Very Computer

by **Joseph Knap** » Sat, 18 Apr 1992 15:46:10

Here's a silly question: When I boot linux, it says "8 virtual
consoles, 4 ptys". I know what ptys are, I think -- the guys I get to
by alt-f[1-4]. So my question is, "What, exactly, is the difference
between a pty and a virtual console?"

Thanks,

by **Drew Eckhar** » Sat, 18 Apr 1992 18:43:24

>Here's a silly question: When I boot linux, it says "8 virtual
>consoles, 4 ptys". I know what ptys are, I think -- the guys I get to
>by alt-f[1-4]. So my question is, "What, exactly, is the difference

Nope. ALT-Fn selects virtual console n, which is /dev/tty[n].

Quote:>between a pty and a virtual console?"

A pty is a "Pseudo TeletYpe". It lets you give a pipe to something that
expects to have a "real" tty attached to it, such as most editors,
an xterm, etc. There are master (/dev/ptyp[n]) and slave ends
(/dev/ttyp[n]) to it. One program can open a master end, and other programs
can read / write to the slave end to get / send to the master.

A virtual console is a console... that is virtual - so you can have
multiple terminal sessions on one physical console. Basically, it's
indistringuishable from any other tty device.

by **Joseph Knap** » Sun, 19 Apr 1992 01:07:08

>>Here's a silly question: When I boot linux, it says "8 virtual
>>consoles, 4 ptys". I know what ptys are, I think -- the guys I get to
>>by alt-f[1-4]. So my question is, "What, exactly, is the difference

>Nope. ALT-Fn selects virtual console n, which is /dev/tty[n].

So that means I have eight virtual consoles available, but I can only
use four of them with Alt-Fkey sequences... how can I use vc's 5 thru 8?

Thanks^2,

Joseph

by **Joseph Knap** » Sun, 19 Apr 1992 01:16:24

Quote:
>>Nope. ALT-Fn selects virtual console n, which is /dev/tty[n].

>So that means I have eight virtual consoles available, but I can only
>use four of them with Alt-Fkey sequences... how can I use vc's 5 thru 8?

>Thanks^2,

>Joseph

Sorry to reply to myself, but a little expirimentation revealed that
the answer is, "You use the getty program to enable logins on the
other vc's, and then use Alt-F[5-8] to get to them..."

Joseph

Very Computer

virtual consoles/pty's

virtual consoles/pty's

virtual consoles/pty's

virtual consoles/pty's

virtual consoles/pty's