console
1. The operator's station of a {mainframe}. In times past,
this was a privileged location that conveyed godlike powers to
anyone with fingers on its keys. Under {Unix} and other
modern {time-sharing} {operating system}s, such privileges are
guarded by passwords instead, and the console is just the
{tty} the system was booted from. Some of the mystique
remains, however, and it is traditional for {sysadmin}s to
post urgent messages to all users from the console (on Unix,
/dev/console).
2. On {microcomputer} {Unix} boxes, the main screen and
keyboard (as opposed to character-only terminals talking to a
{serial port}). Typically only the console can do real
graphics or run {X}. See also {CTY}.
[{Jargon File}]