Linux console

Article summary

booting. The presence of the penguin graphic indicates this is a framebuffer console as opposed to text mode console. The Linux console is a system console internal to the Linux kernel. A system console is the device which receives all kernel messages and warnings and which allows logins in single user mode. The Linux console provides a way for the kernel and other processes to send text output to the user, and to receive text input from the user. The user typically enters text with a computer keyboard and reads the output text on a computer monitor. The Linux kernel supports virtual consoles – consoles that are logically separate, but which access the same physical keyboard and display. The Linux console (and Linux virtual consoles) are implemented by the VT (virtual terminal) subsystem of the Linux kernel, and do not rely on any user space software. This is in contrast to a terminal emulator, which is a user space process that emulates a terminal, and is typically used in a graphical display environment. The Linux console was one of the first features of the kernel and was originally written by Linus Torvalds in 1991 (see history of Linux). There are two main implementations: framebuffer and text mode.…

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