On Mon, 17 May 1999, Rick Copeland wrote:

> I am mop booting eight VS3100's.  Unfortunately this requires eight
> separate terminals, one for each 3100. If I disconnect any of the
> terminals (console terminal) the 3100's drop back to the ">>>" prompt.  
> I would like to be able to run these with out a terminal (after say
> they are booted up) or find some way to connect them to a single
> computer that emulates eight terminals.  Is there a way to do this?

Sounds like you need a terminal server.  :-)  You can actually switch the
cables between the machines if you don't power down the terminal.  I think
most DEC terminals actually send a break signal when you power them off.
There may be a way to disable this in the terminal config, but I've never
looked.  I always just manually multiplex the terminal.

I've also used a multi-port serial card in one of my Linux PCs to access
the VAX consoles.  You could do the same with any other system graced with
a MUX.

-brian.
---
Brian "JARAI" Chase | http://world.std.com/~bdc/ | VAXZilla LIVES!!!