Return to device_drivers CVS log

Up to [MW Coherent from dump] / coherent / f / usr / man / KERNEL

Annotation of coherent/f/usr/man/KERNEL/device_drivers, revision 1.1.1.1

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

This archive runs on limited infrastructure. Preserving old code on modern bandwidth. Automated agents are requested to crawl responsibly.