[TUHS] Re: virtual consoles / Alt-Fx

[Heinz Lycklama <heinz@osta.com>]

Charlie,

I do not recall PC/IX having a virtual console capability,
but I could be wrong - we are talking almost 40 years
ago now.

BTW, I do have some rather complete sets of documents
and diskettes for INTERACTIVE UNIX for Intel 386.
If anyone has an interest, send me a private email.

Heinz

On 3/14/2023 3:46 PM, Charles H Sauer (he/him) wrote:
> On 3/14/2023 11:42 AM, Derek Fawcus via TUHS wrote:
>> On Mon, Mar 13, 2023 at 11:24:24AM -0400, Clem Cole wrote:
>>> The virtual consoles using the function keys predate Linux and 
>>> 386BSD by a
>>> number of years.  I used them only early x86 Unix ports to the IBM 
>>> PC such
>>> as Xenix.
>>
>> I'm pretty sure that the 386 version of ISC UNIX I used on a PC in 
>> the '88/89
>> timeframe had them.  I vaguely recall it having a more awkward key 
>> sequence
>> than Linux for switching between consoles.
>>
>> Here we go:
>> https://virtuallyfun.com/2010/02/09/fun-with-interactive-unix/
>>
>> "On a text console side, the OS has virtual consoles switchable via 
>> SYSRQ + F key. Console is on F8."
>>
>> DF
>
> The real question in my mind is whether PC/IX had this sort of thing. 
> PC/IX was the first Unix I used regularly, and my recollection is that 
> it did have something along these lines, but Heinz or someone else 
> with ISC back then might be able to say definitively.
>
> When I got a PC/AT, I started using (SCO?) Xenix because it better 
> utilized the hardware than PC/IX. I'm pretty sure Clem is correct that 
> Xenix had virtual consoles selected by the function keys.
>
> AIX for the RT/PC definitely had such virtual consoles from the 
> beginning. See the article by Baker et al in the RT Book 
> (https://technologists.com/sauer/SA23-1057_IBM_RT_Personal_Computer_Technology_1986.pdf). 
> By the time I had my own RT, we had X in AIX, so I probably chose to 
> use xterms.
>
> I'm pretty sure that the SVR3 Dell Unix would have had these along the 
> lines described by Antoni, cited above, since SVR3 Dell Unix began 
> with code from ISC, probably a little earlier than what Antoni used. I 
> probably chose to use xterms instead.
>
> I just powered up my Dell 450DGX (“JAWS”) and verified that the 
> SVR4-based Dell Unix had such virtual consoles. man keyboard excerpt:
>
> Switching Screens
>   To change screens (virtual terminals), first run  the  vtlmgr command
>   [see  vtlmgr(1M)].   Switch  the  current  screen by typing ALT-SYSREQ
>   (also labelled ALT-PRINTSCRN on some systems) followed by a key which
>   identifies  the  desired screen.  Any active screen may be selected by
>   following ALT-SYSREQ with Fn, where Fn is one of  the  function keys.
>   F1  refers  to  the  first  virtual  terminal screen, F2 refers to the
>   second virtual terminal screen, etc.   ALT-SYSREQ `h'  refers to  the
>   main  console  display  (/dev/console).  The next active screen can be
>   selected with ALT-SYSREQ `n,' and the previous screen can be selected
>   with ALT-SYSREQ `p.'
>
> I doubt that I ever used them with Dell SVR4 before today, used xterms 
> instead.
>
> CHS
>