On Wed, 30 Dec 1998, Ryan King wrote: > Why does a VC go bonkies when you cat a binary file from it?
Terminals can be modified in various ways by sending them special command sequences ("control characters"). You can tell the terminal to use boldface, change size, and lots of more arcane things. Most programs do this in a controlled way. When you cat a binary file, it often happens to contain some random control sequences that don't make any sense, so the terminal ends up in a broken state. The problem isn't limited to virtual consoles, it happens to all terminals, including xterm, etc. Havoc