Hey All, > A while ago Ben Calvert tapped:
> On Mon, 4 Dec 2006 19:59:00 -0800 > "Bryan Irvine" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > [slow console on imac 333Mhz] > look at /etc/ttys. you'll notice the following: > > ttyC0 "/usr/libexec/getty std.9600" vt220 off secure > ttyp0 none network > > > the 9600 is the speed that data gets written to your console ( ttyc0 ). > Notice that ttyp* (xterms, remote ssh sessions ) have no such > restriction? Um, to my knowledge this disagrees with the /etc/ttys on my 3.9 i386 box. The argument "std.9600" tells getty to set the serial port to 9600 baud, which is only relavent if you are using a serial console. To my knowledge there is no *nix (OpenBSD or otherwise) that will throttle a frame buffer based console in the way described. I am ignoring the fact that in the example /etc/ttys, getty on ttyC0 does not get executed. The real reason was given by an earlier message. > ignoring interference from other processes, there is no difference in > how fast the program runs, only in how fast it writes the data to your > screen. If the program is waiting for one write to finish before > commiting the next, it'll be slower, but if you ran the same program > and redirected the output to a file, you'd see no difference on the > console or an xterm. > > I can think of several reasons why this is a good thing, but as this > list is populated by people who are a lot smarter than myself I won't > postulate as to the actual reason why it was decided to have the > console be slow. History. 9600 is a good speed. I don't know anyone who can read at 9600 baud. Screen updates are acceptably quick at 9600 baud. It allows you to have serial console cables long enough length for most installations. It is slow enough that there is less worry about using high end cable in many installations. 9600 baud was a commonly supported speed when enough machines started to have serial consoles. The firmware in Suns, DEC gear and many others wanted to talk 9600 baud by default and it just makes life easy to keep everything on the console at the same speed. Simon -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Well, an engineer is not concerned with the truth; that is left to philosophers and theologians: the prime concern of an engineer is the utility of the final product." Lectures on the Electrical Properties of Materials, L.Solymar, D.Walsh
