Generic Device Names

Some devices specify a generic device name as the value for the name property. Generic device names describe the function of a device without actually identifying a specific driver for the device. For example, a SCSI host bus adapter might have a generic device name of scsi. An Ethernet device might have a generic device name of ethernet.

The compatible property enables the system to determine alternate driver names for devices with a generic device name, for example, glm for scsi HBA device drivers or hme for ethernet device drivers.

Devices with generic device names are required to supply a compatible property.

For a complete description of generic device names, see the IEEE 1275 Open Firmware Boot Standard.

The following figure shows a device node with a specific device name. The driver binding name SUNW,ffb is the same name as the device node name.

Figure 2–4 Specific Driver Node Binding

The following figure shows a device node with the generic device name display. The driver binding name SUNW,ffb is the first name on the compatible property driver list that matches a driver on the system driver list. In this case, display is a generic device name for frame buffers.

Figure 2–5 Generic Driver Node Binding