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

NAME

introintroduction 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 6.1