*BSD News Article 31274


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Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.os.linux.misc
Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!hippo.ru.ac.za!Braae!g89r4222
From: csgr@cs.ru.ac.za (Geoff Rehmet)
Subject: Re: Linux vs *BSD (new twist)
Message-ID: <Cqv6KL.Kwy@hippo.ru.ac.za>
Sender: news@hippo.ru.ac.za (Usenet News Admin)
Reply-To: csgr@cs.ru.ac.za
Organization: Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
References: <2sl6o3$pvs@aurora.engr.latech.edu> <2smc4m$daj@Mercury.mcs.com> <2sndmu$bnk@acmez.gatech.edu>
Date: Sat, 4 Jun 1994 08:36:19 GMT
Lines: 34

In <2sndmu$bnk@acmez.gatech.edu> gt8134b@prism.gatech.edu (Robert Sanders) writes:

>dleeds@MCS.COM (Daniel Leeds) writes:

>>: How do you use virtual consoles on FreeBSD?

>>Compile with SYSCONS and RTFM.

>Actually, what the FM doesn't mention is that, unlike Linux consoles, 
>you can't switch to a FreeBSD console unless it is "open", and the only
I'm not sure what you are referring to as the "FM", but instructions on
installing syscons in section 6.7 of the FreeBSD FAQ.

>way to make a console open is to make it someone's controlling tty.  I
>suggest you (Alex) edit /etc/ttys and enable some of the gettys on the
>higher console numbers.  This confused me as well; the source was ever
>so much more helpful than the manual.
I guess what we need is a "syssons(4)" manual page.

>I think people used to Linux have a worse time than those not used to
>UNIX at all; we assume so many things that were true under Linux
>but aren't under *BSD.
This comment cuts both ways ;-)  Try finding a nfsiod (or biod) for
Linux ;-)
Anyhow, as of release 1.1.5, syscons will be the default console driver,
with 4 vtys enabled, so we should get away from these hasssles (ppcons
is being discontinued in 2.0 I think).

Geoff.
--
 Geoff Rehmet, Computer Science Department,   | ____   _ o         /\
  Rhodes University,  South Africa            |___  _-\_<,        / /\/\
 FreeBSD core team                            |    (*)/'(*)    /\/ /  \ \
     csgr@cs.ru.ac.za, csgr@freefall.cdrom.com, geoff@neptune.ru.ac.za