pnpdump(8)
NAME
pnpdump - Dump ISA Plug-And-Play devices resource informa
tion
SYNOPSIS
pnpdump [ --help ] [ --config ] [ --script[=outputfile] ] [ --reset ] [ --ignorecsum ] [ --masks ] [ --dumpregs ] [ --max-realtime=t ] [ --version ] [ --debug-isolate ] [ --outputfile=outputfile] [ [ devs ] readport ]
DESCRIPTION
pnpdump will scan all the ISA PnP cards, dumping their
resource data to stdout. The resource data is supposed to
be a description of the resources (IO ports, interrupts,
DMA channels) that the card would like, or needs, to use
to work. It is stored in a small ROM on the card, which
can be read as part of the Plug and Play configuration
process.
Note that some manufacturers are rather lax about the con
tents of this ROM, particularly if the card is not
required for booting, so the resource data may not be
accurate. As they also typically provide a DOS/Windows
driver for the card, they really only need to be able to
recognise it, as the driver can then complete the configu
ration.
The output of pnpdump is in a form that can be used by
isapnp, except that the actual configuration statements
are commented out. See isapnp.conf(5) for details of the
format.
By default, pnpdump will reset all the Card Serial Num
bers, then ISOLATE each one and allocate it a handle (Card
Select Number). This process will include trying different
readport addresses until a suitable one is found avoiding
conflicts with other hardware. For a description of what
the readport is, see the relevant entry in isapnp.conf(5).
As of the isapnptools 1.12 release, any existing configu
ration settings will be unaffected.
If a single parameter is provided, this will be used as
the minimum readport address to start scanning. This may
be chosen to avoid an unfortunate conflict.
- To skip the Isolation process, both additional parameters
may be supplied: - Parameters
- devs is the number of PnP cards that the BIOS has found,
ISOLATEd and allocated CSNs to in the system. Note
that if this is greater than the actual number of
cards in the system, pnpdump will stop scanning
when it receives a first serial identifier byte of
0xff (this is what happens when there isn't a card
with that CSN).If this parameter is provided, then pnpdump will not ISOLATE each card and assign CSNs, however, the
readport provided must be the same as the one the BIOS used. This could be difficult to determine if
it is not assigned via a BIOS setup screen. - readport is the address of the readport to use for the
Plug-And-Play access. The number base is determined
by the format: a leading 0x implies hex, a leading
0 implies octal, otherwise decimal is assumed.The address of the readport must be chosen to avoid any conflicts with existing (non Plug and Play)
hardware, and must be in the range 0x203..0x3ff.If the readport is specified without devs, then this is the minimum readport to use when scanning for a suitable one. - Note that for the two parameter option to work, you must
have a PnP BIOS which has already carried out the ISOLA
TION process correctly, and you must know what readport address the BIOS used. - pnpdump will run with real-time scheduling if possible to
achieve the required IO timings. This will lock out all
normal programs while it executes. In version 1.19 and
later of isapnptools, pnpdump will only run in this mode for 5 seconds (or as set on the command line), it then
reverts to standard scheduling like any other program.
Previous versions should only be run from a standard con
sole as ^C will kill it from there. If you run the command
remotely (and X counts as remote), you will not be able to
kill it as no other programs can run. - Options
- -h, --help
Show a help summary.
