INTRO(4)

NAME
intro - introduction to 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 /sys/conf/configscript, the autoconfig(8), program and descibes the major and minor device numbers and their encoding. The DIAGNOSTICS section lists messages which may appear on the console and/or in the system error log /usr/adm/messages due to errors in device operation.

This section contains both devices which may be configured into the system, ``4'' entries, and network related information, ``4N'', ``4P'', and ``4F'' entries; The networking support is introduced in intro(4N).

PDP DEVICE SUPPORT
This section describes the hardware supported on the DEC PDP-11. 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; c.f. 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 on either the UNIBUS (or Q-bus) or MASSBUS 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 will have to be rebooted.

The autoconfiguration system is described in autoconfig(8). A list of the supported devices is given below.

SEE ALSO
intro(4), networking(4), config(8).

LIST OF DEVICES
The devices listed below are supported in this incarnation of the system. Pseudo-devices are not listed. Listed also are devices which are in various stages of porting to 2.11BSD from 4.3BSD.

Devices are indicated by their functional interface. If second vendor products provide functionally identical interfaces they should be usable with the supplied software. (Beware, however, that we promise the software works ONLY with the hardware indicated on the appropriate manual page.) Occasionally, new devices of a similar type may be added simply by creating appropriate table entries in the driver.

The following are known to work:
acc	ACC LH/DH IMP communications interface
de	DEC DEUNA 10Mb/s Ethernet controller
dh	DH-11 emulators, terminal multiplexor
dhu	DHU-11 terminal multiplexor
dz	DZ-11 terminal multiplexor
ec	3Com 10Mb/s Ethernet controller
hk	RK6-11/RK06 and RK07 moving head disk
ht	TM03 MASSBUS tape drive interface (with TE-16, TU-45, TU-77)
il	Interlan 1010, 1010A, 2010A 10Mb/s Ethernet controller
lp	LP-11 parallel line printer interface
qe	DEC DEQNA Q-bus 10 Mb/s Ethernet interface
ra	DEC UDA-50, RQDX, KLESI disk controllers
rk	DEC RK05 disk controller
rl	DEC RL-11 disk controller
rx	DEC RX02 floppy interface
si	SI 9500 disk controller
tm	TM-11/TE-10 tape drive interface
tmscp	TMSCP-compatible tape controllers (e.g., TU81, TK50)
ts	TS-11 tape drive interface
vv	Proteon proNET 10Mb/s and 80Mb/s ring network interface
xp	General purpose SMD disk controller
The following should work:
dr	DR-11W general purpose DMA UNIBUS interface
The following worked in the past but will probably require work:
css	DEC IMP-11A communications interface
dmc	DEC DMC-11/DMR-11 point-to-point communications device
en	Xerox 3Mb/s Ethernet controller (obsolete)
sri	DR-11C IMP interface
It should be possible to port these from 4.3BSD:
ex	Excelan 10Mb/s Ethernet controller
ix	Interlan NP-100 10Mb/s Ethernet controller
np	Interlan NP-100 10Mb/s Ethernet controller (intelligent mode)
pcl	DEC PCL-11 communications interface
No idea whether any of the following could be ported:
ad	Data translation A/D interface
ct	C/A/T or APS phototypesetter
ddn	ACC ACP625 DDN Standard Mode X.25 IMP interface
dmf	DEC DMF-32 terminal multiplexor and parallel printer interface
dmz	DEC DMZ-32 terminal multiplexor
dn	DEC DN-11 autodialer interface
hdh	ACC IF-11/HDH IMP interface
hp	MASSBUS disk interface (with RP06, RM03, RM05, etc.)
hy	DR-11B or GI-13 interface to an NSC Hyperchannel
kg	KL-11/DL-11W line clock
mt	TM78 MASSBUS tape drive interface
tu	VAX-11/730 TU58 console cassette interface
un	DR-11W interface to Ungermann-Bass
up	Emulex SC-21V, SC-31 UNIBUS disk controller
ut	UNIBUS TU-45 tape drive interface
uu	TU58 dual cassette drive interface (DL11)
va	Benson-Varian printer/plotter interface
vp	Versatec printer/plotter interface