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3.1 Logical Names

3.1.4 Device Drivers

The device driver is the software that operates the controller. This software must be available to the kernel if you wish to use the device. The device drivers must match the device that you wish to use. Drivers perform functions to: probe, attach, open, close, read, write, reset, stop, timeout, select, strategy, dump, psize, ioctl, and process transmit and receive interrupts for a device. When a program attempts to access a device the kernel traps the request, looks up the appropriate information in it's tables, and transfers control to the device driver.


Unix System Administration - 8 AUG 1996
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