.75 micron)

                Alpha Book (Burns)
                Universal Desktop Box AXPpci233MT (UDB/Multia)

     21164      EV5 (250-366 MHz, 0.50 micron)

                Alcor family
                      AlphaStation 500/266-333 (Maverick)
                      AlphaStation 600/266-300 (Alcor)
                      Alpha XL 300-433 (XLT)

                Sable family
                      AlphaServer 2000 5/250-300 (Demi-Gamma)
                      AlphaServer 2100 5/250-300 (Gamma Sable)

                Mikasa family
                      AlphaServer 1000 5/300 (Pinnacle)

                Noritake family
                      AlphaServer 1000A 5/300 (Pinnacle)

                Rawhide family (KN300)
                      AlphaServer 4000 5/266-300 (Wrangler)
                      AlphaServer 4000 5/266-300 (Durango)
                      AlphaServer 4100 5/266-300 (Dodge)

                AlphaServer 8200 and 8400 (KN8AE)

                21164 evaluation motherboard (EB164)

     21164-A    EV56 (400-766 MHz, 0.35 micron, BWX)

                Alcor family
                      AlphaStation 500/333-500 (Bret)

                Personal Workstation (PWS)
                      PWS 433a/433au (Miata)
                      PWS 500a/500au (Miata)
                      PWS 600a/600au (Miata)

                Sable family
                      AlphaServer 2100 5/375-400 (Gamma Sable)
                      AlphaServer 2000 5/375-400 (Demi-Gamma)

                Mikasa family
                      AlphaServer 1000 5/333-500 (Primo)

                Noritake family
                      AlphaServer 1000A 5/333-500 (Primo)
                      AlphaServer 600A 5/500 (Alcor-Primo)
                      AlphaServer 800 5/333-500 (Corelle)

                Rawhide family (KN300)
                      AlphaServer 4000 5/400-666 (Wrangler)
                      AlphaServer 4000 5/400-666 (Durango)
                      AlphaServer 4100 5/400-666 (Dodge)

                      AlphaServer 1200 5/400-666 (Tincup)
                      AlphaServer 1200 5/400-666 (DaVinci)

                EB164 family
                      AlphaPC 164 motherboard (EB164)
                      AlphaPC 164LX motherboard (EB164)

                DigitalServer 3300 (rebadged AlphaServer 800 for NT)
                DigitalServer 5300 (rebadged AlphaServer 1200 for NT)
                DigitalServer 7300 (rebadged AlphaServer 4100 for NT)

                AlphaServer 8200 and 8400 (KN8AE)

                APi AlphaPC 164UX motherboard (Ruffian)

     21164-PC   PCA56 (400-600 MHz, 0.35 micron, MVI, no L2 cache)

                AlphaPC 164SX motherboard (EB164)

                PWS 466au (Miata)
                PWS 550au (Miata)

     21264      EV6 (450-600 MHz, 0.35 micron)

                AlphaServer 8400 (KN8AE)

                APi UP1000 and UP1100; AMD 751-based EV6 systems.

                264DP, XP1000, DS10, DS20, APi UP2000, UP2000+ Tsunami-based
                systems.

     21264-A    EV67 (600-833 MHz, 0.28 micron)

                AlphaServer GS60E
                AlphaServer GS140

     21264-B    EV68AL (833-1250 MHz, 0.18 micron)

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.

           apecs     DECchip 21072/21071 Core Logic chipset
           asc       TURBOchannel single-channel SCSI adapter
           cia       DECchip 2117x Core Logic chipset
           dwlpx     DEC DWLPA and DWLPB PCI adapter
           gbus      internal bus on AlphaServer CPU modules
           irongate  APi UP1000 AMD751 Core Logic + AGP chipset
           jensenio  DEC 2000/300 (Jensen) I/O module
           kft       KFTIA and KFTHA Bus Adapter Node for I/O hoses
           lca       DECchip 21066 Core Logic chipset
           mcbus     MCBUS system bus found on AlphaServer 4100 systems
           mcpcia    MCPCIA MCBUS-to-PCI bus adapter
           sableio   AlphaServer 2100 (Sable) STD I/O module
           tcasic    TURBOchannel host bus support
           tlsb      AlphaServer 8x00 TurboLaser System bus
           tsc       DECchip 21272 Core Logic chipset
           tsp       DECchip 21272 Core Logic chipset PCI controller
           ttwoga    DEC T2 Gate Array
           ttwopci   DEC T2 Gate Array PCI controller

     TURBOchannel devices are supported through the tc(4) bus and associated
     device drivers.

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

     ISA devices are supported through the isa(4) bus and associated device
     drivers.

     EISA devices are supported through the eisa(4) bus and associated device
     drivers.

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

     Console devices using ISA, EISA, or PCI video adaptors and standard AT or
     PS/2 keyboards are supported by the machine independent wscons(4) console
     driver.

HISTORY
     This alpha intro appeared in NetBSD 1.6.

NetBSD 5.0_STABLE             September 19, 2001             NetBSD 5.0_STABLE
