About This Guide
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## About This Guide

This guide explains how to use the system-level IRIX utilities available with IRIS workstations and servers to set up and maintain peripheral devices, such as terminals, modems, printers, and DVD, CD-ROM and tape drives.

If you have a graphics workstation, you may find it convenient to use the System Manager, which is described in the Personal System Administration Guide . That guide should be your first resource for administering graphics workstations. The task managers available from the System Manager, which relate to topics covered in this document, are the Serial Device Manager for managing terminals and modems and the Printer Manager for managing printers.

Regardless of whether you use the System Manager or the IRIX command-line interface, the results are the same. The System Manager does not create any new files on your system, whereas applications such as IRIS WorkSpace do create new files.

If you do not have a graphics-capable monitor, this book and the other books in the IRIX Admin suite are your primary guides to system administration, because without graphics, you cannot use the System Manager. This guide does not describe the System Manager; it covers the traditional shell command approach to administering peripherals with the IRIX operating system. This guide also does not describe hardware cable connections. Refer to your Owner's Guide and device documentation for information on how to attach peripheral devices.

## What This Guide Contains

IRIX Admin: Peripheral Devices contains the following chapters:

- Chapter 1, “Terminals and Modems”, describes how to set up and maintain serial terminals and modems.

- Chapter 2, “Printers”, provides instruction on the installation and maintenance of local and networked printers.

- Chapter 3, “DVD, CD-ROM, Floptical, and Floppy Disk Drives”, describes the setup and maintenance of DVD, CD-ROM, and floppy drives.

- Chapter 4, “Tape Drives”, lists the steps to add, maintain, and use tape drives.

- Chapter 5, “Troubleshooting”, provides general problem-solving information and check-out procedures. It also describes specific problems that can occur with peripheral devices and suggests solutions.

- Appendix A, “Error Messages”, lists error messages, their meanings, and what to do about them.

- Appendix B, “Peripheral Device Files”, contains a list of peripheral device files and directories that reside in the `/dev` directory.

## Conventions

These type conventions and symbols are used in this guide:

Convention | Meaning
`command` | This fixed-space font denotes literal items (such as commands, files, routines, path names, signals, messages, programming language structures, and e-mail addresses) and items that appear on the screen.
variable | Italic typeface denotes variable entries and words or concepts being defined.
`user input` | This bold, fixed-space font denotes literal items that the user enters in interactive sessions. Output is shown in nonbold, fixed-space font.
[] | Brackets enclose optional portions of a command or directive line.
... | Ellipses indicate that a preceding element can be repeated.
`manpage`(x) | Man page section identifiers appear in parentheses after man page names.

## Additional Resources

Following are additional resources that may be beneficial in providing information about the UNIX operating system and its administration.

Bach, M. The Design of the UNIX Operating System. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1986.

Fiedler, D., and B. Hunter UNIX System V Release 4 Administration. Carmel, Ind. : Hayden Books, 1991.

Frisch, A., Essential System Administration. Sebastopol, Calif.: O'Reilly & Associates, 1991.

Gilly, D. UNIX in a Nutshell. Sebastopol, Calif.: O'Reilly & Associates, 1992.

Hunt,C. TCP/IP Network Administration. Sebastopol, Calif.: O'Reilly & Associates, 1992).

Leffler, S. The Design and Implementation of the 4.3 BSD UNIX Operating System. Menlo Park, Calif.: Addison Wesley, 1989.

Nemeth, E., G. Snyder, and S. Sebass UNIX System Administration Handbook. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1989.

Thomas, R., UNIX System Administration Guide for System V. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1989.

Todino, G., and T. O'Reilly Managing UUCP and Usenet. Sebastopol, Calif: O'Reilly & Associates, 1992.

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IRIX Admin Manual Set |  | Chapter 1. Terminals and Modems