This section describes the procedures for connecting and configuring an ASCII terminal. (Refer to the Serial Device Manager in your System Manager to accomplish many of the same tasks described in this section if you prefer to use a GUI to a command-line interface.)
The diagnostics terminal, or console, is the ASCII terminal connected to a serial port on the I/O panel of a server. It can be connected to any of these ports, depending on your system:
The messages produced by the power-on diagnostics appear on the screen of this terminal.
This section tells you how to configure IRIX software to use an ASCII terminal with your computer system.
During configuration, you need to
Note: The utilities described in this section are distributed as part of the eoe.sw.terminfo package. You must have installed this package on your system in order to use these utilities. See IRIX Admin: Software Installation and Licensing for information and specific instructions on installing this package.
The /usr/lib/terminfo directory contains files that describe different terminal models, their capabilities, and how they operate. For most ASCII terminal models, you do not need to edit this database.
Note: If your terminal is not in the database, or if it does not work properly after you have configured the software, you may need to write a terminal description. Refer to the optional Topics in IRIX Programming and the tset(1), stty(1), and terminfo(4) reference pages. Additionally, your terminal may support a compatible terminal mode (such as VT100). Check your terminal documentation for compatibility modes.
The directory /usr/lib/terminfo is divided into numeric and alphabetic subdirectories. Each subdirectory contains entries for terminals whose names begin with that character. For example, /usr/lib/terminfo/v contains the entry for the Visual 50. The entry name listed in the subdirectory is v50am.
To find the entry name for your terminal and to configure software for an ASCII terminal, follow these steps:
cd /usr/lib/terminfo
ls -R | fgrep -i string
If this fails, examine the subdirectories of /usr/lib/terminfo, which contain all the terminal entries.
infocmp -I v50am
You will see a display that begins with this line:
v50am|visual50 (v50 emulation) with automatic margins,
The data in the first field (v50am) is the model name of your terminal.
Note: If it looks as if there are many terminal names that could apply, use this sample shell script to help speed up the search. This example uses the string wy60* to help locate all the Wyse60 models. Substitute your own string, as appropriate.
sh
for i in wy60*
do
infocmp -I $i
done
If you choose an incorrect model name, you can change it later; the line still works, but screen-based commands do not display correctly.
This file associates the model name with the port where the terminal is connected. In the line that contains the port you are using, replace v50am with the model name of your terminal.
An /etc/ttytype might look like this example:
iris-ansi systty
?v50am ttyd1
?v50am ttyd2
?v50am ttyd3
?v50am ttyd4
?v50am ttyd5
?v50am ttyd6
?v50am ttyd7
?v50am ttyd8
?v50am ttyd9
?v50am ttyd10
?v50am ttyd11
?v50am ttyd12
The optional question mark (?) at the beginning of a line in /etc/ttytype causes tset to display the model name as supplied (for example, v50am here) and prompts for the model name you are currently using. If you are not using the model name as provided, type in the name that you are using; otherwise, press <Enter> to accept the default. This provides an easy way to switch terminal settings if you use more than one type of terminal.
tset is normally called in your login startup script (.login or .profile). tset commands use information from /etc/ttytype and /usr/lib/terminfo to initialize the terminal. These files also provide information on setting environment variables so that editors and other programs know how to communicate with the terminal. See tset(1) for detailed information.
t1:23:respawn:/etc/getty -s console ttyd1 co_9600 # port 1
t2:23:off:/etc/getty -N ttyd2 co_9600 # port 2
t3:23:off:/etc/getty -N ttyd3 co_9600 # port 3
t4:23:off:/etc/getty -N ttyd4 co_9600 # port 4
Here are two sample entries, with an explanation of each field in the entries:
t1:23:respawn:/etc/getty -s console ttyd1 co_9600
t2:23:off:/etc/getty -N ttyd2 co_9600
To enable you to log in to the terminal connected to the port labeled 2, find this line:
t2:23:off:/etc/getty -N ttyd2 co_9600
Change it to
t2:23: respawn:/etc/getty -N ttyd2 co_9600
co_9600 in /etc/inittab with the correct entry name from /etc/gettydefs.
/etc/inittab refers to /etc/gettydefs for information about the terminal line settings. In the example from /etc/inittab above, co_9600 refers to the name of an entry in /etc/gettydefs; it defines a 9,600 baud console setting.
To see what entries are defined in /etc/gettydefs, examine the file or see "Checking Line Settings Using IRIX Shell Commands". To make a new entry, see "Creating and Testing Line Settings".
telinit q
<Enter> if the login prompt does not appear.
Note: If the default line speed set in /etc/inittab is incorrect, the prompt may be garbled or may not appear. Choose another line speed.
The TTY system described thus far establishes a basic style of communication between the user's terminal and the IRIX operating system. Once a user has successfully logged in, he or she may prefer terminal options other than the default set.
The stty command controls terminal options. Many users add an stty command to their .profile or .login file so that the options they want are automatically set as part of the login process. Here is an example of a simple stty command:
stty cr0 nl0 echoe -tabs erase '^H'
The options in the example and their meanings are
<Backspace> key is pressed. Specifying this option makes <Backspace> delete the character that was just typed.
Refer to the stty(1) reference page for a full list of stty options.