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Annotation of coherent/f/usr/man/KERNEL/device_drivers, revision 1.1

1.1     ! root        1: ddeevviiccee ddrriivveerrss -- Overview
        !             2: 
        !             3: 
        !             4: A  _d_e_v_i_c_e _d_r_i_v_e_r  is  a program  that  controls the  action of  one of  the
        !             5: physical devices attached to your computer system.
        !             6: 
        !             7: The following table lists the  device drivers included with this edition of
        !             8: the  COHERENT system.   The  first field  gives the  device's major  device
        !             9: number; the  second gives  its name;  and the third  describes it.   When a
        !            10: major  device number  has  no driver  associated  with it,  that device  is
        !            11: available for a driver yet to be written.
        !            12: 
        !            13:  0:  mmeemm       Interface to memory and null device
        !            14:  1:  ttttyy       Controlling terminal device
        !            15:  2:  nnkkbb/kkbb/mmmm Keyboard and video
        !            16:  3:  llpp        Parallel line printer
        !            17:  4:  ffll        Floppy drive
        !            18:  5:  aassyy       Serial driver (COHERENT 386 only)
        !            19:  5:  aall00       Serial line 0 (COM1 and COM3) (COHERENT 286 only)
        !            20:  6:  aall11       Serial line 1 (COM2 and COM4) (COHERENT 286 only)
        !            21:  7:  hhss        Generic polled multi-port serial card (COHERENT 286 only)
        !            22:  8:  rrmm        Dual RAM disk
        !            23:  9:  ppttyy       Pseudoterminals (COHERENT 386 only)
        !            24: 10:  mmss        Microsoft Mouse
        !            25: 11:  aatt        AT hard disk
        !            26: 12:  sstt        Archive Streaming Tape
        !            27: 12:
        !            28: 13:  ssccssii      SCSI device drivers: aahhaa115544xx, ssss
        !            29: 14:
        !            30: 15:
        !            31: 16:
        !            32: 17:
        !            33: 18:
        !            34: 19:
        !            35: 20:
        !            36: 21:
        !            37: 22:
        !            38: 23:  sseemm       System V compatible semaphores
        !            39: 24:  sshhmm       System V subset shared memory
        !            40: 25:  mmssgg       System V compatible messaging
        !            41: 26:
        !            42: 27:
        !            43: 28:
        !            44: 29:
        !            45: 30:
        !            46: 31:
        !            47: 
        !            48: Also included are drivers for the following devices:
        !            49: 
        !            50: ccoonnssoollee   Console driver
        !            51: cctt        Controlling terminal driver
        !            52: nnuullll      The ``bit bucket''
        !            53: 
        !            54: These device  drivers are  distributed with  the COHERENT system  in binary
        !            55: form only.  For proprietary reasons, source code for some drivers cannot be
        !            56: included with the COHERENT Device Driver Kit.
        !            57: 
        !            58: The command BBuuiilldd links the drivers into a new version of the kernel.
        !            59: 
        !            60: _M_a_j_o_r _a_n_d _M_i_n_o_r _N_u_m_b_e_r_s
        !            61: COHERENT uses a system of _m_a_j_o_r  and _m_i_n_o_r device numbers to manage devices
        !            62: and drivers.   In theory,  COHERENT assigns a  unique major number  to each
        !            63: type of  device, and a unique  minor number to each  instance of that type.
        !            64: In practice, however, a major number describes a device driver (rather than
        !            65: a device _p_e_r _s_e).   The  individual devices  serviced  by  that driver  are
        !            66: identified by a minor number.  Sometimes, certain parts of the minor number
        !            67: specify configuration.   For example, bits 0 through 6  of the minor number
        !            68: for COHERENT RAM disks indicate the size of the allocated device.
        !            69: 
        !            70: In COHERENT  286, devices  using different  IRQ's may have  different major
        !            71: numbers, even  if the devices are  of the same general  type.  For example,
        !            72: devices ccoomm11*  and ccoomm33* have  major number 5,  while ccoomm22* and  ccoomm44* have
        !            73: major number 6.
        !            74: 
        !            75: _S_e_r_i_a_l _P_o_r_t_s
        !            76: The two implementations of  COHERENT come with different drivers for serial
        !            77: ports.
        !            78: 
        !            79: COHERENT 286 comes with two sets  of drivers.  aall00 and aall11 support ordinary
        !            80: serial lines.   aall00 supports ports CCOOMM11  and CCOOMM33, and has  major number 5.
        !            81: aall11 supports ports  CCOOMM22 and CCOOMM44, and has major  number 6.  The driver hhss,
        !            82: on the other hand, supports generic polled multi-port serial cards.
        !            83: 
        !            84: COHERENT  386 replaces  these drivers  with one driver,  aassyy. It  has major
        !            85: number 5,  like aall00, but it  supports all four CCOOMM ports,  and a variety of
        !            86: generic multi-port cards.  The  configuration of ports that aassyy supports is
        !            87: set when you install COHERENT;  however, you can reconfigure aassyy should you
        !            88: wish to  add more  hardware to  your system.  See  its Lexicon  article for
        !            89: details.
        !            90: 
        !            91: _S_e_e _A_l_s_o
        !            92: aacccceessssiibbllee kkeerrnneell rroouuttiinneess,  bblloocckk-ddeevviiccee rroouuttiinneess, ddrriivveerr-aacccceessss rroouuttiinneess,
        !            93: hheeaaddeerr ffiilleess,  iinntteerrrruupptt-hhaannddlleerr rroouuttiinneess, II/OO  rroouuttiinneess, kkeerrnneell vvaarriiaabblleess,
        !            94: mmeemmoorryy-mmaanniippuullaattiioonn   rroouuttiinneess,    rraaccee   ccoonnddiittiioonn,   sseeggmmeenntt-mmaanniippuullaattiioonn
        !            95: rroouuttiinneess, sswwaapp, tteerrmmiinnaall-ddeevviiccee rroouuttiinneess

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