This system administration enhancement is new in the Solaris Express 8/06 release.
The $TERM value is dynamically derived and depends on the terminal emulator that the console is using.
On SPARC based systems the $TERM value is as follows:
If the system uses the kernel's terminal emulator
If the system uses the PROM's terminal emulator
On x86 based systems, the $TERM value is sun-color because the kernel's terminal emulator is always used.
For more information, see the following:
Coherent Console in the Solaris Express 3/06 release
“Managing Terminals and Modems” in the System Administration Guide: Advanced Administration
This change does not impact how the terminal type is set for the serial port. You can still use the svccfg command to modify the $TERM value.