- -c, --config
attempt to determine safe settings to which the
devices can be set, and uncomment those settings in
the output. pnpdump will use information in the
/proc filesystem and the contents of the
/etc/isapnp.gone file to discover system resources
that have already been allocated, if these facili
ties are available on the system.Note that if the resource allocation is impossible,
pnpdump is not intelligent enough to realise this
and may hang trying to find a solution. - -d, --dumpregs
this will cause pnpdump will dump all the standard
configuration registers for each board.Note that this dump is dumping the physical regis
ters, and will thus show the settings that have
been put in there by the BIOS, or some cards will
put a default setting in. Unused registers read
back as 0. - -D, --debug-isolate
this will cause pnpdump to output loads of extra
information, showing the actual data received dur
ing the isolation process. You'll probably need the
ISAPnP spec to work out what it means. - -i, --ignorecsum
this will cause pnpdump will ignore checksum errors
when deciding if the readport address is good. Sec
tion 3.3.2 of the spec suggests that a bad checksum
should cause the readport to be rejected. In real ity, it seems to be possible for the checksum to be
bad for reasons other than a readport address con flict, and in this situation all readport addresses will be rejected resulting in no boards found.Using this flag allows the boards to still be
found. Boards with a bad identifier checksum will
have the identifier corrected by the resource data
if the resource data identifier has a good check
sum. - -r, --reset
Carry out a full configuration reset, rather than
just resetting the CSNs. DANGEROUS as this could reset PnP boards in active use by the kernel,
resulting in a lockup or worse. - -m, --masks
Print the lists of acceptable interrupts and direct
memory access (DMA) channels as binary bitmasks.
For example, print "IRQ mask 0x03" instead of "IRQ
1, 2, or 3". - -o, --outputfile=filename
write all output to the file specified, rather than
stdout. This option is not available in the DOS
version. - -t t, --max-realtime=t
Set the maximum time the process can run at realtime priority to t seconds. If t is set to 0, the
timeout is disabled; in this case you must run the
program from a normal text console to allow it to
be aborted via control-C if it hangs. The default
timeout is 5 seconds. After the timeout has
expired, the process runs with normal scheduling,
which means it may go a lot slower, but will pre
vent locking up the comupter (if it hangs while
running under X windows for example). This option
is only available when compiled with real time
scheduling support. - -s, --script[=outputscript]
write a shell script to the specified file that can
be used to configure the system based on what ISA
PnP boards were found and how they were configured.
Note that the script generated uses array vari
ables, so you need bash version 2 and later to run
them. This option is not available in the DOS ver
sion.If --script is specified without an argument, then
the script is piped (using popen) directly into a
shell (sh) process. This is really useful only
with --config.For each card, the script tries to execute the
shell script /etc/pnp/config-scripts/isa/PRODUCT_ID
or, failing that, /usr/share/pnp/configscripts/isa/PRODUCT_ID. The generated shell script
will try the compatible device ID's if any can any
are in the ISA PnP information and no script for
the device itself can be found.The /usr/share directory contents are the standard
location, while the /etc directory is for you to
put your customized versions of these scripts. You
should write these shell scripts to generate the
file /etc/conf.modules.isapnp at boot time, and
then do something like "cat /etc/conf.mod
ules.isapnp /etc/conf.modules.base > /etc/conf.mod
ules", so that you can automatically configure the
modules for the devices that you have. - -v, --version
Print the isapnptools version number on stderr.
FILES
- /sbin/pnpdump
- The executable.
- /etc/isapnp.conf
- The resting place of the editted output.
/etc/isapnp.gone The standard place for describing
resources that are unavailable, but not flagged as
such in /proc/* etc. The format of this file is
explained in the example provided with isapnptools.
BUGS
If the resource allocation is impossible, pnpdump -c is
not intelligent enough to realise this and may hang trying
to find a solution.
Check http://www.roestock.demon.co.uk/isapnptools/ for
latest information and FAQ.
If you think you have found one not mentioned in the lat
est version, please send a report to isapnp@roe
stock.demon.co.uk.
WARNING
This program can reset all your Plug-and-Play devices. It
can also lock up your machine. Use at your own risk.
AUTHOR
pnpdump has been written by Peter Fox <fox@roe
stock.demon.co.uk>, the creator and maintainer of isap
nptools.
AVAILABILITY
The latest version of the sources may be obtained by ftp
from ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/unix/linux/utils
Or follow the pointer from my web page at http://www.roe
stock.demon.co.uk/isapnptools/
REFERENCES
Plug and Play ISA Specification, Version 1.0a, May 5,
1994. Available from ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/devel
opr/drg/Plug-and-Play/Pnpspecs