The Solaris pcmem driver is not capable of handling "combo" memory cards with multiple types of memory on them (for example, combined SRAM and nonvolatile FLASH). Inserting such a card into a system running the Solaris software may cause a system panic.

Because the PC card memory device is designed as a pseudo-floppy diskette type, the only utility that can be used for formatting is fdformat(1).

1. Install the Solaris software.
2. Boot the system.
3. Insert the card.

If you insert a memory device and it is not recognized (no special files created), use the prtconf command.

1. Become root.
2. Run the prtconf -D command to display the configuration recognized by the system. A recognized device will appear in the prtconf output. For example:

   # prtconf -D . . . pcic, instance #0 (driver name: pcic) . . . memory, instance #0 (driver name: pcmem) pcram, instance #0 (driver name: pcram)

3. If your memory device does not appear at the end of the prtconf output, it is not supported and cannot be used with the pcram driver.

The special files created for PC card memory devices act like disks and have names in the form /dev/dsk/c#t#d#p# or /dev/dsk/c#t#d#s#. Abbreviations used in the names are:

• c# Controller #
• t# Card technology type #, defined as follows:

  0 Null--no device

  1 ROM

  2 OTPROM (One Time PROM)

  3 UV EPROM

  4 EEPROM

  5 Flash EPROM

  6 SRAM

  7 DRAM

• d# Device region of type #, usually zero
• p# fdisk partition #
• s# Solaris slice #

Since the Solaris Volume Management software recognizes PC Card memory devices, no special vold configuration is required. If you do not want to use vold to manage your PC card memory devices, comment out the use pcmem line in the /etc/vold.conf file. To comment out a line, insert a # character at the beginning of the line.

PC Card memory devices do not need to have file systems on them, though typically, before using a new PC Card memory card, you will want to create a file system on it. DOS PCFS is the best format to use. (You can use virtually any file system format on a PC card memory card, but most other file system formats are platform-dependent, making them unsuitable for moving data between different types of machines. See "Using a PCMCIA Memory Card" in the OpenWindows Advanced User's Guide.)

If a memory card is removed while in use, the device driver returns errors until the memory card is inserted into the appropriate socket. Close and reopen the device with the card reinserted, and the memory card will work.

• If you remove the card while in use as a file system, unmount the file system using the umount command. Then reinsert the card and remount the file system using the mount command.
• If you remove the card and interrupt a tar or cpio process, stop the process, reinsert the card, and restart the process.