a char *, because that's what was really intended, and because
if the print function modifies the string, various things could become
unhappy (so the string should _not_ be modified).
reasons: it won't attach as console, and there's currently no way to do
keyboard input on TC machines), and has no real RAMDAC (colormap, cursor,
etc.) support. Digital UNIX does not support CFB frame buffers in the
Alpha, but they appear to work OK (with an appropriate monitor) in my
3000/300.
cgd