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richzilla
Asked: 2011-02-25 05:25:12 +0800 CST

Why is the default virtual terminal number 7?

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Why is the default virtual terminal in ubuntu tty7? is there any sort of precedent for this, or was that just the number that first came to mind?

command-line

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    It's not really anything special, and it's not like anyone person said: "YES! TTY7 will forever be the starting point".

    Typically when you boot init (upstart) will reserve the first 6 TTYs for text terminals - which leaves the next unallocated TTY, 7, for whatever comes next. Henceforth TTY7 is used when X actually starts. This can be changed to suite your liking in upstart by limiting or increasing the numbers of text TTYs that upstart reserves.

    However, it's typically best to just leave the configuration as is.

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  2. The first six consoles are text consoles, and X uses the first unallocated console. The number of text consoles is entirely arbitrary, but I remember it being default in Debian 1.2 (rex), so it is unlikely anyone still remembers the reason.

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  3. The other virtual terminals are still there.

    Use Ctrl+Alt+F1 to switch to /dev/tty1 and cycle up the Function keys to get through the other virtual terminals and finally back to your desktop environment.

    Marco Ceppi is incorrect; the terminals are not used/wasted during the boot-up process.

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