Open Firmware's "device interface" provides true "plug-and-play" capability by obtaining configuration information and processor-independent device drivers from FCode programs that reside on the expansion bus peripheral cards.
Not only can Open Firmware support all current devices, it provides architected mechanisms for supporting device types that have yet to be invented!
FCode drivers are not written in a vacuum; they may take advantage of Open Firmware operations supplied by the system firmware. The device interface specifies the full set of FCode primitives guaranteed to be available to an FCode driver. This set effectively constitutes an Application Binary Interface (ABI) for FCode which is required to be consistent and dependable across platforms and processors, providing a powerful framework for writing machine-independent drivers. The device interface also specifies probe and configuration practices on a bus-by-bus basis, affording processor independence to third-party developers.
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