INTRO(4) | Device Drivers Manual (i386) | INTRO(4)

# NAME

`intro` —
introduction to i386 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 i386 (PC-clone) 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 x86/autoconf(4). A list of the supported devices is given below.

# 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.

Standard builtin devices:

com(4)
  NS8250-, NS16450-, and NS16550-based asynchronous serial communications device interface
x86/lpt(4)
  Parallel port device interface
x86/fdc(4)
  Standard NEC 765 floppy disk controller.
mca(4)
  MCA I/O bus.
x86/mem(4)
  Main memory interface
pci(4)
  PCI I/O bus.
eisa(4)
  EISA I/O bus, either as main bus or via PCI-EISA bridge.
isa(4)
  ISA bus and ISA devices, either as main bus or via PCI-ISA bridge.
isa(4)
  isa I/O bus.
isapnp(4)
  ``bus'' for ISA devices with PnP support.
speaker(4)
  console speaker device interface

PCMCIA devices are supported through the pcmcia(4) bus and associated device drivers.

Cardbus devices are supported through the cardbus(4) bus and associated device drivers.

USB devices are supported through the usb(4) bus and associated device drivers.

Console devices using ISA, EISA, or PCI video adaptors and standard AT or PS/2 keyboards are supported by the machine independent wscons(4) console driver.

# SEE ALSO

config(1), netintro(4), x86/autoconf(4)

# HISTORY

The i386 `intro` appeared in NetBSD 1.0.

February 26, 2021 | NetBSD 10.1