More "Log-On" related questions

[Gene Collins]

Hi all.  Ex uses the first undefined console.  So if you have 6 text
consoles defined, then ex will use /dev/tty7.  If you have 12 text
consoles defined, then ex will use /dev/tty13, etc.  If you leave a text
console undefined in the middle of a sequence of text console
definitions, then ex will use that one, since it was the first available
undefined console.

You can actually have up to 64 text consoles defined in /dev/inittab,
and access them with alt f1 through f12, shift f1 through f12, control
f1 through f12, etc.  I find that the 6 text consoles that are usually
with most distributions are enough for me.

I usually login to the first five text consoles as myself, and the last
one as root.  I usually run the Speak Freely software for the reflecter
on tty1, and just use the others as needed.

As an asside, I've found an application called vcstime, which displays
the system time on all defined system consoles.  You run it in the
background as root, and it displays the time in the top right corner of
each text console.  Speakup works very nicely with it.  That is, speakup
does not constantly reread the running clock on the top line of the
screen, but will happily read it on demand.  It also works nicely with
brltty.

Gene