As of Release 10.0, the HP-UX I/O system is largely converged,
allowing for an environment that supports a greater flexibility
of bus architectural combinations. This is seen most dramatically
on Model K (8x9) systems, which have capabilities
previously found only on Series 700 workstations.
From an administrative perspective, I/O convergence means
that the vast majority of configuration tasks are now performed
identically, whether for a Series 700 or Series 800 system. Device
file names on both architectures are consistent (the naming convention
is explained in the next section), and drivers have been streamlined
to work in this converged environment.
Think of the drivers as belonging to one of two broad categories,
according to the PA-RISC bus architecture on which they run — the
Server I/O (SIO) system and the Workstation I/O (WSIO) system. The
SIO driver environment includes Series 800 CIO and HP-PB bus architectures.
The WSIO driver environment supports bus architectures traditionally
associated with Series 700 workstations, and provides greater openness
for use of third-party interfaces and devices.
Throughout this manual, the terms Series 700 and 800 continue
to be used, as the command uname -m continues to report Series 700 or 800 model numbers.
Although we use the terms Series 700 and Series 800 when we describe
drivers, we are really implying WSIO or SIO driver environments.
These separate environments permit only those drivers required by
a given bus architecture to be configured into the kernel as needed
(for example, only WSIO drivers on a legacy Series 700 system or
SIO d WSIO drivers on a Series 800 system).
Read the /usr/conf/master.d/core-hpux file to better understand the architectural context
dependencies. Also, consult master(4) in the HP-UX
Reference.
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