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INTRO(4)							      INTRO(4)

NAME
       intro - introduction to special files and hardware support

DESCRIPTION
       This  section  describes	 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(8)  program.   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; see syslogd(8) for more information.

       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).

DEVICE SUPPORT
       This section describes the hardware supported  on  the  NeXT  computer.
       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	UNIBUS	device	does  not  respond  at
       autoconfiguration time it is not accessible at any time afterwards.  To
       enable a UNIBUS device which did not  autoconfigure,  the  system  will
       have  to	 be rebooted.  If a MASSBUS device comes ``on-line'' after the
       autoconfiguration sequence it will be dynamically  autoconfigured  into
       the running system.

       The autoconfiguration system is described in autoconf(4).

SEE ALSO
       intro(4N), autoconf(4), config(8).

4th Berkeley Distribution	 June 1, 1986			      INTRO(4)

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