3 .\" Kazutaka YOKOTA <yokota@zodiac.mech.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp>
4 .\" All rights reserved.
6 .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
7 .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
9 .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
10 .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer as
11 .\" the first lines of this file unmodified.
12 .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
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14 .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
16 .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR
17 .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES
18 .\" OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.
19 .\" IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
20 .\" INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT
21 .\" NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
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27 .\" $FreeBSD: src/share/man/man4/syscons.4,v 1.10.2.14 2003/04/25 21:21:36 brueffer Exp $
35 .Nd the console driver
37 .Cd "options MAXCONS=N"
38 .Cd "options SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE"
39 .Cd "options SC_DISABLE_DDBKEY"
40 .Cd "options SC_DISABLE_REBOOT"
41 .Cd "options SC_HISTORY_SIZE=N"
42 .Cd "options SC_MOUSE_CHAR=C"
43 .Cd "options SC_NO_CUTPASTE"
44 .Cd "options SC_NO_FONT_LOADING"
45 .Cd "options SC_NO_HISTORY"
46 .Cd "options SC_NO_SYSMOUSE"
47 .Cd "options SC_PIXEL_MODE"
48 .Cd "options SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE"
49 .Cd "options SC_NORM_ATTR=_attribute_"
50 .Cd "options SC_NORM_REV_ATTR=_attribute_"
51 .Cd "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR=_attribute_"
52 .Cd "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_REV_ATTR=_attribute_"
53 .Cd "options SC_BORDER_COLOR=_attribute_"
54 .Cd "options SC_DFLT_FONT"
55 .Cd "makeoptions SC_DFLT_FONT=_font_name_"
56 .Cd "device sc0 at isa?" Op flags Ar flags
60 driver provides multiple virtual terminals.
61 It resembles the SCO color console driver.
65 driver is implemented on top of the keyboard driver
67 and the video card drivers
73 .Sx DRIVER CONFIGURATION
74 below on how to make the console work with
81 device defined in the system.
85 driver provides multiple virtual terminals which appear as if they were
87 One virtual terminal is considered current and exclusively
88 occupies the screen and the keyboard; the other virtual terminals
89 are placed in the background.
91 In order to use virtual terminals, they must be individually
96 will recognize them to be active and run
98 to let the user log in to the system.
99 By default, only the first eight virtual terminals are activated in
104 key and a switch key to switch between
106 The following table summarizes the correspondence between the switch
107 key and the virtual terminal.
108 .Bd -literal -offset indent
109 Alt-F1 ttyv0 Alt-F7 ttyv6 Shift-Alt-F1 ttyv10
110 Alt-F2 ttyv1 Alt-F8 ttyv7 Shift-Alt-F2 ttyv11
111 Alt-F3 ttyv2 Alt-F9 ttyv8 Shift-Alt-F3 ttyv12
112 Alt-F4 ttyv3 Alt-F10 ttyv9 Shift-Alt-F4 ttyv13
113 Alt-F5 ttyv4 Alt-F11 ttyv10 Shift-Alt-F5 ttyv14
114 Alt-F6 ttyv5 Alt-F12 ttyv11 Shift-Alt-F6 ttyv15
117 You can also use the ``nscr'' key (usually the
119 key on the AT Enhanced keyboard) to cycle available virtual terminals.
121 The default number of available virtual terminals is 16.
122 This can be changed with the kernel configuration option
126 Note that the X server usually requires a virtual terminal for display
127 purposes, so at least one terminal must be left unused by
129 so that it can be used by the X server.
130 .Ss Key Definitions and Function Key Strings
133 driver, in conjunction with the keyboard driver, allows the user
134 to change key definitions and function key strings.
137 command will load a key definition file (known as ``keymap'' file),
138 dump the current keymap, and assign a string to a function key.
145 You may want to set the
148 .Pa /etc/rc.conf.local
149 to the desired keymap file so that it will be automatically loaded
150 when the system starts up.
152 For most modern video cards, e.g. VGA, the
154 driver and the video card driver allow the user to change
155 the font used on the screen.
158 command can be used to load a font file from
159 .Pa /usr/share/syscons/fonts .
161 The font comes in various sizes: 8x8, 8x14 and 8x16.
162 The 8x16 font is typically used for the VGA card in the
163 80-column-by-25-line mode.
