Re: System interface with PCI

[mlelstv%serpens.de@localhost (Michael van Elst)]

rockyhotas%post.com@localhost ("Rocky Hotas") writes:

>/dev/pci# are the PCI bus access devices (I have from pci0 to pci7, but just pci0 is usable). A simple
>ktruss pcictl pci0 list
>showed that pcictl uses /dev/pci0. The file is opened and a huge amount (hundreds) of ioctl calls is made.

All pci busses are usuable, but for pcictl you can use any of the devices almost interchangeably.


>Anyway, what about writing, or reading, some raw data in the PCI bus to a certain device? Can a user do it?

Obviously there is no generic ("raw") hardware access, as this would bypass every access control or security
measure in the system.

Some drivers may allow to map some part of the hardware into userspace. Videocards for example usually let
you map their framebuffers.
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                                Michael van Elst
Internet: mlelstv%serpens.de@localhost
                                "A potential Snark may lurk in every tree."