MAN page from RedHat Other kbd-0.91-10.i386.rpm
CONSOLE
Section: Linux Programmer's Manual (4)
Updated: October 31, 1994
Index NAME
console - console terminal and virtual consoles
DESCRIPTION
A Linux system has up to 63
virtual consoles(character devices with major number 4 and minor number 1 to 63),usually called
/dev/ttyn with 1 ≤
n ≤ 63.The current console is also addressed by
/dev/console or
/dev/tty0, the character device withmajor number 4 and minor number 0.The device files /dev/* are usually created using the script MAKEDEV,or using
mknod(1), usually with mode 0622 and owner root.tty.
Before kernel version 1.1.54 the number of virtual consoles wascompiled into the kernel (in tty.h: #define NR_CONSOLES 8)and could be changed by editing and recompiling.Since version 1.1.54 virtual consoles are created on the fly,as soon as they are needed.
Common ways to start a process on a console are: (a) tell init(8)(in inittab(5)) to start a getty(8) on the console; (b) ask open(1)to start a process on the console; (c) start X - it will find thefirst unused console, and display its output there.(There is also the ancient doshell(8).)
Common ways to switch consoles are: (a) use Alt+Fn orCtrl+Alt+Fn to switch to console n; AltGr+Fnmight bring you to console n+12 [here Alt and AltGr referto the left and right Alt keys, respectively];(b) use Alt+RightArrow or Alt+LeftArrow to cycle throughthe presently allocated consoles; (c) use the program chvt(1).(The key mapping is user settable, see loadkeys(1); the above mentionedkey combinations are according to the default settings.)
The command disalloc(8) will free the memory taken by thescreen buffers for consoles that no longer have any associated process.
PROPERTIES
Consoles carry a lot of state. I hope to document that some other time.The most important fact is that the consoles simulate vt100 terminals.In particular, a console is reset to the initial state by printing the twocharacters ESC c.
FILES
/dev/console
/dev/tty*
SEE ALSO
chvt(1),
loadkeys(1), mknod (1),
open(1),
tty(4),
ttys(4),
disalloc(8),
getty(8),
init(8),
resizecons(8),
setfont(8),
mapscrn(8).
Index
- NAME
- DESCRIPTION
- PROPERTIES
- FILES
- SEE ALSO
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