HPUX intro[7]

 intro(7)                                                           intro(7)





 NAME
      intro - introduction to special files

 DESCRIPTION
      This section describes various special files that refer to specific HP
      peripherals and device drivers.  The names of the entries are
      generally derived from the type of device being described (disk,
      plotter, etc.), not the names of the special files themselves.
      Characteristics of both the hardware device and the corresponding HP-
      UX device driver are discussed where applicable.

      The devices are divided into two categories, unblocked and blocked. An
      unblocked device is also called a raw or character-mode device.  An
      unblocked device such as a line printer uses a character special file.

      Blocked devices, as the name implies, transfer data in blocks by means
      of the system's normal buffering mechanism.  Block devices use block
      special files.

      For specific details about the default special files shipped with your
      system, consult the system administrator manuals for your system.

      A name becomes associated with a specific device when the special file
      is created for that device by using the mkdev script or mknod command
      (see mkdev(1M) and mknod(1M)).  When creating special files, it is
      recommended that the following naming convention be followed.  For
      disk and tape, it is identical with that used on other UNIX systems,
      and is independent of the hardware.

      The following format is for tape device file names:

           /dev/rmt/(c#d)#[hml]{c}{n}{b}

      where c#d indicates the controller number (which is optionally
      specified by the system administrator), # is the device number, hml
      indicates the density (h (high) for 6250 bpi, m (medium) for 1600 bpi,
      and l (low) for 800 bpi), c indicates data compression, n indicates no
      rewind on close and b indicates Berkeley style device, e.g.,
      /dev/rmt/2mnb.

      The following format is for QIC tape device file names:

           /dev/rmt/(c#d)#qic[525|150|120]{n}{b}

      where c#d indicates the controller number (which is optionally
      specified by the system administrator), # is the device number,
      qic525|150|120 indicates the QIC format (qic (without a format number,
      i.e. default format) specifies the best density format for the drive
      and currently loaded medium, qic525 for QIC-525/320 format, qic150 for
      QIC-150 format, and qic120 for QIC-120 format), n indicates no rewind
      on close and b indicates Berkeley style device, e.g.,



 Hewlett-Packard Company            - 1 -     HP-UX Release 9.0: August 1992






 intro(7)                                                           intro(7)





      /dev/rmt/2qic525nb.

      The following format is for hard disk device file names:


           /dev/{r}dsk/(r)(c#d)#s#

      where r indicates a raw interface to the disk, the second r indicates
      that this disk is on a remote system, the c#d indicates the controller
      number (which is optionally specified by the system administrator),
      and #s# indicates the drive and section numbers, respectively.

 WARNINGS
      Several other naming conventions have been used in the past for given
      devices.  Using ln(1) to create a link between the old name and the
      new standard name is useful as a temporary expedient until all
      programs using the old naming convention have been converted.

      In general, device drivers are not portable across systems.  However,
      every effort has been made to make their behavior portable.  Due to
      variation in hardware, this is not always possible.  Programs that use
      these drivers directly are at higher-than-average risk of not being
      portable.

 SEE ALSO
      hier(5).

      The introduction to this manual.

      The system administrator manual for your system.
























 Hewlett-Packard Company            - 2 -     HP-UX Release 9.0: August 1992