PCI Vendor and Device Identifiers
Every PCI card carries two numbers burned in by its maker: a vendor identifier assigned to the company and a device identifier the company assigns to that model. Together they say exactly what the card is, so the operating system can match it to a driver without guessing. A driver publishes the list of identifier pairs it supports, and the kernel binds it only to cards on that list.
Questions this Concept answers
- Why does the kernel match drivers to cards by identifier rather than by probing for known register patterns?
This Concept is waiting for its first lesson!
Every PCI card carries two numbers burned in by its maker: a vendor identifier assigned to the company and a device identifier the company assigns to that model. Together they say exactly what the card is, so the operating system can match it to a driver without guessing. A driver publishes the list of identifier pairs it supports, and the kernel binds it only to cards on that list.
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