[gentoo-user] program to view/control virtual terminals (ctrl-alt-f[1-6])

[gentoo-user] program to view/control virtual terminals (ctrl-alt-f[1-6])

[Iain Buchanan]

Hi all,

a short while ago I asked about a program to view and interact with the
terminals /dev/tty[1-x] that you access by pressing ctrl-alt-f1, for
example.  something like vnc but for consoles.

The suggestions were screen, and showconsole.  showconsole only shows
output, and doesn't let you type into it; and screen can't (?) attach to
such a virtual console.

Can anyone think of more suggestions?  I'm trying to use these consoles
as if I was sitting at the machine, but really I'll be ssh-ing in from
somewhere.  I could even write something in c if necessary, but my
attempts so far don't catch output or send input properly...

I'd appreciate any suggestions.

thanks,
-- 
Iain Buchanan <iaindb at netspace dot net dot au>

When I was little, I went into a pet shop and they asked how big I'd get.
		-- Rodney Dangerfield

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Re: [gentoo-user] program to view/control virtual terminals (ctrl-alt-f[1-6])

[Richard Fish]

On 6/28/06, Iain Buchanan <iaindb@netspace.net.au> wrote:
> The suggestions were screen, and showconsole.  showconsole only shows
> output, and doesn't let you type into it; and screen can't (?) attach to
> such a virtual console.

Screen can definitely attach to a virtual console.  I just tried the
following in /etc/inittab:

c5:2345:respawn:/usr/bin/screen -R tty5.localhost /bin/login
>/dev/tty5 </dev/tty5 2>&1
c6:2345:respawn:/usr/bin/screen -R tty6.localhost /bin/login
>/dev/tty6 </dev/tty6 2>&1

You can then attach to either of those with

screen -D -r tty5.localhost
screen -D -r tty6.localhost

The only thing you really can't do is login as root, because screen
uses psuedo tty's which are declared unsecure by default.  Unless you
want to add all pty devices to /etc/securetty...

But there is no security with this setup anyway, because on a console
all one has to do is "Ctrl-a c" to get a root shell.

Still, this should give you an idea of what you will have to do if you
are going to write your own program to manage this...

-Richard
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Re: [gentoo-user] program to view/control virtual terminals (ctrl-alt-f[1-6])

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

On Thursday 29 June 2006 03:15, Iain Buchanan wrote:

> Can anyone think of more suggestions?  I'm trying to use these
> consoles as if I was sitting at the machine, but really I'll be
> ssh-ing in from somewhere.  I could even write something in c if
> necessary, but my attempts so far don't catch output or send input
> properly...
>
> I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Google for ttysnoop.
HTH
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