DEC OSF/1 Writing EISA Bus Device Drivers

This document is a technical guide for systems engineers on how to write device drivers that operate on the Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus for the DEC OSF/1 operating system.

Key contents include:

• Concepts and Architecture: An overview of EISA bus hardware and software architectures, including address spaces, data sizes, and byte ordering.
• Driver Structure: Guidance on the required sections of a device driver, such as include files, autoconfiguration support, and specific interface implementations (e.g., probe and slave).
• Data Structures: Detailed information on controller structures and other EISA-specific data structures required for driver development.
• Autoconfiguration: A discussion of the autoconfiguration process for EISA devices, including the roles of the expansion board configuration file, the device configuration file, and the EISA Configuration Utility (ECU).
• Example Driver: A comprehensive breakdown and source listing of the /dev/envram character device driver, which provides read/write services for an EISA-based NVRAM memory expansion board.
• Reference Information: Appendices providing reference material on header files, data structures, and driver interfaces specific to the EISA bus.