Debian startup help

[rame0065@umn.edu]

Hi,

I have a question regarding the startup of Debian Linux.

I am working on a embedded processor called TS-7800. It has debian linux 
installed on the hardware.

I wanted to include some of own scripts during the startup. So, I began 
with smaller statements(like echo, printf etc..) just for testing purposes.

In the process of testing, I created a script file as below:
/my_script.sh

contents of this file was only:
--------------------------
(
      echo "Hello World"
) > $CONSOLE
--------------------------
This executed fine. But I wanted to read a user input so I changed it to:
--------------------------
(
      echo "Hello World"
      read letter
      echo $letter
) > $CONSOLE
--------------------------
Then with no intention of mine, somehow, the "$" symbol from the "echo
$letter" statement got ommitted.
Now the script reads:
--------------------------
(
      echo "Hello World"
      read letter
      echo letter
) > $CONSOLE
--------------------------

Now during the startup, it is stuck at displaying the "letter" word
infinitely.
I am not able to reach the prompt at all. It is stuck in the booting mode 
indefinitely.

Can you please help me with this? I am really close to be done with my 
project and I cant take the risk of not being able to use my code.

Thanks again for all your help.
-
Varun Ramesh
Research Assistant,
Civil Engineering Dept,
University of Minnesota,
Twin Cities