Talk:System console

Access to system console
Thanks, --Abdull (talk) 18:40, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Is the system console running under control of a specific user account?
 * Is it possible to access/view the system console from another account?

This will depend on the operating system, but 'yes' to both questions for some operating systems at least. Sadg4000 (talk) 11:48, 17 January 2011 (UTC)

Early computers (sic)
The PDP-11 predates VT100, and (depending on the year) would have had an ASR-33 or later a DECWriter terminal. It had a front panel until fairly late in its history. That is one example. The text as phrased implies that "early computers" were distinct from "minicomputers", and in stating this, it uses as an example a contemporary of some of those minicomputers TEDickey (talk) 11:40, 15 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Thanks for pointing that out. Early computers is not a term in the article text, but a category I put this article in—that's not to imply that all system consoles were on "early computers," just that some of these computers had them.  I wanted a place in the categorization where system console, front panel and sense switch were all closely placed in the same category.  This article was implying that the term console only applies to computer monitors, when front panels, computer terminals and electric typewriters predate CRT consoles.  That should be fixed.  And the categories this article was in only came at it from software, systems and networking angles.  I wanted to get a categorization thread to computer hardware inserted.  We can add minicomputers and other computers with consoles. Not sure where to draw a line on hardware.  Even Windows has a command line interpreter, is there a difference between a command line interpreter and a system console? Wbm1058 (talk) 16:01, 15 January 2012 (UTC)


 * As far as I recall, command line interpreter and system console have different origins. That is, command line interpreter is related to Command shells (though noting that the term "shell" in this context is likely a Unix-ism which came later than the technology), while system console probably came about as a replacement for the hardware system console.  Looking for a definition of "console" for instance finds "A panel or unit accommodating controls for electronic or mechanical equipment."  As usual, looking for WP:RS helps avoid WP:OR TEDickey (talk) 16:32, 15 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Alas, we have no references here as yet. I believe use of the term console in computing even predates operating systems.  The resident monitor may have controlled the operator's console as a substitute for using front panel switches and buttons, as the beginning transition to modern operating systems.  Will be nice to find a nice source for this.  Wbm1058 (talk) 17:13, 15 January 2012 (UTC)

Distinguish between processor console and software console
This article conflates devices used to control the computer and input/output devices used by the software as interfaces to the operator. Unfortunately, vendors have used the word console to refer to both on the same machine. The front panel article covers some aspects of computer console, but has a link to system console for CRT displays that are not under software control. Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk) 13:38, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

Many early and modern systems do not use RS-232 for console attachment
The article defines serial console as an RS-232 serial link to a terminal and claims "Large midrange systems, e.g. those from Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard and IBM, still use serial consoles." However, IBM midrange and large systems have always had consoles with proprietary connections, not RS-232, from the 1972 1952 701 through the current z/Architecture. Some of these machines included typewriters as part of their consoles, but not connected via serial links such as current loop or RS-232. Further, on newer machines the consoles are not physical devices but applications running on a PC. Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk) 18:01, 15 November 2020 (UTC)

Front panels without keyboard, display or printer
The article begins The system console, computer console, root console, operator's console, or simply console is the text entry and display device for system administration messages, particularly those from the BIOS or boot loader, the kernel, from the init system and from the system logger. However, the early decades of digital computers were dominated by computers  whose consoles contained only front panels. --Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk) 20:44, 29 June 2021 (UTC)


 * Indeed. And with that in mind, the present merge nomination is the worst kind of deletionism. The older meaning of operator console —currently mentioned in the lede's second paragraph— is clearly distinct from computer terminals, only some of which (or some sessions via which) were later also thusly named by analogy. Hence, executing the merger would not just be mixing apples and oranges, but apples and seafood. Worse, there doesn't seem to be any way to appeal the apparent resolution to merge. And let's not kid ourselves: We already know, if someone executes the merger, they're almost certainly just going to create another redirect to nowhere, especially as far as that older meaning of operator console is concerned, which wouldn't even belong in the computer terminal article. —ReadOnlyAccount (talk) 20:29, 5 January 2024 (UTC)

RS-232?
Didn't the earliest minicomputers use an older interface than EIA RS-232? -- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk) 16:47, 16 November 2023 (UTC)

CDC 6x00 dead start panel
One issue that I had overlooked in previous discussions is that the dead start panel on the CDC 6600 et al is not located on a front panel associated with the system console, but is off to the side. If this article is merged into the Front panel and Computer terminal articles, where do the 6x00 dead start panels belong? -- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk) 15:46, 11 January 2024 (UTC)