> The Function key that Mr. Short is refering to is the capability of linux 
> to have virtual terminals. As implemented in linux--it is spjecified in 
> the kernel how many virtual terms you want, and you swich by pressing 
> alt+F1 to get to the first Virtual term. It comes in really handy when 
> wadeing through man pages ;)

Bill was talking about virtual terminal which happens to be
implemented by a userland program called "dt".

The reason why it is a userland program rather than in kernel is more
of a historical one.  There was a series of discussion which caused
the author of dt to pull it out of the kernel about two years ago.

BTW, virtual terminal (or virtual console to follow more BSDish term)
isn't exactly a product of linuxism.  Both NetBSD/i386 and FreeBSD
have a VC driver if I'm not mistaken.

ken