> No, line mode makes sense at the boot prom level... but when a Solaris
> box or HP box is booted into the OS, the console device becomes a
fully
> interactive terminal.  Very handy for when the box's network settings
> are wrong so you can't ssh into it. 

Exactly. You have enough control to 'ifconfig eth0 <mumble>;route add
<mumble2>' and then log in via a normal network connection to complete
the repairs. 

> This allows you to login to the
> console and use editors such as vi or emacs.  What your suggesting
only
> adds the ability to issue control codes like a control-c, but not use
> interactive TUI's.  It's not enough of a gain to warrant the trouble.

We're back to the assumption of what you use a console for. For me, it's
only for getting the network interface temporarily configured so I can
get to the box over the network. After that's done, it doesn't *matter*
what the console can do -- I can do anything I want over the network
(TUI, GUI, etc). 

> Maybe you're just more use to 3270 than I am...  I really despise it.
:)

No, I date back to physical printing TTYs as Unix consoles -- the day we
got the DECwriter 120 running at 4800 baud w/o crashing the front end on
the 11/730 was a big deal for me...8-). I don't assume that console
terminals will EVER be able to do intelligent editing...8-).

> Current experience:  Oh, the networking info on that vm is wrong.  Log
> into it's 3270 console... oh yeah, remember, don't type vi!  Let's use
> ed or ex... okay, configuration fixed... let's see if I can ping out
> now.  OH NO!  I forgot to tell it only 1 ping!  No control-c!  *sigh*
> Well, *if* it's pinging, I should be able to ssh in and kill the ping
> process.  If not...  well, crap.
> 
> Because of that, we have very few Unix admins who are authorized to
use
> the 3270 console.  Making sharing the workload with the rest of the
> admin group difficult.

All of which could be implemented as PVM macros that prompted for
parameters and then issued the correct commands with the correct
options, with no need to ever touch the console directly. Or via CP SEND
or PROP. 

We're just starting from different assumptions, I guess. I have no
problems working on a TTY linemode console, because that's what I assume
the lowest common denominator is, and I rarely use or need the setup
tools.  It's a PITA, but then it's only a problem long enough to get a
network adapter temporarily configured and working. *Then* I do the
permanent fix -- preferably from someplace warmer than the machine room
and from a real VDT with cursor motion. 

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