Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2000 09:42:11 -0800 From: Rich Morin <rdm@cfcl.com> To: freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: documenting /dev/* Message-ID: <p0500190db64fa63868b5@[192.168.168.205]>
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Here is yet another attempt at characterization, this time for the
/dev directory. Would anyone like to help me fill in some of the
question marks and/or repair mistakes?
-r
=====
notes_trees_dev, 2000.12.04
===========================
This table attempts to summarize useful information about nodes
that may be in /dev. See intro(4) and /dev/MAKEDEV for general
notes on /dev, devices, and drivers.
The rather peculiar formatting (below) of the device names is an
attempt to show how the names are constructed. For example, the
entry for /dev/nrwt (written below as "nr|w|t") describes a
non-rewinding (nr)
Wangtek (w)
tape (t)
device. Asterisks(*) and question marks(?) have their normal shell
interpretation. Please bear in mind that some of the information
below is only moderately reliable...
directory/file description man page(s)
============== =========== ===========
a|cd* ATAPI CD-ROMs ata(4)
a|d* ATA disks ata(4)
|adv? Advansys (E)ISA/VL/PCI 8bit SCSI Host adapters adv(4)
|adw Advansys PCI 16bit SCSI Host adapters adw(4)
a|fd* ATAPI floppy drives ata(4)
|agpgart AGP interface ?
|aha? Adaptec SCSI host adapters aha(4)
|ahb? Adaptec EISA SCSI host adapters ahb(4)
|ahc? Adaptec VL/EISA/PCI SCSI host adapters ahc(4)
|aic? Adaptec AIC-6[23]60 SCSI host controllers aic(4)
|alpm Acer Aladdin 15x3 Power Management controllers alpm(4)
amr|d* AMI MegaRAID disks amr(4)
|an? Aironet 4500/4800 wireless network adapter an(4)
|apm? Advanced Power Management BIOS apm(4)
|apmctl APM BIOS control device apm(4)
|ar? synchronous Digi/Arnet cards ar(4)
|arp address resolution protocol arp(4)
|asc? GI1904-based hand scanners asc(4)
a|st* ATAPI tape drives ata(4)
|audio Sparc-compatible audio device (symlink) pcm(4)
|bpf? Berkeley Packet Filters bpf(4)
|bktr* Bt848-based video acquisition card (pci) bktr(4)
|bt? Buslogic/Mylex MultiMaster SCSI host adapters bt(4)
|card? PC-CARD slots ?
cc|d* concatenated disks ccd(4)
|cd? (SCSI) CD-ROMs cd(4)
|ch? (SCSI) CD-ROM changers (i.e., juke boxes) ch(4)
|cs? Crystal Semiconductor-based Ethernet cs(4)
|csa? Crystal Semi. CS46[12]x/428x PCI bridges csa(4)
|ctx* Cortex-I video acquisition cards ?
|cua* dialout serial ports cu(1)
|cuaA* Specialix SI/XIO dialout serial ports cu(1)
|cuaD* Digiboard dialout serial ports cu(1)
|cuaR* Rocketport dialout serial ports cu(1)
|cx* asynchronous/synchronous Cronyx-Sigma adapters cx(4)
|cy? Cyclades Cyclom-Y serial interfaces cy(4)
|da* (SCSI) Direct Access devices da(4)
|daic? EICON.Diehl active ISDN cards daic(4)
|dc? DEC/Intel 21143 10/100 Ethernet dc(4)
|de? DEC DC21x4x 10/100 Ethernet de(4)
|dgb? DigiBoard intelligent serial cards dgb(4)
|dpt* DPT RAID Controller SCSI interfaces dpt(4)
|dsp digitized voice device (symlink) pcm(4)
|dspW (wide) Digitized voice device (symlink) pcm(4)
|ed? high performance Ethernet
|ef? Ethernet pseudo-device driver ef(4)
|el? 3Com Etherlink 3C501 Ethernet el(4)
|en? Midway-based ATM interfaces en(4)
|ep? 3Com Etherlink III (3c5x9) Ethernet ep(4)
|ex? Intel EtherExpress Pro/10 and Pro/10+ Ethernet ex(4)
e|r|sa* (SCSI) Sequential Access devices (e,r) sa(4)
e|sa* (SCSI) Sequential Access devices (e) sa(4)
|fd/* file descriptor file nodes fd(4)
|fd? PC architecture floppy disks fdc(4)
|fdc? PC architecture floppy disk controllers fdc(4)
|fe? Fujitsu MB86960A/MB86965A-based Ethernet fe(4)
|fea? DEC DEFEA FDDI Controllers fpa(4)
|fla* M-Systems DiskOnChip ?
