About This Manual
This manual discusses how to write network device drivers for computer systems that run the Compaq Tru64™ UNIX operating system.
Audience
This manual is intended for systems engineers who:
•Use standard library routines to develop programs in the C language
•Know the Bourne shell or some other shell that is based on the UNIX operating system
•Understand basic Tru64 UNIX concepts such as kernel, shell, process, configuration, and autoconfiguration
•Understand how to use the Tru64 UNIX programming tools, compilers, and debuggers
•Develop programs in an environment that involves dynamic memory allocation, linked list data structures, and multitasking
•Understand the hardware device for which the driver is being written
•Understand the basics of the CPU hardware architecture, including interrupts, direct memory access (DMA) operations, and I/O
Before you write a network device driver, we recommend that you be familiar with the networking subsystem that the Tru64 UNIX operating system provides. This manual assumes that you are familiar with the following network interface types:
•Ethernet
•Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI)
•Token Ring
See the Tru64 UNIX Technical Overview for descriptions of the data link media.
This manual also assumes that you have some knowledge of the Tru64 UNIX network programming environment, particularly:
•Data link provider interface
•X/Open transport interface
•Sockets
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