By default, the kernel will print messages to the console device (see cons(3)). This can be problematic when also running rio on the console, as is common on terminals: the console output will overwrite the existing screen contents. To work around this problem, open a new terminal window and do: ! cat /dev/kprint This works because, according to the kprint discussion in cons(3), "if (the) console is a graphics screen, the data is sent either to the display or to kprint, but not both." If you'd like a more permanent solution to the problem, make a directory '/sys/log/consoles' and put a line like ! cat /dev/kprint >>/sys/log/consoles/$sysname >[2=1] & somewhere in termrc or the included files (see cpurc(8)), or in your rio startup. On cpu servers, it may be useful to open a new window with something like: ! {cat /dev/kmesg ; cat /dev/kprint} | tee /sys/log/consoles/$sysname This will save a copy of the console output while also displaying it in a more controlled fashion. It is probably not a good idea to redirect these to /dev/null; they may be important.