|fpa? DEC DEFPA FDDI Controllers fpa(4)
|fxp? Intel EtherExpress Pro/100B Ethernet fxp(4)
|gif? Generic tunnel interface gif(4)
|gsc Genius GS-4500 hand scanner gsc(4)
|gusc Gravis UltraSound ISA bridge gusc(4)
|i4bctl? i4b(4) debugging control devices i4bctl(4)
|i4brbch? i4b(4) raw b channel access devices i4brbch(4)
|i4btel? i4b(4) telephony interfaces i4btel(4)
|i4bteld? i4b(4) telephony interfaces (dialout) i4btel(4)
|i4btrc* i4b(4) trace data interfaces i4btrc(4)
ida|d* Compaq Smart-2 RAID ?
|ie? Intel i82586-based Ethernet ie(4)
|iic? I2C generic i/o iic(4)
|imm ? imm(4)
|io I/O privilege file io(4)
|ipl IP packet log device ipl(4)
|isp Qlogic-based SCSI/FibreChannel host adapters isp(4)
|joy PC joystick joy(4)
|kbd? keyboards keyboard(4)
|kmem kernel memory file mem(4)
|kue? Kawasaki LSI KL5KUSB101B-based USB Ethernet kue(4)
|labpc* National Instrument's Lab-PC and LAB-PC+ labpc(4)
|le? DEC EtherWORKS II/III Ethernet le(4)
|lnc? AMD Lance/PCnet Ethernet lnc(4)
|lo? software loopback network interface lo(4)
|lp? printer port Internet Protocol driver lp(4)
|lpctl? line printer control devices lptcontrol(8)
|lpt? line printers lpt(4)
mat|cd* Matsushita (Panasonic) CD-ROMs matcd(4)
m|cd* Mitsumi CD-ROMs mcd(4)
m|d* Memory (or malloc) disks md(4)
|mem memory file mem(4)
|meteor* Matrox Meteor video acquisition cards (pci) meteor(4)
|midi raw midi access device (symlink) pcm(4)
|mixer control port mixer device (symlink) pcm(4)
|mlx* Mylex DAC960 RAID controllers mlx(4)
mlx|d* Mylex DAC960 RAID disk volumes mlx(4)
|mse* Logitech and ATI Inport bus mice mse(4)
|music level 2 sequencer interface (symlink) pcm(4)
|ncr NCR 53C8xx SCSI controller chips ncr(4)
|npx? Numeric Proc. Ext. coprocessor and emulator npx(4)
n|r|sa* (SCSI) Sequential Access devices (n,r) sa(4)
r|sa* (SCSI) Sequential Access devices (r) sa(4)
nr|w|t* Archive/Wangtek cartridge tapes wt(4)
|ohci OHCI USB Host Controller ohci(4)
|pass? CAM application passthrough nodes pass(4)
|pcaudio PCM audio driver pcm(4)
|pcf Philips I2C bus controller pcf(4)
|pcfclock* Parallel time sync interfaces ?
|pci PCI configuration access driver pci(4)
|pcm? PCM audio devices pcm(4)
|perfmon CPU performance-monitoring interface perfmon(4)
|pnp? PnP (Plug and Play) devices pnp(4)
|ppi? user int. to ppbus par. 'geek' port ppi(4)
|pps* Pulse per second timing interfaces ppbus(4)
|ppc? Parallel port chipset ppc(4)
|psm* PS/2 mice psm(4)
|pss Programmable device interface pcm(4)
|pt* (SCSI) Processor Types (e.g., HP scanner) pt(4)
p|ty* pseudo-terminals pty(4)
ra|cd* ATAPI CD-ROMs (r) ata(4)
ra|d* ATA disks (r) ata(4)
ra|fd* ATAPI floppy drives (r) ata(4)
|random random number devices random(4)
r|cd? (SCSI) CD-ROMs (r) cd(4)
r|da* (SCSI) Direct Access devices (r) da(4)
|rdp? RealTek RTL 8002 pocket Ethernet rdp(4)
r|fd* PC architecture floppy disks (r) fdc(4)
|rl? RealTek 8129/8139 Fast Ethernet rl(4)
r|mat|cd* Matsushita (Panasonic) CD-ROMs (r) matcd(4)
r|m|cd* Mitsumi CD-ROMs (r) mcd(4)
r|sa* (SCSI) Sequential Access devices (r) sa(4)
rs|cd* Sony CDU31/33 CD-ROMs (r) scd(4)
r|vn* vnode disks (r) vn(4)
r|wd* Generic WD100x/IDE disk controllers (r) wd(4)
rw|cd? (SCSI) CD-ROMs (rw) cd(4)
rw|fd* PC architecture floppy disks (rw) fdc(4)
rw|s|t* SCSI tapes (rw) st(4)
r|w|t* Archive/Wangtek (3M-style) cartridge tapes (r) wt(4)
|sa* (SCSI) Sequential Access devices sa(4)
|sb* Creative Labs Sound Blaster devices sb(4)
|sbc? Creative Labs Sound Blaster bridges sbc(4)
|sbmidi* Creative Labs Sound Blaster MIDI devices sb(4)
|sbxvi* Creative Labs Sound Blaster SB16 devices sb(4)
|sc? syscons console driver syscons(4)
s|cd* Sony CDU31/33 CD-ROMs scd(4)
s|d (SCSI) disks (obsolete) sd(4)
|sequencer Sequencer device (symlink) pcm(4)
|ses* SES (SCSI Environmental Services) ses(4)
|sf? Adaptec AIC-6915 "Starfire" PCI Fast Ethernet sf(4)
|si? Specialix Intl. SI/XIO or SX serial card si(4)
|sio? fast, interrupt-driven asynch. serial interface sio(4)
|sis? Silicon Integrated Systems Fast Ethernet sis(4)
|sk? SysKonnect SK-98[24]x Gigabit Ethernet sk(4)
|sl? slip network interface sl(4)
|smb? SMBUS generic I/O devices smb(4)
|snd* various sound cards pcm(4)
|snp* tty snoop devices snp(4)
|socksys iBCS2 socket system driver ibcs2(8)
|speaker PC speaker speaker(4)
|spigot Video Spigot video acquisition card ?
