DCONS(4)						   BSD Kernel Interfaces Manual 						  DCONS(4)

NAME

     dcons -- dumb console device driver

SYNOPSIS

     To compile this driver into the kernel, place the following lines in your kernel configuration file:

	   options GDB
	   device firewire
	   device dcons

     Alternatively, to load the driver as a module at boot time, place the following line in your kernel configuration file:

	   options GDB

     and in loader.conf(5):

	   dcons_load="YES"

DESCRIPTION

     The dcons device is a simple console device which just reads from and writes to an allocated buffer for input and output respectively.  It is
     of no use by itself and it is supposed that the buffer is accessed via a bus like firewire(4) or kvm(3) for interaction.

     The buffer consists of 4 channels.  There are 2 ports, one for the console TTY and another is GDB port, then each port has an input channel
     and an output channel.

FILES

     /dev/dcons
     /etc/ttys

EXAMPLES

     If you want to run getty(8) on dcons, insert the following line into ttys(5) and send a HUP signal to init(8) using kill(1).

	   dcons   "/usr/libexec/getty std.9600"   vt100   on  secure

     Once the fwohci(4) device is initialized to allow physical access, the buffer can be accessed from another host via a firewire(4) bus using
     the dconschat(8) application.  See dconschat(8) for more details.

     If you want to use dcons(4) as a gdb(1) port, add the following line into loader.conf(5):

	   dcons_gdb="1"

SEE ALSO

     dcons_crom(4), ddb(4), firewire(4), fwohci(4), gdb(4), ttys(5), conscontrol(8), dconschat(8), fwcontrol(8)

AUTHORS

     Hidetoshi Shimokawa <simokawa@FreeBSD.org>

BUGS

     This driver is currently under development.

BSD
								 January 26, 2008							       BSD