INTRO(4)                  OpenBSD Programmer's Manual                 INTRO(4)

NNAAMMEE
     iinnttrroo - introduction to special files and hardware support

DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN
     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(8)
     program.  The DIAGNOSTICS section lists messages which may appear on the
     console and/or in the system error log _/_v_a_r_/_l_o_g_/_m_e_s_s_a_g_e_s 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).

DDEEVVIICCEE SSUUPPPPOORRTT
     This section describes the hardware supported on the arm32 (RiscPC) plat-
     form.  Software support for these devices comes in two forms.  A hardware
     device may be supported with a character or block _d_e_v_i_c_e _d_r_i_v_e_r, or it
     may be used within the networking subsystem and have a _n_e_t_w_o_r_k _i_n_t_e_r_f_a_c_e
     _d_r_i_v_e_r. Block and character devices are accessed through files in the
     file system of a special type; see mknod(8).  Network interfaces are in-
     directly accessed through the interprocess communication facilities pro-
     vided 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 de-
     vice 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.

SSEEEE AALLSSOO
     intro(4),  autoconf(4),  config(8).

LLIISSTT OOFF DDEEVVIICCEESS
     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.

           beep     VIDC20 beep device interface
           com      NS8250-, NS16450-, and NS16550-based asynchronous serial
                    communications device interface
           eb       EtherB network slot device interface.
           quadmouse
                    RiscPC quadrature mouse device interface.
           lpt      Parallel port device interface
           mem      Main memory interface
           wd       Standard Internal RiscPC IDE deviceinterface

HHIISSTTOORRYY
     The arm32 iinnttrroo appeared in NetBSD 1.0A.

OpenBSD 2.2                          Epoch                                   1
