I hope you all will be patient with me, for I am a slow learner.

You have helped me find the material I'm after. Now I need to
figure out how to apply it. I know how, in principle to proceed
to establish a file to read. I've seen a few ideas on how to
achieve a virtual terminal, but I've not mastered that yet.

I lost a few hours being disconnected, by the unfortunate choice
of Fn-F2 on my laptop keyboard. I was attempting to establish
what, if anything, happened with a whole lot of key combinations.
I Thought my wifi or router had died.

Many thanks to you all. My cup runneth over.

klaus2008, I'm very interested to try what you suggest.
I will now re-apply myself to the virtual terminal problem;
once I get over that hump, I'll get back to you.