1 .\" $NetBSD: intro.4,v 1.11 2005/06/20 13:25:24 peter Exp $
3 .\" Copyright (c) 2001 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.
4 .\" All rights reserved.
6 .\" This code is derived from software contributed to The NetBSD Foundation
7 .\" by Gregory McGarry.
9 .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
10 .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
12 .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
13 .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
14 .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
15 .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
16 .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
18 .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE NETBSD FOUNDATION, INC. AND CONTRIBUTORS
19 .\" ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED
20 .\" TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
21 .\" PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE FOUNDATION OR CONTRIBUTORS
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23 .\" CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF
24 .\" SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
25 .\" INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN
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30 .Dd September 19, 2001
35 .Nd introduction to alpha special files and hardware support
37 This section describes the special files, related driver functions,
38 and networking support available in the system.
39 In this part of the manual, the
41 section of each configurable device gives a sample specification
42 for use in constructing a system description for the
47 section lists messages which may appear on the console
48 and/or in the system error log
50 due to errors in device operation; see
54 This section contains both devices which may be configured into
55 the system and network related information.
56 The networking support is introduced in
59 This section describes the hardware supported by
61 Software support for these devices comes in two forms.
62 A hardware device may be supported with a character or block
64 or it may be used within the networking subsystem and have a
65 .Em network interface driver .
66 Block and character devices are accessed through files in the file
67 system of a special type; see
69 Network interfaces are indirectly accessed through the interprocess
70 communication facilities provided by the system; see
73 A hardware device is identified to the system at configuration time
74 and the appropriate device or network interface driver is then
75 compiled into the system.
76 When the resultant system is booted, the autoconfiguration facilities
77 in the system probe for the device and, if found, enable the software
79 If a device does not respond at autoconfiguration time it is not
80 accessible at any time afterwards.
81 To enable a device which did not autoconfigure, the
82 system must be rebooted.
84 The autoconfiguration system is described in
86 A list of the supported devices is given below.
91 .\" http://www.support.compaq.com/alpha-tools/info/system-codes.html
92 .\" http://members.tripod.com/kmi9000/kmi_proc.htm
93 .\" http://www.phys.ufl.edu/~prescott/linux/alpha/dec3000-sysinfo.html
98 have produced a series of the
101 some of which are listed below, along with some systems which contain them.
105 Project distributes binary programs for its
107 port compiled for the lowest common denominator
109 instruction set, to guarantee binary compatibility across all supported
112 However, it is possible to sacrifice binary compatibility for
113 additional performance on later model CPUs with performance enhancing
114 instructions (e.g. the 21164-A and later with the BWX extensions).
115 This requires recompiling from source code, with appropriate options given to
117 to indicate the target
127 and the number following is a reference to the
129 process used to make the chips.
131 stands for Low Cost Alpha, and
133 stands for PC-architecture Alpha.
160 Digital's lower-end PCI-based workstations.
162 AlphaStation 200 4/100-166
165 AlphaStation 400 4/166
169 AlphaServer 2000 4/200
172 AlphaServer 2100 4/200
252 Digital's lower-end PCI-based workstations.
254 AlphaStation 200 4/233
257 AlphaStation 205 4/133-333
260 AlphaStation 250 4/300
263 AlphaStation 255 4/133-333
266 AlphaStation 300 4/266
269 AlphaStation 400 4/233-300
273 AlphaServer 2000 4/233-275
276 AlphaServer 2100 4/233-275
292 Digital's lowest-end family of PCI-based systems.
297 Universal Desktop Box AXPpci166MT
301 21066 evaluation motherboard
311 21066-A evaluation motherboard
324 Universal Desktop Box AXPpci233MT
337 AlphaStation 500/266-333
340 AlphaStation 600/266-300
347 AlphaServer 2000 5/250-300
350 AlphaServer 2100 5/250-300
354 AlphaServer 1000 5/300
358 AlphaServer 1000A 5/300
363 AlphaServer 4000 5/266-300
366 AlphaServer 4000 5/266-300
369 AlphaServer 4100 5/266-300
373 AlphaServer 8200 and 8400
376 21164 evaluation motherboard
389 AlphaStation 500/333-500
391 .It Personal Workstation Pq PWS
403 AlphaServer 2100 5/375-400
406 AlphaServer 2000 5/375-400
410 AlphaServer 1000 5/333-500
414 AlphaServer 1000A 5/333-500
417 AlphaServer 600A 5/500
420 AlphaServer 800 5/333-500
425 AlphaServer 4000 5/400-666
428 AlphaServer 4000 5/400-666
431 AlphaServer 4100 5/400-666
434 AlphaServer 1200 5/400-666
437 AlphaServer 1200 5/400-666
441 AlphaPC 164 motherboard
444 AlphaPC 164LX motherboard
451 rebadged AlphaServer 800 for NT
456 rebadged AlphaServer 1200 for NT
461 rebadged AlphaServer 4100 for NT
464 AlphaServer 8200 and 8400
467 APi AlphaPC 164UX motherboard
474 0.35 micron, MVI, no L2 cache
477 AlphaPC 164SX motherboard
496 APi UP1000 and UP1100;
497 AMD 751-based EV6 systems.
499 264DP, XP1000, DS10, DS20, APi UP2000, UP2000+
500 Tsunami-based systems.
521 The devices listed below are supported in this incarnation of the system.
522 Devices are indicated by their functional interface.
523 Not all supported devices are listed.
525 .Bl -tag -width jensenio -offset indent -compact
527 DECchip 21072/21071 Core Logic chipset
529 TURBOchannel single-channel SCSI adapter
531 DECchip 2117x Core Logic chipset
533 DEC DWLPA and DWLPB PCI adapter
535 internal bus on AlphaServer CPU modules
537 APi UP1000 AMD751 Core Logic + AGP chipset
539 DEC 2000/300 (Jensen) I/O module
541 KFTIA and KFTHA Bus Adapter Node for I/O hoses
543 DECchip 21066 Core Logic chipset
545 MCBUS system bus found on AlphaServer 4100 systems
547 MCPCIA MCBUS-to-PCI bus adapter
549 AlphaServer 2100 (Sable) STD I/O module
551 TURBOchannel host bus support
553 AlphaServer 8x00 TurboLaser System bus
555 DECchip 21272 Core Logic chipset
557 DECchip 21272 Core Logic chipset PCI controller
561 DEC T2 Gate Array PCI controller
564 TURBOchannel devices are supported through the
566 bus and associated device drivers.
568 PCI devices are supported through the
570 bus and associated device drivers.
572 ISA devices are supported through the
574 bus and associated device drivers.
576 EISA devices are supported through the
578 bus and associated device drivers.
580 PCMCIA devices are supported through the
582 bus and associated device drivers.
584 Console devices using ISA, EISA, or PCI video adaptors and standard AT
585 or PS/2 keyboards are supported by the machine independent
588 .\" .Sh UNSUPPORTED DEVICES
589 .\" The following devices are not supported, due to unavailability of
590 .\" either documentation or sample hardware:
592 .\" .Bl -tag -width jensenio -offset indent -compact