Method and apparatus for making and using a flexible hardware interface

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory coupled to the processor, having instructions stored therein including a hardware specific module and a processor specific module;
• a specific hardware component coupled to the processor,
• a firmware device coupled to the processor, having firmware stored thereon;
• which when executed by the processor cause the processor to:
• access the hardware specific module with a request to perform an unmodified I/O (input/output) operation,
• use the hardware specific module to access the processor specific module with a modified request to perform the I/O operation, the modified request suitable for use with the specific hardware component, and
• use the processor specific module to perform the modified I/O operation with the specific hardware component.

An apparatus comprising:

• general means for accessing a means for accessing a specific hardware component with a request to perform an unmodified I/O (input/output) operation;
• the means for accessing the specific hardware component for accessing a means for processor I/O with a modified request to perform the I/O operation, the modified request suitable for use with a specific hardware component;
• and
• the means for processor I/O for performing the modified I/O operation with the specific hardware component.

A machine-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which when executed perform the operations of:

• accessing a hardware specific module with a request to perform an unmodified I/O (input/output) operation;
• the hardware specific module accessing a processor specific module with a modified request to perform the I/O operation, the modified request suitable for use with a specific hardware component;
• and
• the processor specific module performing the modified I/O operation with the specific hardware component.