As add on to Mark's notes, below is a responce I received a year (or 2) ago on mknod.
> 
>         :MKNOD "/dev/TAPE7 c 0 7"
> 
> creates the device link file /dev/TAPE7. Now you can use the command
> 
>         tar -xvf /dev/TAPE7
> 

0 is the minor number whilst 8 is the major number. The major number
specifies the major device type (for example, the device driver number).
The minor number specifies the device location, which is typically, but
not always, the unit, drive, HP-IB bus address and/or line number. We
usually use 0 for the minor number but I've only done mknod for tape
devices and terminals...

Character device special files are used for devices that can transfer
single bytes at a time, such as tape drives,  printers, plotters, disk
drives operating in "raw" mode, and terminals.  Block device special
files are used for devices that usually transfer a block of data at a
time, such as disk drives.

_____________________________________________________________
Keven Miller   mailto:[log in to unmask]   http://www.exegesys.com

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