INTRO(4)        NetBSD Programmer's Manual (SPARC Architecture)       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 SPARC platform.
     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 indirectly ac-
     cessed 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 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
     autoconf(4), bwtwo(4), cd(4), cgeight(4), cgfour(4), cgfourteen(4),
     cgsix(4), cgthree(4), cgtwo(4), ch(4), fd(4), kbd(4), le(4), magma(4),
     mem(4), ms(4), openprom(4), scsi(4), sd(4), ss(4), st(4), tcx(4), uk(4),
     config(8).

SSUUPPPPOORRTTEEDD SSYYSSTTEEMMSS
     The following Sun SPARC system architectures and models are supported:

     sun4     first generation SPARC systems on VMEbus:
              Sun 4/100 series (14.28 MHz)
              Sun 4/200 series (16.67 MHz)
              Sun 4/300 series (25 MHz)

     sun4c    desktop SPARC systems with Sbus:
              SPARCstation 1 (20 MHz)
              SPARCstation 1+ (25 MHz)
              SPARCstation 2 (40 MHz)
              SPARCstation SLC (20 MHz)
              SPARCstation ELC (33 MHz)
              SPARCstation IPC (25 MHz)
              SPARCstation IPX (40 MHz).

     sun4m    desktop SPARC systems with Mbus for CPUs, and Sbus:
              SPARC Classic (50 Mhz microSPARC I)
              SPARC LX (50 MHz microSPARC I)
              SPARCstation 4 (70 Mhz microSPARC II)
              SPARCstation 5 (70, 85, 110 MHz microSPARC II)
              SPARCstation 5 (170 MHz TurboSPARC)
              SPARCstation 10M (36 MHz SuperSPARC I)
              SPARCstation 20M (50 MHz SuperSPARC I)
              SPARCstation 10 (Mbus modules)
              SPARCstation 20 (Mbus modules)

     The SPARCstation 2 and IPX can be upgraded with a Weitek PowerUP CPU that
     is clock-doubled (i.e. internally it runs at 80 MHz).  NetBSD supports
     this configuration.

     Hardware level clones of these systems from other manufacturers will
     likely work (e.g. Xerox, Tatung, Axil, Cycle); other systems which have a
     SPARC CPU but do not use Sun's hardware architecture (e.g. Solbourne)
     will likely not work.

     The Sun 4/400 series, sun4d (SPARC Center 1000, 1000E, and 2000), and
     sun4u (UltraSPARC) architectures are not yet supported.

     The sun4m architecture with Mbus modules for the CPUs is supported with
     the following modules with only one CPU:

     SM41     40 Mhz SuperSPARC I with 1MB SuperCACHE

     SM51     50 Mhz SuperSPARC I with 1MB SuperCACHE

     SM61     60 Mhz SuperSPARC I with 1MB SuperCACHE

     SM71     75 Mhz SuperSPARC II with 1MB SuperCACHE

     NetBSD does not yet support multiprocessor systems.

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.

     audio       AMD 79C30 obio (sun4c) audio controller

     bwtwo       black and white obio frame buffer

     cgeight     24 bit VMEbus color frame buffer

     cgfour      8 bit obio (sun4 P4 bus) color graphics frame buffer

     cgfourteen  24 bit Sbus color frame buffer

     cgsix       8 bit obio (sun4c & sun4m), Sbus color graphics frame buffer

     cgthree     8 bit VMEbus, Sbus, and obio (sun4m) color graphics frame
                 buffer

     cgtwo       8 bit VMEbus color frame buffer

     eeprom      Sun non-volatile configuration RAM driver

     esp         NCR53C90 ESP100 (Sun 4/300), ESP100A (sun4c), ESP200 (sun4m)
                 SCSI controller
                 FSBE/S (X1053A, part # 501-2015) Fast SCSI-2/Buffered Ether-
                 net Sbus controller

     fd          Intel 82072 obio (sun4c) or Intel 82077 obio (sun4m) floppy
                 disk drive controller

     ie          Intel 82586 Ethernet controller (Sun 4/100)

     isp         Qlogic ISP Sbus SCSI controller

     kbd         Sun type 2, type 3, type 4, and type 5 keyboards (on zs)

     le/lebuffer
                 AMD 7990 LANCE ethernet controller (Sun 4/200, 4/300, sun4c,
                 sun4m, Sbus)

     magma       Magma Sp Serial/Parallel board device driver

     ms          Sun mouse (on zs)

     openprom    Sun Open boot PROM (what became IEEE 1275) configuration
                 driver

     power       sun4m power management; the halt(8) and shutdown(8) commands
                 can use it to power down the system.

     si          NCR5380 "SCSI-2" VMEbus (Sun 4/200, Sun 4/400) SCSI con-
                 troller

     sw          NCR5380 obio (Sun 4/100) "SCSI Wierd" SCSI controller

     tcx         8 or 24 bit Sbus color graphics frame buffer

     xd          Xylogics 753/7053 VMEbus SMD disk controller

     xy          Xylogics 450/451 VMEbus SMD disk controller

     zs          Zilog 8530 serial controller

UUNNSSUUPPPPOORRTTEEDD DDEEVVIICCEESS
     The following devices are not supported, due to unavailability of either
     documentation or sample hardware:

     bpp      Bi-directional Parallel port

     dbri     Dual Basic Rate Interface (BRI) ISDN (SPARC LX & SPARCstation
              10)

     audio    sun4m audio that is dependent on the dbri

HHIISSTTOORRYY
     This sparc iinnttrroo appeared with NetBSD 1.3.  Large chunks of text careful-
     ly recycled (shamelessly appropriated) from NetBSD/pmax intro(4).

NetBSD 1.4                      August 13, 1997                              3
