Re: the push to get rid of CONFIG_VT in the kernel and the future of Speakup

[Chris Brannon <chris@the-brannons.com>]

"John G. Heim" <jheim@math.wisc.edu> writes:

> On 10/09/14 09:32, Chris Brannon wrote:
>> "John G. Heim" <jheim@math.wisc.edu> writes:
>>
>>> Here at the University of Wisconsin, there
>>> are a lot of linux systems admin jobs. And for the majority of them,
>>> it would be a big problem if you couldn't access the boot messages.
>>
>> Is the serial console support not appropriate / acceptable?
>
>
> But I'd like to know with absolute
> certainty that the proposed change to the linux kernel wouldn't also
> effect a serial console.

Well, I can't give you absolute certainty, but I suspect that the
kernel support for serial consoles is here to stay.  Part of the
difference is the amount of code.  The virtual console subsystem is a
lot more complicated than the simple serial console used for boot
messages, because it has to provide a full VT100 terminal
emulator in kernelspace.  On the other hand, the serial console doesn't
have to emulate anything, since the thing on the other end of the cable
is a real terminal of some sort.  All it has to do is blast the kernel
messages out the serial port.  So the main difference is
complexity.

-- Chris