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Technical Q&As: Hardware
The SCSI Parallel Interface is an industry-standard parallel data bus that provides a fast, consistent method of connecting computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI Architecture Model-3 specification expands the term SCSI to define an architecture that treats devices that adhere to the SCSI Architecture Model specifications in a consistent manner, independent of the physical bus to which the device is attached. Developers can write software that communicates with or controls SCSI devices and SCSI Architecture Model devices. Mac OS X supports application-level access to all devices that declare peripheral device types other than $00, $05, $07, or $0E.

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Generating an NMI Without a Programmer's Switch (HTML) ()
QA1264: Explains how to generate a non-maskable interrupt (NMI) on CPUs without programmer's switches.
2004-04-26
Issues with boot time KEXT loading (HTML) ()
QA1087: Explains how to solve problems with loading KEXTs at boot time.
2004-01-15
Installing an I/O Kit KEXT Without Rebooting (HTML)
QA1319: Describes the state of the art of installing I/O Kit kernel extensions (KEXTs) without requiring a restart.
2003-10-28
SCSIAction and IOSCSIUserClient on Mac OS X 10.2 (HTML) ()
QA1201: Describes migrating to a new API for SCSI Parallel devices starting with Mac OS X 10.2.
2002-09-13
Retain Counts of io_object_t Objects in IOKit.framework (HTML) ()
QA1195: Distinguishes between the retain counts of an I/O Kit kernel object and its io_object_t user space proxy.
2002-09-04
Sending SCSI commands to storage devices (HTML) ()
QA1179: Explains that Mac OS X does not implement SCSI pass-through for many mass storage devices.
2002-08-06
Workaround for Asynchronous SCSIAction Crashes (HTML) ()
Deprecated - QA1129: Explains how to workaround asynchronous SCSIAction crashes on Mac OS X.
2002-03-21
IODeviceTree & the IORegistry (HTML) ()
QA1120: Describes the IODeviceTree plane in the Mac OS X IORegistry.
2002-02-13
Making sense of IOKit error codes (HTML) ()
QA1075: Explains how to interpret I/O Kit error codes.
2002-02-07
IOKit Framework Headers (HTML) ()
QA1107: Describes the differences between the headers in IOKit.framework and the I/O Kit headers in Kernel.framework.
2002-01-15
Adding dependencies with kmodload (HTML)
QA1097: Illustrates how to specify dependencies when using kmodload.
2001-12-05
The dreaded "incompatible flag -framework" error (HTML)
QA1096: Explains how to eliminate the incompatible flag -framework error in Project Builder.
2001-12-05
Open Firmware and the devalias node (HTML)
HW95: Describes why the contents of the Open Firmware devalias node varies between Macintosh models.
2000-09-05
The "packages" node in the device tree (HTML)
HW90: Describes the "packages" node in the Open Firmware device tree.
2000-09-05
A SCSI little secret (HTML)
HW81: Details what to expect when accessing the motherboard SCSI bus on the Blue & White G3.
1999-12-20
Is the Open Firmware device tree object oriented? (HTML)
HW80: Discusses the object-oriented attributes of the Open Firmware device tree.
1999-11-15
Sample code for allocating an amount of dictionary space (HTML)
HW71: Discusses the allocation and the setting of memory for Dictionary space in Open Firmware.
1999-10-11
What is the "dump" word and how do I use it? (HTML)
HW68: Describes the function of the Open Firmware word "dump" and how it can be used.
1999-10-11
What numeric base is the default for the Open Firmware user interface? (HTML)
HW65: Describes how the default numeric base used by the Open Firmware user interface is hexadecimal.
1999-10-11
Determining Open Firmware configuration variables (HTML) ()
HW56: Discusses how to determine the Open Firmware variables on a system.
1999-03-29
Expansion ROM device properties (HTML) ()
HW50: Describes the Open Firmware properties that should be included in a boot device's expansion ROM.
1999-03-29
Getting started with Forth (HTML) ()
HW53: Describes where FCode driver developers can get information about the Forth programming language.
1999-03-29
Why did the name of the PCI bridge change? (HTML) ()
HW59: Explains the name change of the PCI bridge to the generic name "pci" in Open Firmware.
1999-03-29
Are interrupts enabled while Open Firmware is running? (HTML) ()
HW44: Explains that interrupts are disabled when Open Firmware is running.
1999-02-15
What are configuration variables in Open Firmware? (HTML) ()
HW38: Defines the configuration variables in Open Firmware.
1999-02-15
SCSI ID from vRefNum (HTML) ()
DV29: Legacy Mac OS technique for identifying the ID of a SCSI Parallel device containing a specified disk volume.
1997-05-23
Detecting a CD-ROM (HTML) ()
DV18: Demonstrates CD-ROM drive detection.
1997-01-31
PCI Type 1 Cycles (HTML)
HW26: Describes the circumstances when the PowerMac generates a Configuration Type 1 command.
1995-07-15
ANSI SCSI Standards (HTML)
Deprecated - DV03: Describes past Macintosh systems that did not fully support the ANSI SCSI-1 standard.
1995-07-01
Getting a List of Drivers & LUNs (logical unit numbers) (HTML)
Deprecated - DV04: Describes a legacy Mac OS technique for obtaining a list of SCSI Parallel drivers, devices, and LUNs.
1995-07-01