Study Guide - Chap 23: Dealing with Linux Devices Flashcards
(15 cards)
1- What type of hardware interface uses interrupts, I/O ports, and DMA channels to communicate with the PC motherboard?
- USB
- GPIO
- PCI
- Monitors
- Printers
PCI
PCI boards use interrupts, I/O ports, and DMA channels to send and receive data with the PC motherboard, so option C is correct. USB devices transmit data using a serial bus connected to the motherboard and don’t use DMA channels, so option A is incorrect. The GPIO interface uses memory‐mapped specialty IC chips and not interrupts and I/O ports, so option B is incorrect. Monitors and printers are hardware devices and not hardware interfaces, so options D and E are incorrect.
2- What filesystem does the Linux system use to track ports used to communicate with PCI boards?
- /proc/ioports
- /proc/interrupts
- /sys
- /dev
- /proc/dma
/proc/ioports
The Linux kernel uses the /proc/ioports file to track the I/O ports used by the installed PCI boards on the system, so option A is correct. The kernel uses the /proc/interrupts and /proc/dma files to track interrupts and the DMA channel, not I/O ports, so options B and E are incorrect. The /sys directory contains files used to track kernel, module, and system features, not I/O ports, so option C is incorrect. The /dev directory contains files used to transfer data to and from devices, not track their I/O ports, so option D is incorrect.
3- Where does Linux create files to send data to and receive data from directly with devices?
- /sys
- /proc
- /etc
- /dev
- /dev/mapper
/dev
The kernel creates files in the /dev directory for each device on the Linux system. These files are used to send data to the device and read data from the device. Thus, option D is correct. The /sys and /proc directories are used by the kernel to display system information, not transfer data, so options A and B are incorrect. The /etc directory is used for configuration files, not for transferring data, so option C is incorrect. The /dev/mapper directory is used by virtual systems such as LVM and LUKS to create virtual files that indirectly interface with devices through another application, not directly, so option E is incorrect.
4- Katie Jane created a new LVM volume on her Linux system. Where in the virtual directory should she look to find the virtual file related to the new volume?
- /dev
- /dev/mapper
- /proc
- /sys
- /etc
/dev/mapper
The kernel uses the /dev/mapper directory to create virtual files that interface with applications that manipulate data on a virtual LVM volume before being sent to a physical hard drive device, so option B is correct. The /dev directory contains the physical device files, not virtual files, so option A is incorrect. The kernel uses the /proc and /sys directories to display kernel and system information, not virtual files for LVM volumes, so options C and D are incorrect. The /etc directory contains configuration files for applications, not LVM volumes, so option E is incorrect.
5- Joel installed a new PCI card in his Linux system but is now getting a conflict with another device on the system. What command can he use to display the interrupts, I/O ports, and DMA channels in use by all the existing devices?
- lsdev
- lsblk
- lspci
- lsusb
- dmesg
lsdev
The lsdev command displays all the hardware information about all the devices connected to the system, so option A is correct. The lsblk command only displays information on block devices, so option B is incorrect. The lspci command only displays information about PCI devices, so option C is incorrect. The lsusb command only displays information about USB devices, so option D is incorrect. The dmesg command displays messages from the kernel ring buffer, not information about the current devices, so option E is incorrect.
lsdev
Lists all hardware devices detected by the system, showing device names, IRQ numbers, I/O ports, and DMA channels (primarily used on older systems).
lsblk
Displays all block devices in a tree format showing disks, partitions, and their mount points, sizes, and filesystem types.
lspci
Lists all PCI devices connected to the system including graphics cards, network adapters, and other expansion cards with detailed hardware information.
lsusb
Displays all USB devices connected to the system showing vendor/product IDs, device descriptions, and USB bus information.
7- Which software packages implement the X Windows graphical system in Linux? (Choose two.)
- X.org
- CUPS
- Wayland
- X11
- udev
- X.org
- Wayland
The X.org and Wayland software packages implement the X Windows graphical system for Linux, so options A and C are correct. The CUPS software package implements PostScript printing for Linux, not X Windows graphical systems, so option B is incorrect. X11 is an X Windows standard but not a software package, so option D is incorrect. The udev program is used to detect hot‐pluggable devices, not implement the X Windows graphical system, so option E is incorrect.
CUPS
CUPS software package provides an interface to convert PostScript documents and send them to common printers
9- Which program runs in the background monitoring the kernel ring buffer messages for new devices?
- X.org
- CUPS
- Wayland
- X11
- udev
udev
The udev program runs in the background and monitors the kernel ring buffer for event messages from new devices, so option E is correct. The X.org and Wayland software packages implement the X Windows graphical system but don’t listen for new devices, so options A and C are incorrect. The CUPS package interfaces with printers on the Linux system and doesn’t listen for new devices, so option B is incorrect. X11 is a standard for X Windows and not a software package that listens for new devices, so option D is incorrect.
udev
The udev program runs in the background and monitors the kernel ring buffer for event messages from new devices
A device manager for the Linux kernel that dynamically creates and removes device nodes in /dev when hardware devices are added or removed, handling device detection and rule-based configuration.
10- Which program allows you to reload the defined rules for detecting and installing new devices?
- udevadm
- udev
- lsusb
- lspci
- lsdev
udevadm
The udevadm program allows you to send control messages to the udev application running in background, signaling it to reload the rules defined in the /etc/udev/rules.d directory, so option A is correct. The udev application can’t direct itself to reload the rules, so option B is incorrect. The lsusb, lspci, and lsdev programs are used for displaying hardware information for the system, not for directing the udev program to reload defined rules, so options C, D, and E are all incorrect.
udevadm
- A command-line utility for controlling and querying the udev daemon, used for testing rules, monitoring device events, triggering device processing, and debugging udev behavior with commands like udevadm info and udevadm monitor.
- The udevadm program allows you to send control messages to the udev application running in background, signaling it to reload the rules defined in the /etc/udev/rules.d director