164 Other video modes may require different font sizes.
165 It is better to always load all three sizes of the same font.
174 to the desired font files so that they will be automatically loaded
175 when the system starts up.
177 Optionally you can specify a particular font file as the default.
182 If your video card does not support software fonts, you may still be able
183 to achieve a similar effect by re-mapping the font built into your video card.
186 to load a screen map file which defines the mapping between character codes.
187 .Ss Mouse Support and Copy-and-Paste
188 You can use your mouse to copy text on the screen and paste it as if
189 it was typed by hand.
190 You must be running the mouse daemon
192 and enable the mouse cursor in the virtual terminal via
195 Pressing mouse button 1 (usually the left button) will start selection.
196 Releasing button 1 will end the selection process.
197 The selected text will be marked by inverting foreground and
199 You can press button 3 (usually the right button) to extend
201 The selected text is placed in the copy buffer and can be pasted
202 at the cursor position by pressing button 2 (usually the
203 middle button) as many times as you like.
205 If your mouse has only two buttons, you may want to use the
206 .Dv SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE
207 option below to make the right button to paste the text.
208 Alternatively you can make the mouse daemon
209 emulate the middle button.
216 driver allows the user to browse the output which has ``scrolled off''
217 the top of the screen.
219 Press the ``slock'' key (usually
225 on many keyboards) and the terminal is
226 in the ``scrollback'' mode.
227 It is indicated by the
230 Use the arrow keys, the
234 keys to scroll buffered terminal output.
235 Press the ``slock'' key again to get back to the normal terminal mode.
237 The size of the scrollback buffer can be set by the
239 option described below.
243 driver can be made to put up the screen saver if the current
244 virtual terminal is idle, that is, the user is not typing
245 on the keyboard nor moving the mouse.
251 .Sh DRIVER CONFIGURATION
253 The following tunables are available and can be set in
255 .Bl -tag -width ".Va kern.kms_console"
256 .It Va kern.kms_console
257 Setting this tunable to 0 disables experimental framebuffer support
258 in conjunction with the
264 .It Va kern.kms_columns
265 The number of columns to use in conjunction with the
270 The font size is scaled to match the requested number of columns.
276 tries to find a more or less pleasant looking default.
279 to a negative value turns off scaling.
284 variable is available and can be either set via
286 or from the command line.
287 .Bl -tag -width ".Va kern.syscons_async"
288 .It Va kern.syscons_async
289 Set to 1 to enable asynchronous bulk framebuffer updates.
290 It is intended to help with
292 stuttering when a high resolution
294 scrolls during playback.
295 It is not enabled by default because on certain machines it has lead to
296 subtle issues with for example
299 .Ss Kernel Configuration Options
300 The following kernel configuration options control the
303 .Bl -tag -width MOUSE
305 This option sets the number of virtual terminals to
307 The default value is 16.
308 .It Dv SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE
309 This option selects the alternative way of displaying the mouse cursor
310 in the virtual terminal.
311 It may be expensive for some video cards to draw the arrow-shaped
312 cursor, and you may want to try this option.
313 However, the appearance of the alternative mouse cursor may not be
315 Note that if you use the
316 .Dv SC_NO_FONT_LOADING
317 option then you must also use this option if you wish to be able to use
319 .It Dv SC_DISABLE_DDBKEY
320 This option disables the ``debug'' key combination (by default, it is
323 .Dv Ctl-PrintScreen ) .
324 It will prevent users from
325 entering the kernel debugger (DDB) by pressing the key combination.
326 DDB will still be invoked when the kernel panics or hits a break point
327 if it is included in the kernel.
328 .It Dv SC_DISABLE_REBOOT
329 This option disables the ``reboot'' key (by default, it is
331 so that the casual user may not accidentally reboot the system.
332 .It Dv SC_HISTORY_SIZE=N
333 Sets the size of back scroll buffer to
336 The default value is 100.
337 .It Dv SC_MOUSE_CHAR=C
339 .Dv SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE
340 option above is specified, the
342 driver reserves four consecutive character codes in order to display the
343 mouse cursor in the virtual terminals in some systems.
344 This option specifies the first character code to
346 to be used for this purpose.
