MEM(4) BSD Programmer's Manual (SPARC Architecture) MEM(4)NAME
mem, kmem - main memory
DESCRIPTION
The file /dev/mem is an interface to the physical memory of the computer.
Byte offsets in this file are interpreted as physical memory addresses.
Reading and writing this file is equivalent to reading and writing memory
itself. An error will be returned if an attempt is made to reference an
offset outside of /dev/mem.
Kernel virtual memory is accessed via the file /dev/kmem in the same man-
ner as /dev/mem. Only kernel virtual addresses that are currently mapped
to memory are allowed.
SPARC
On the SPARC, physical memory may be discontiguous; kernel virtual memory
begins at 0xf8000000.
FILES
/dev/mem
/dev/kmem
HISTORY
The files mem and kmem appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.
BSDI BSD/OS June 5, 1993 1