.\"	$OpenBSD: intro.4,v 1.37 2014/09/19 12:24:38 schwarze Exp $
.\"	$NetBSD: intro.4,v 1.3 1996/03/03 17:13:44 thorpej Exp $
.\"
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.\"     from: @(#)intro.4	6.6 (Berkeley) 3/27/91
.\"
.Dd $Mdocdate: September 19 2014 $
.Dt INTRO 4 vax
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm intro
.Nd introduction to special files and hardware support
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The manual pages in section 4 describe 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 specification
for use in constructing a system description for the
.Xr config 8
program.
The DIAGNOSTICS section lists messages which may appear on the console
and/or in the system error log
.Pa /var/log/messages
due to errors in device operation;
see
.Xr syslogd 8
for more information.
.Pp
This section contains both devices
which may be configured into the system
and network related information.
The networking support is introduced in
.Xr netintro 4 .
.Sh DEVICE SUPPORT
This section describes the hardware supported on the
.Tn DEC
.Tn VAX .
Software support for these devices comes in two forms.
A hardware device may be supported with a character or block
.Em device driver ,
or it may be used within the networking subsystem and have a
.Em network interface driver .
Block and character devices are accessed through files in the file
system of a special type; see
.Xr mknod 8 .
Network interfaces are indirectly accessed through the interprocess
communication facilities provided by the system; see
.Xr socket 2 .
.Pp
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 autoconfiguration
time it is not accessible at any time afterwards.
To enable a device which did not autoconfigure,
the system will have to be rebooted.
.Pp
The autoconfiguration system is described in
.Xr autoconf 4 .
A list of the supported devices is given below.
.Sh LIST OF DEVICES
The devices listed below are supported in this incarnation of
the system.
Pseudo-devices are not listed.
Devices are indicated by their functional interface.
Not all supported devices are listed.
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width mscpbus(4) -compact -offset indent
.It Xr asc 4
VAXstation 4000 SCSI controller
.It Xr cons 4
VAX console interface
.It Xr de 4
DEC DEUNA/DELUA Ethernet device
.It Xr dhu 4
DHU-11/DHV-11 communications multiplexer
.It Xr dz 4
DZ-11 multiplexer device interface
.It Xr fwio 4
Firefox Workstation I/O module
.It Xr gpx 4
GPX color frame buffer
.It Xr ibus 4
VAX internal bus
.It Xr lcg 4
Low-Cost Graphics color frame buffer
.It Xr lcspx 4
Low-Cost SPX color frame buffer
.It Xr le 4
AMD LANCE Ethernet device
.It Xr led 4
VAX LED driver
.It Xr legss 4
Low-End Graphics Subsystem
.It Xr lkkbd 4
LK200/LK400 keyboard driver
.It Xr lkms 4
serial mouse driver
.It Xr mbus 4
VAXstation 35x0 and 38x0 bus
.It Xr mscpbus 4
MSCP device bus
.It Xr mt 4
TM78/ TU-78 MASSBUS magtape interface
.It Xr mtc 4
UNIBUS MSCP tape controller driver
.It Xr ncr 4
VAXstation 2000/3100 SCSI controller
.It Xr qe 4
DEC DEQNA Q-bus Ethernet device
.It Xr qsc 4
SC26C94 quad UART controller
.It Xr ra 4
MSCP disk controller interface
.It Xr rx 4
DEC RX02 floppy disk interface
.It Xr sii 4
SII DSSI and SCSI controller
.It Xr smg 4
Small Monochrome Graphics frame buffer
.It Xr uba 4
UNIBUS/Q-bus controller
.It Xr uda 4
UDA50 disk controller interface
.It Xr vsaudio 4
VAXstation audio device
.It Xr vsbus 4
VAXstation bus
.It Xr vxtbus 4
VXT2000 bus
.It Xr ze 4
SGEC Ethernet device
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr autoconf 4 ,
.Xr config 8
.Sh HISTORY
A very brief
.Tn VAX
.Nm intro
first appeared in
.At III .
This more detailed version appeared in
.Bx 4.2 .