|sr? synchronous RISCom/N2 / WANic 400/405 devices sr(4)
s|t* SCSI tapes st(4)
|stderr Standard Error device stderr(4)
|stdin Standard Input device stderr(4)
|stdout Standard Output device stdout(4)
|ste? Sundance Technologies ST201 Fast Ethernet ste(4)
|stf 6to4 (IBV6 to IPV4) tunnel interface stf(4)
|stl? Stallion Technologies multiport serial contrs. stl(4)
|stli? Stallion Technologies multiport serial contrs. stl(4)
|sym NCR/Symbios/LSI 53C8XX PCI SCSI host adapter sym(4)
|sysmouse virtualized mouse driver sysmouse(4)
|ti? Alteon Networks Tigon {I,II} Gigabit Ethernet ti(4)
|tl? Texas Instruments ThunderLAN Ethernet tl(4)
|tty user's current terminal tty(4)
|tty* general purpose serial ports tty(4)
|ttyA* Specialix SI/XIO dialin serial ports tty(4)
|ttyD* Digiboard dialin serial ports tty(4)
|ttyR* Rocketport dialin serial ports tty(4)
|ttyv? PC console virtual screen system pcvt(4)
|tun? tunnelling IP network interfaces tun(4)
|tw? TW-523 (i.e., X-10) power control devices tw(4)
|twe? 3ware Escalade ATA RAID adapters twe(4)
|tx? SMC9432TX Fast Ethernet tx(4)
u|gen* generic USB devices usb(4)
|uhci UHCI USB Host Controller uhci(4)
u|hid* USB human interface devices usb(4)
u|lpt* USB printers usb(4),lpt(4)
u|random random number devices (unlimited) random(4)
|usb? USB devices usb(4)
u|ms? Universal Serial Device mice ums(4)
|vat VAT compatibility audio driver ?
|vga? generic video card interface vga(4)
|vn* vnode disks vn(4)
|vpo Parallel to SCSI interface driver vpo(4)
|vr? VIA Technologies VT3043 and VT86C100A Ethernet vr(4)
v|t* PC console virtual screen system pcvt(4)
v|ty* virtual console devices ?
|vx? 3Com 3c59[05] PCI Ethernet vx(4)
|wb? Winbond W89C840F Fast Ethernet wb(4)
w|d* Generic WD100x/IDE disks wd(4)
|worm (SCSI) WORM devices worm(4)
w|cd* ? Wangtek CD-ROMs ? ?
w|fd* ATAPI floppy disk drives (LS-120) wfd(4)
|wi? Lucent WaveLAN/IEEE 802.11 PCMCIA cards wi(4)
|wl? T1 speed ISA/radio LAN cards wl(4)
|worm write-once, read-many (CD-R) disks worm(4)
ws|t* ATAPI tapes wst(4)
w|t* Archive/Wangtek (3M-style) cartridge tapes wt(4)
|wx? Intel Gigabit Ethernet wx(4)
|xl? 3Com (Fast) Etherlink XL Ethernet xl(4)
|xpt? CAM transport layer interfaces xpt(4)
|zero the zero device zero(4)
--
--
Rich Morin: rdm@cfcl.com, +1 650-873-7841, http://www.cfcl.com/rdm
Prime Time Freeware: info@ptf.com, +1 408-433-9662, http://www.ptf.com
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MkLinux: http://www.mklinux.org, http://www.ptf.com/ptf/products/MKLP
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