> When a Sun machine doesn't have a keyboard or graphics card
> connected, it will use ttya for it's [sic] console interface.  This
> would also happen if input and output-device are set to ttya instead
> of screen and keyboard in the eeprom.

> Under NetBSD, this doesn't quite seem to work: On my IPC the ttya
> will function as a console up to (and including) the kernel's
> autodetecting and then, after two garbage characters, output to the
> terminal stops.

You don't say which version of NetBSD.  I'm running slightly-post-1.2
NetBSD/sparc on a headless IPC and it works Just Fine.  (Though
admittedly, I do have the eeprom set to point to ttya; I'm not relying
on it autoswitching because there's no keyboard.)

I haven't tried anything newer on a headless SPARC of any stripe, at
least not yet.

> Running headless also prevents you from getting a login-prompt on
> ttya, apparently.

Again, news to me.  I get login promts Just Fine, though they're on
/dev/console, not /dev/ttya (same hardware, different /dev entry).

					der Mouse

			       mouse@rodents.montreal.qc.ca
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