mfpd(7)

mfpd -- Multifunction Parallel Port Driver

Description

The Multifunction Parallel Port Driver (mfpd) controls access to the parallel ports in the system. Various types of devices such as printers or tape drives may be connected to the parallel ports. The drivers for these devices access the associated parallel port hardware only after requesting, and subsequently having been granted, control of each port by the mfpd driver. A driver that requests control of a particular port may have its request denied if access to that port has already been granted to another driver. In this case, a driver-supplied callback routine is used to notify the requesting driver when the desired port has become available. Once access to a parallel port is granted, the driver is free to access the port hardware as required. After using a port, each driver must relinquish control of the port to the mfpd driver. No driver is permitted to access the parallel port hardware without first obtaining permission from the mfpd driver.

The mfpd driver is implemented as a loadable driver module. Drivers that access the parallel port hardware must include a dependency reference to the mfpd driver in their configuration files.

Files

/dev/mfpd*
/usr/include/sys/mfpd.h
/usr/include/sys/mfpdhw.h