NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     pnpbios -- support for embedded devices on the motherboard

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     The pnpbios driver enumerates embedded ISA devices on the motherboard
     whose BIOS supports ``Plug and Play BIOS Specification''.	It assigns ISA
     bus resources (interrupt line, DMA channel, I/O ports, and memory region)
     to each device and activates it.

     If it cannot assign necessary resources to a device without causing conflict
 with other devices in the system, the device will not be activated
     and will be unavailable to programs.

CAVEAT    [Toc]    [Back]

     There is no explicit way to disable individual embedded devices.  The
     pnpbios driver will find all devices reported by the ``Plug and Play
     (PnP)'' BIOS and try to activate them all.

     There is no way to explicitly assign particular resource to a device.
     The resource assignment is fully automatic and there is no provision for
     manual override.

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     pnp(4)

STANDARDS    [Toc]    [Back]

     Compaq, Phenix, and Intel, Plug and Play BIOS Specification Version 1.0A,
     May 5, 1994.

     Compaq, Phenix, and Intel, Plug and Play BIOS CLARIFICATION Paper for
     Plug and Play BIOS Specification Version 1.0A, October 6, 1994.

HISTORY    [Toc]    [Back]

     The pnpbios driver first appeared in FreeBSD 4.0.

AUTHORS    [Toc]    [Back]

     The pnpbios driver was written by Mike Smith.


FreeBSD 5.2.1		      September 20, 2001		 FreeBSD 5.2.1