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Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!labrea!decwrl!pyramid!comdesign!ivucsb!todd
From: todd@ivucsb.UUCP (Todd Day)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.att,unix-pc.bugs
Subject: /dev/tty problem/*quick-fix* on UNIXPC
Summary: It's a kludge, but it works (use 'windy)!
Keywords: can't open /dev/tty
Message-ID: <318@ivucsb.UUCP>
Date: 6 Oct 88 08:25:10 GMT
Organization: The Audio Club at UCSB, Isla Vista, California
Lines: 38

Not long ago, I asked for help about a problem with my /dev/tty.
Whenever I tried to run 'rn' from the console, I got the following:

can't open /dev/tty

I noticed that 'cpio' would also core dump because of a /dev/tty problem.
Also, 'su' always replied "Sorry" even before I had a chance to type in
a password.  This ONLY happened at the console!  All of the above programs
run fine on any of the terminals I have hooked up.  I have terms on
tty000 and tty002, and a modem on tty001.  This problem did not occur
before I added the RS-232 expansion board with tty000 and tty001.

I got all sorts of responses about changing 'rn' to do read/write opens
on /dev/tty.  I did not really feel like messing with the news software...

So, I tried some command line hacking.  I found that

rn >/dev/window

allowed rn to run.  Next, I tried

rn >/dev/w1 </dev/w1

and it totally worked!  This looked like a bad botch, so I tried
putting the following in my .kshrc file:

alias rn "windy rn"

Now, rn runs like a champ from the console.  Also, I get the added "feature"
of coming back to the screen as it existed before I executed rn.

Any comments on why this works?  Best comments get summarized, in case of
tie, a coin will be flipped.
 
   /| Todd Day (805)968-9352 |\               "Hurt me, punish me.
+-+ | The Audio Club at UCSB | +-+         Make me listen to mid-fi!"
+-+ |  926 B Camino Del Sur  | +-+    {}!pyramid.com!comdesign!ivucsb!todd
   \| Isla Vista, CA   93117 |/                 todd@ivucsb.UUCP