Watchdog Timer Interfaces For The Linux Operating System Alan Cox Custom Linux Driver And Program Development The following watchdog drivers are currently implemented: ICS WDT501-P ICS WDT501-P (no fan tachometer) ICS WDT500-P Software Only All four interfaces provide /dev/watchdog, which when open must be written to within a minute or the machine will reboot. Each write delays the reboot time another minute. In the case of the software watchdog the ability to reboot will depend on the state of the machines and interrupts. The hardware boards physically pull the machine down off their own onboard timers and will reboot from almost anything. A second temperature monitoring interface is available on the WDT501P cards and provides /dev/temperature. This is the machine internal temperature in degrees farenheit. Each read returns a single byte giving the temperature. The third interface logs kernel messages on additional alert events. Both software and hardware watchdog drivers are available in the standard kernel. If you are using the software watchdog, you probably also want to use "panic=60" as a boot argument as well. Features -------- WDT501P WDT500P Software Reboot Timer X X X External Reboot X X o Temperature X o o Fan Speed X o o Power Under X o o Power Over X o o Overheat X o o The external event interfaces on the WDT boards are not currently supported. Minor numbers are however allocated for it. Example Watchdog Driver ----------------------- #include #include #include int main(int argc, const char *argv[]) { int fd=open("/dev/watchdog",O_WRONLY); if(fd==-1) { perror("watchdog"); exit(1); } while(1) { write(fd,"\0",1); sleep(10); } } Contact Information People keep asking about the WDT watchdog timer hardware: The phone contacts for Industrial Computer Source are: US: 619 677 0877 (sales) 0895 (fax) UK: 01243 533900 France (1) 69.18.74.30 Industrial Computer Source 9950 Barnes Canyon Road San Diego, CA and please mention Linux when enquiring.