Switch between ttys like on Linux

Question

Hi ,
I would like to know how can i start process and assign it to a speciefic tty like /dev/pts/20 and whenever i need to interact with it , somehow i'll switch to that terminal like the ALT+CTRL+Fx on linux .

Answer 1

Hi,
I found following two technotes on sun sites.
Since virtual terminal is not supported by default,
below procedure is not supported one.
In Solaris 2.1, which few people have, this worked the same as the other
versions of UNIX for PCs did. It also works correctly in Solaris Base
Server 2.4, which was designed to work similar to Interactive UNIX.
In Solaris 2.4 and later, up to 2.6 at least, this was disabled by
default. However you can re-enable the feature with a little work if
you have root access to the system. Please note that this feature is
not officially supported, but it does seem to work, so the process is
documented here for those that require it. Please consider using CDE,
which has multiple workspaces, for future compatibility.
For Solaris 2.4, 2.5, and 2.5.1 you must create the /dev entries
yourself, after the system is installed. For 2.6, they are already
there and you can skip to the step where you edit /etc/inittab now.
Step 1 - Determine the device's major number:
# grep -i chanmux /etc/name_to_major
chanmux <num>
Step 2 - Add the /dev entries using the major number (<num>) you found:
mknod /dev/vt01 c <num> 1
mknod /dev/vt01 c <num> 1
Step 3 - Adding entries to /etc/inittab:
Add the following lines, one for each vt## device you created, to the
/etc/inittab file. Be sure to put them after the co entry.
co:234:respawn:/usr/lib/saf/ttymon -g -h -p "`uname -n` VT01
login" -T
AT386 -d /dev/vt01 -l console
co:234:respawn:/usr/lib/saf/ttymon -g -h -p "`uname -n` VT02
login" -T
AT386 -d /dev/vt02 -l console
Step 4 - Tell init that /etc/inittab was changed:
# /usr/sbin/init q
Now you can switch screens using <Alt>-<PrintScreen> followed
by <F1>
for vt01, <F2>, for vt02, etc. Using
<Alt>-<PrintScreen> followed by
<P> will switch to the previous screen, or <N> for the next
screen, in
cyclic order.
The one real difference is that to switch back to the normal console
screen you must use <Alt>-<PrintScreen> followed by
<H>, instead of <F8>
as Interactive UNIX used to use.
Let me remind you that this is not an officially supported mode of
Solaris X86. This FAQ is to help those migrating to Solaris X86 from
Interactive UNIX or SCO UNIX that require a feature like this for their
current environment.
A better solution is to plan to use CDE Workspace areas for this type of
function in the future. Each Workspace can then act as a virtual screen
and the buttons on the toolbar can be named for their function.
The VT feature has been removed starting from Solaris 8. Sun recommends
customers to move their programs to CDE as CDE provides a much better
functionality and is the Sun supported standard for multi-screen display.
As mentioned in FAQ 2445-02, the virtual terminal (vt) was all along an
unsupported and
deprecated feature in Solaris x86. It was maintained to ease the transition
from
IUS to Solaris.
If you would still like to use the vt on Solaris 8 without changing your
programs, you might want to check the XiG product from AcceleratedX -
http://www.acceleratedx.com/
Please note that we have not verified above product and we are not making a
product recommendation. Please check directly with the product vendor.
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Hope this helps.
Thanks
Kalpesh