OT: [rescue] Trusted Path (Was: Sunpc Card)

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

Joshua D Boyd wrote:

> Debian and redhat both default to doing an init 6 (err, they reboot, that's
> init 6, right?), when in console mode.  But, both of them ignore it when
> XFree has control of the console.

It has to do with the way the hardware handles the keyboard data. If the
buffer is full, ctrl-alt-del does nothing. This is because the keyboard is
a serial device connected to a microprosesor on the motherboard.

When the microprocessor detects a  ctrl-alt-del it (grounds?) signals
the NMI (non maskable interupt) line on the bus. This is also what a reset
key does.

If the microprocessor is in the wrong mode or hosed,  ctrl-alt-del won't work.

Under linux, you can go into text mode (assuming the system is up) by hiting
alt-f1 which will bring you to the first text console.  ctrl-alt-del will
work from there. There is also the "magic-sysreq" key option in the linux
kernel, which reboots from almost anywhere. :-)

To sort of keeping it on topic, no there is no such thing on a PC as the
SUN debugger in ROM. Not even a SYNC :-(

Geoff.

-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson
Bloomberg L.P., BFM (Israel) 2 hours ahead of London, 7 hours ahead of New York.
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