xref: /netbsd-src/share/man/man4/man4.alpha/intro.4 (revision 27578b9aac214cc7796ead81dcc5427e79d5f2a0)
1.\"     $NetBSD: intro.4,v 1.1 2001/09/21 09:11:43 gmcgarry Exp $
2.\"
3.\" Copyright (c) 2001 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.
4.\" All rights reserved.
5.\"
6.\" This code is derived from software contributed to The NetBSD Foundation
7.\" by Gregory McGarry.
8.\"
9.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
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17.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
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19.\"        This product includes software developed by the NetBSD
20.\"        Foundation, Inc. and its contributors.
21.\" 4. Neither the name of The NetBSD Foundation nor the names of its
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37.Dd September 19, 2001
38.Dt INTRO 4 alpha
39.Os
40.Sh NAME
41.Nm intro
42.Nd introduction to special files and hardware support
43.Sh DESCRIPTION
44This section describes the special files, related driver functions,
45and networking support available in the system.
46In this part of the manual, the
47.Tn SYNOPSIS
48section of each configurable device gives a sample specification
49for use in constructing a system description for the
50.Xr config 8
51program.
52The
53.Tn DIAGNOSTICS
54section lists messages which may appear on the console
55and/or in the system error log
56.Pa /var/log/messages
57due to errors in device operation; see
58.Xr syslogd 8
59for more information.
60.Pp
61This section contains both devices which may be configured into
62the system and network related information.
63The networking support is introduced in
64.Xr netintro 4 .
65.Sh DEVICE SUPPORT
66This section describes the hardware supported by
67.Nx Ns /alpha .
68Software support for these devices comes in two forms.
69A hardware device may be supported with a character or block
70.Em device driver ,
71or it may be used within the networking subsystem and have a
72.Em network interface driver .
73Block and character devices are accessed through files in the file
74system of a special type; see
75.Xr mknod 8 .
76Network interfaces are indirectly accessed through the interprocess
77communication facilities provided by the system; see
78.Xr socket 2 .
79.Pp
80A hardware device is identified to the system at configuration time
81and the appropriate device or network interface driver is then
82compiled into the system.  When the resultant system is booted, the
83autoconfiguration facilities in the system probe for the device and,
84if found, enable the software support for it.  If a device does not
85respond at autoconfiguration time it is not accessible at any time
86afterwards.  To enable a device which did not autoconfigure, the
87system must be rebooted.
88.Pp
89The autoconfiguration system is described in
90.Xr autoconf 4 .
91A list of the supported devices is given below.
92.Sh SEE ALSO
93.Xr autoconf 4 ,
94.Xr config 8 .
95.Sh SUPPORTED SYSTEMS
96The following systems are supported:
97.Pp
98.Bl -tag -width speaker -offset indent -compact
99.It Personal Workstation 600a, 600au (and others)
100The Personal Workstations are Digital's PCI-based workstations in
101small deskside boxes.
102.It DEC 3000/300-family Systems
103The DEC 3000/300 family is an early low-end series of
104TurboChannel-based workstations including the DEC 3000/300, DEC 3000/300L,
105DEC 3000/300X and DEC 3000/300LX.
106.It DEC 3000/500-family Systems
107The DEC 3000/500 family is an early, high-end family of
108TurboChannel-based workstations including the DEC 3000/400, DEC
1093000/500, DEC 3000/600, DEC 3000/700, DEC 3000/800 and DEC
1103000/900 as well as several minor variations.
111.It AlphaServer 4x00 Systems
112The AlphaServer 4x00 Systems are Digital's very fast medium server
113systems.
114.It AlphaServer 8x00 Systems
115The AlphaServer 8x00 Systems are Digital's very high-end systems,
116including the AlphaServer 8200 and AlphaServer 8400.
117.It AlphaStation 200, 250, 255, and 400 Systems
118The AlphaStation 200, 250, 255, and 400 are Digital's lower-end
119PCI-based workstations.
120.It AlphaStation 500 and 600 Systems
121The AlphaStation 500 and 600 systems are Digital's high-end PCI-based
122workstations.
123.It AXPpci Systems
124The AXPpci family is Digital's lowest-end family of PCI-based systems,
125and includes machines like the UDB and the Multia.
126.It EB164-family Systems
127Includes the Digital EB164 and third-party AlphaPC 164 systems.
128.It EB64+-family Systems
129Includes the Digital EB64+ and third-party AlphaPC 64 systems.
130.It API UP1000
131Alpha Processor, Inc.'s UP1000 system.
132.El
133.Sh LIST OF DEVICES
134The devices listed below are supported in this incarnation of the system.
135Devices are indicated by their functional interface.
136Not all supported devices are listed.
137.Pp
138.Bl -tag -width jensenio -offset indent -compact
139.It apecs
140DECchip 21072/21071 Core Logic chipset
141.It asc
142TurboChannel single-channel SCSI adapter
143.It cia
144DECchip 2117x Core Logic chipset
145.It dwlpx
146DEC DWLPA and DWLPB PCI adapter
147.It gbus
148internal bus on AlphaServer CPU modules
149.It irongate
150API UP1000 AMD751 Core Logic + AGP chipset
151.It jensenio
152DEC 2000/300 (Jensen) I/O module
153.It kft
154KFTIA and KFTHA Bus Adapter Node for I/O hoses
155.It lca
156DECchip 21066 Core Logic chipset
157.It mcbus
158MCBUS system bus found on AlphaServer 4100 systems
159.It mcpcia
160MCPCIA MCBUS-to-PCI bus adapter
161.It sableio
162AlphaServer 2100 (Sable) STD I/O module
163.It tcasic
164TurboChannel host bus support
165.It tlsb
166AlphaServer 8x00 TurboLaser System bus
167.It tsc
168DECchip 21272 Core Logic chipset
169.It tsp
170DECchip 21272 Core Logic chipset PCI controller
171.It ttwoga
172DEC T2 Gate Array
173.It ttwopci
174DEC T2 Gate Array PCI controller
175.El
176.Pp
177TurboChannel devices are supported through the
178.Xr tc 4
179bus and associated device drivers.
180.Pp
181PCI devices are supported through the
182.Xr pci 4
183bus and associated device drivers.
184.Pp
185ISA devices are supported through the
186.Xr isa 4
187bus and associated device drivers.
188.Pp
189EISA devices are supported through the
190.Xr eisa 4
191bus and associated device drivers.
192.Pp
193PCMCIA devices are supported through the
194.Xr pcmcia 4
195bus and associated device drivers.
196.Pp
197Console devices using ISA, EISA, or PCI video adaptors and standard AT
198or PS/2 keyboards are supported by the machine independent
199.Xr wscons 4
200console driver.
201.\" .Sh UNSUPPORTED DEVICES
202.\" The following devices are not supported, due to unavailability of
203.\" either documentation or sample hardware:
204.\" .Pp
205.\" .Bl -tag -width jensenio -offset indent -compact
206.\" .It not yet
207.\" .El
208.\" .Pp
209.Sh HISTORY
210This
211.Tn alpha
212.Nm intro
213appeared with
214.Nx 1.6 .
215