Quoting David: He can't use Linux's virtual consoles the way he's sending output to his VB2+. He's starting a shell from rc.local. unqoute. David, could you elaborate on that just a tad. Why does this setup stop virtual consoles? Where might I put a redirection to /dev/ttyS0 so as to allow them? Is there any way to have virtual consoles output with no vt escape sequences? I am not married to this particular setup. It's just the first thing we thought of. I only started linux two weeks ago. Also, I am working on the terminal emulation / vb questions you asked. I will get back to you on that. Thanks.