NAME

mem, kmem, cmos − main memory

DESCRIPTION

Mem is a special file that is an image of the main memory of the computer.  It may be used, for example, to examine (and even to patch) the system. 

Byte addresses in mem are interpreted as physical memory addresses.  References to non-existent locations cause errors to be returned. 

The file kmem is the same as mem except that kernel virtual memory rather than physical memory is accessed.  Only kernel virtual addresses that are mapped to memory are allowed.  The file cmos is a special file corresponding to the CMOS battery backed up memory (currently of 240 bytes) used to supply system bootstrap configuration parameters and the system console configuration parameters. 

FILES

/dev/mem
/dev/kmem
/dev/cmos
 

4th Berkeley Distribution  —  Revision 1.4 of 19/10/88