I'm trying to get xconsole to work, with no luck (under both 3.1.2a &
3.1.3a).

I've tried all the standard things - make sure file permissions are ok on
/dev/console, use the -file option on xconsole, etc. - but no joy.

When running under X, I can't read anything from /dev/console - either with
xconsole, or from a shell command.

If I try issuing "cat /dev/console" from an xterm and "echo 'Hi there...'
>/dev/console" from another, the reading xterm waits patiently for a message
that never comes, and the writing side acts like I wrote to /dev/null. (This
is using startx; if I start X with xdm, the reading xterm immediately gets
an "I/O error" message and cat terminates.)

I can do this same exercise successfully if X is not up, using two virtual
consoles: the reading side nicely echoes what I wrote from the other
console.

Obviously, I'm missing something about how the X configuration interacts
with /dev/console. Can anyone explain what's going on and how to correct it?


Thanks,
Bob Woodside