The console device is an alternative to using a windowing system, if you compile Irrlicht with it then it can display the output from the software drivers in the console as ASCII. The MS-DOS version has mouse and keyboard support, but it also works in output only mode using a VT100 for example over SSH. It was created after a user asked how to render graphics onto a 3D object on a web server (for a t-shirt shop), but I also added an ASCII renderer complete with font just for kicks.