Tells the kernel which driver is using which I/O ports
Allows to prevent other drivers from using the same I/O ports, but is purely voluntary.
struct resource *request_region(
unsigned long start,
unsigned long len,
char *name);
Tries to reserve the given region and returns NULL if unsuccessful.
request_region(0x0170, 8, "ide1");
void release_region(
unsigned long start,
unsigned long len);