version 4, including all changes.
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perry |
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CONSOLE |
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!!!CONSOLE |
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NAME |
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DESCRIPTION |
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PROPERTIES |
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FILES |
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SEE ALSO |
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---- |
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!!NAME |
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console - console terminal and virtual consoles |
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!!DESCRIPTION |
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A Linux system has up to 63 ''virtual consoles'' |
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(character devices with major number 4 and minor number 1 to |
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63), usually called __/dev/tty__''n'' with 1 ''n'' |
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63. The current console is also addressed by |
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__/dev/console__ or __/dev/tty0__, the character |
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device with major number 4 and minor number 0. The device |
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files /dev/* are usually created using the script MAKEDEV, |
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or using mknod(1), usually with mode 0622 and owner |
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root.tty. |
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Before kernel version 1.1.54 the number of virtual consoles |
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was compiled into the kernel (in tty.h: #define NR_CONSOLES |
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8) and could be changed by editing and recompiling. Since |
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version 1.1.54 virtual consoles are created on the fly, as |
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soon as they are needed. |
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Common ways to start a process on a console are: (a) tell |
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init(8) (in inittab(5)) to start a getty(8) on the console; |
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(b) ask open(1) to start a process on the console; (c) start |
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X - it will find the first unused console, and display its |
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output there. (There is also the ancient |
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doshell(8).) |
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Common ways to switch consoles are: (a) use Alt+F''n'' or |
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Ctrl+Alt+F''n'' to switch to console ''n''; |
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perry |
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!AltGr+F''n'' might bring you to console ''n''+12 [[here |
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Alt and !AltGr refer to the left and right Alt keys, |
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respectively]; (b) use Alt+!RightArrow or Alt+!LeftArrow to |
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perry |
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cycle through the presently allocated consoles; (c) use the |
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program chvt(1). (The key mapping is user settable, see |
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loadkeys(1); the above mentioned key combinations are |
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according to the default settings.) |
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The command deallocvt(1) (formerly __disalloc__) |
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will free the memory taken by the screen buffers for |
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consoles that no longer have any associated |
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process. |
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!!PROPERTIES |
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Consoles carry a lot of state. I hope to document that some |
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other time. The most important fact is that the consoles |
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simulate vt100 terminals. In particular, a console is reset |
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to the initial state by printing the two characters ESC c. |
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All escape sequences can be found in |
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perry |
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console_codes(4). |
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perry |
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!!FILES |
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''/dev/console |
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/dev/tty*'' |
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!!SEE ALSO |
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perry |
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charsets(4), console_codes(4), |
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console_ioctl(4), mknod(1), tty(4), |
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perry |
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ttys(4), getty(8), init(8), |
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chvt(1), open(1), deallocvt(1), |
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loadkeys(1), resizecons(8), |
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consolechars(8), mapscrn(8). |
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---- |