Warren, what follows are 3 examples of "console text". All of the examples are "blockquoted" and any text that is entered by the user is underlined.

In the first example, regular console text is normal, variable text is italicized and user entered text is bolded and underlined.

A crash dump of n K is in the swap area.
It will take a while to save the crash dump on the disk / tape / floppy.
Do you want to save the crash dump ? ( y / n) : y

In the following example, regular console text is bolded, variable text is italicized and user entered text is bolded and underlined.

Need n to save crash dump.
Root has only n free.
F - write to floppy disk
T - write to tape
X - skip it:S

In the last example, regular console text is bolded, variable text is italicized and user entered text is underlined.

# restoredump
Dump in default directory (/crash) (y/n)?n
- Enter the directory where the crash is to be stored
/home/dumps/n
Select Tape Drive from which dump is to be restored

I don't like the first example as it just doesn't differentiate enough from the rest of the text. the last two are a toss up. Please let me know what you think. You must be root or root-equivalent to run restoredump:

# restoredump
Dump in default directory (/crash) (y/n)?n
- Enter the directory where the crash is to be stored
/home/dumps/n
Select Tape Drive from which dump is to be restored

1. Drive 1 (VIPER_2525_25462 )
X. Exit

Enter your choice : 1
Restore Crash Dump Started.
Insert tape and press RETURN to start
Restoring nn Mb crash dump
Restored n % Approx. End Time : a b d HH:MM:SS yyyy
Restore of Symbol, kernel, contents, mdevice, sdevice,
mtune, stune files started
n blocks
Restore Done.
Restore hinv File Started