[techtalk] Re: techtalk digest, Vol 1 #449 - 9 msgs

[jenn at simegen.com]

Telsa Gwynne wrote:


> All these terminals. And 'w' showed you people you'd never met and
> your friends, and they were on tty this and that. But the root user
> (or the operator account, or whatever) was sometimes logged in from
> the console. And the console was special. 
> 
> (I never really knew _why_ it was special. It Just Was. :))

Configuration options.

Console was the Only Terminal That Worked In Single-User Mode.
Console was often the Only Terminal That Would Allow A Root Login.

And other assorted configuration options of that type. :) Physically,
console was just a random terminal. Usually the oldest, because it
was infrequently used.


But you're right - the root cause of this thread is that Single
User Mode, for a Unix system, means 'oh my god we have to take
the computer down, it's a serious problem'.
Whereas Single User Mode, for a home computer, is the default
case.




Jenn V.
-- 
     "Do you ever wonder if there's a whole section of geek culture
             you miss out on by being a geek?" - Dancer.

jenn at simegen.com     Jenn Vesperman     http://www.simegen.com/~jenn/