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From: Clem Cole <clemc@ccc.com>
To: Paul Ruizendaal <pnr@planet.nl>
Cc: "tuhs@tuhs.org" <tuhs@tuhs.org>
Subject: [TUHS] Re: virtual consoles / Alt-Fx
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2023 11:27:48 -0400	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <CAC20D2OKz_u51=mBUEmxsiRsnPokQj6F9t9qc=yxki=vH-An+g@mail.gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CAC20D2N5bxcvRzbzOwx68o=yAgJVJmabFn8V6_P1k65zT6gT4A@mail.gmail.com>

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Paul - one more thing.   In PDP-10 land, I think they would have called
them 'sessions' but it was a similar idea - although the PC versions since
they also provided the 'terminal emulation' had to do a bit more.
ᐧ

On Mon, Mar 13, 2023 at 11:24 AM Clem Cole <clemc@ccc.com> 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.
>
> FWIW I think Minix for the 8088 may have supported them - be
> worth checking.
>
>   I have no memories off them on the 8 bit systems when concurrency was
> added but I did but do much them.
>
>   I would not have been surprised that predates the x86 versions of
> different systems. I.e. I have vague memories of something using the
> function keys on the PDP-10s switching between screens but that was long
> ago.
>
> My bet would be to look at ITS, WAITES and Twenex for the origin story.
>
> On Mon, Mar 13, 2023 at 11:13 AM Paul Ruizendaal via TUHS <tuhs@tuhs.org>
> wrote:
>
>> Thinking a bit more about terminal multiplexing was a major use case for
>> early X, I recalled using Linux virtual consoles in the late 90’s for this
>> purpose.
>>
>> According to Wikipedia, virtual consoles originated with Xenix and before
>> that with concurrent CP/M.
>>
>> Perusing the documentation of those on Bitsavers, I can see that virtual
>> consoles have a prominent mention in the manual for concurrent CP/M (1983),
>> but not those of its forerunners MP/M II and MP/M (1979). I cannot find a
>> mention of virtual consoles in Xenix documentation as late as 1988.
>>
>> No such thing as a virtual (as distinct from pseudo) tty on 16-bit Unix
>> or early 32-bit, as far as I know; one could argue it does not make much
>> sense with physical terminals. Wikipedia says no such thing existed on
>> SunOS either.
>>
>> I think virtual consoles where present in Linux from a very early point.
>>
>> So, as far as I can tell virtual consoles were invented for concurrent
>> CP/M around 1983, made their way to Xenix in the late 80’s and became part
>> of Linux in the early 90’s.
>>
>> Have I missed other prior art?
>>
>>
>> --
> Sent from a handheld expect more typos than usual
>

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  reply	other threads:[~2023-03-13 15:28 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 22+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2023-03-13 15:12 [TUHS] " Paul Ruizendaal via TUHS
2023-03-13 15:24 ` [TUHS] " Clem Cole
2023-03-13 15:27   ` Clem Cole [this message]
2023-03-13 16:17     ` Paul Winalski
2023-03-13 15:41   ` Warner Losh
2023-03-13 15:48     ` KenUnix
2023-03-13 15:48     ` Clem Cole
2023-03-13 16:14     ` Dan Cross
2023-03-13 17:26       ` Miod Vallat
2023-03-13 20:35         ` Dan Cross
2023-03-14 16:42   ` Derek Fawcus via TUHS
2023-03-14 22:46     ` Charles H Sauer (he/him)
2023-03-15  4:26       ` Heinz Lycklama
2023-03-13 15:27 ` Ralph Corderoy
2023-03-13 15:30 ` Warner Losh
2023-03-14  3:27   ` Rik Schneider
2023-03-13 15:33 ` Ron Natalie
2023-03-13 15:45   ` Heinz Lycklama
2023-03-13 17:04   ` Ralph Corderoy
2023-03-13 15:49 ` Brad Spencer
2023-03-17  8:14 ` Marc Donner
2023-03-14  3:33 Rudi Blom

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