347 The default value is 0xd0.
348 A good candidate is 0x03.
350 Adds support for pixel (raster) mode console.
351 This mode is useful on some laptop computers, but less so on
352 most other systems, and it adds substantial amount of code to
354 If this option is NOT defined, you can reduce the kernel size a lot.
355 .It Dv SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE
356 If you have a two button mouse, you may want to add this option
357 to use the right button of the mouse to paste text.
359 .Sx Mouse Support and Copy-and-Paste
361 .It Dv SC_NORM_ATTR=_attribute_
362 .It Dv SC_NORM_REV_ATTR=_attribute_
363 .It Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR=_attribute_
364 .It Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_REV_ATTR=_attribute_
365 .It Dv SC_BORDER_COLOR=_attribute_
366 These options will set the default colors.
367 Available colors are defined in
368 .In machine/pc/display.h .
373 This option will specify the default font.
374 Available fonts are: iso, iso2, koi8-r, koi8-u, cp437, cp850, cp865,
376 16-line, 14-line and 8-line font data will be compiled in.
377 Without this option, the
379 driver will use whatever font is already loaded in the video card,
380 unless you explicitly load a software font at startup.
386 The following options will remove some features from the
388 driver and save kernel memory.
389 .Bl -tag -width MOUSE
390 .It Dv SC_NO_CUTPASTE
391 This option disables ``copy and paste'' operation in virtual
393 .It Dv SC_NO_FONT_LOADING
396 driver can load software fonts on some video cards.
397 This option removes this feature.
398 Note that if you still wish to use
399 the mouse with this option then you must also use the
400 .Dv SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE
403 This option disables back-scrolling in virtual terminals.
404 .It Dv SC_NO_SYSMOUSE
405 This option removes mouse support in the
410 will fail if this option is defined.
411 This option implies the
416 The following driver flags can be used to control the
419 They can be set either in the kernel configuration file
422 or else in the User Configuration Menu at boot
426 .Bl -tag -width bit_0
427 .\".It bit 0 (VISUAL_BELL)
428 .\"Uses the ``visual'' bell.
429 .\"The screen will blink instead of generating audible sound.
430 .\".It bit 1,2 (CURSOR_TYPE)
431 .\"This option specifies the cursor appearance.
432 .\"Possible values are:
433 .\".Bl -tag -width TYPE -compact
435 .\"normal block cursor
437 .\"blinking block cursor
441 .\"blinking underline (aka destructive) cursor
443 .\".It bit 6 (QUIET_BELL)
444 .\"This option suppresses the bell, whether audible or visual,
445 .\"if it is rung in a background virtual terminal.
446 .It 0x0100 (AUTODETECT_KBD)
447 This option instructs the
449 driver to periodically scan
450 for a keyboard device if it is not currently attached to one.
451 Otherwise, the driver only probes for a keyboard once during bootup.
456 commands are defined for the
461 .Bl -tag -width CONS -compact
462 .It Dv KDGETMODE Ar int *mode
463 .It Dv KDSETMODE Ar int *mode
464 Get or set the mode of the current (virtual) console. The
468 .Bl -tag -width KD_GRAPHICS -compact
473 Text mode, restore fonts and palette
477 Text mode, don't restore fonts and palette
479 Raster (pixel) text mode
482 .It Dv KDSBORDER Ar int *color
483 Set the border color of the current (virtual) console.
485 .It Dv KDRASTER Ar scr_size_t *sizes
486 Set raster (pixel) text mode and adjust the current (virtual) console's
487 geometry and font size. The
489 argument structure is as follows:
496 .It Dv GIO_SCRNMAP Ar scrmap_t *map
497 .It Dv PIO_SCRNMAP Ar scrmap_t *map
498 Get or set the screen map for the current (virtual) console. The
500 argument structure is defined as follows:
507 .It Dv GIO_ATTR Ar int *attr
508 Get the current text attribute.
510 .It Dv GIO_COLOR Ar int *color
511 Get the current text color.
513 .It Dv CONS_CURRENT Ar int *type
514 Get the adapter type. This is equivalent to
517 .It Dv CONS_GET Ar int *mode
518 Get the current video mode. This is equivalent to
521 .It Dv CONS_SET Ar int *mode
522 Set the current video mode. This is equivalent to
525 .It Dv CONS_BLANKTIME Ar int *time
526 Set the screen saver blank interval (in seconds).
528 .It Dv CONS_CURSORTYPE Ar int *type
529 Set the text cursor shape. The argument
531 can be one or more of the following:
533 .Bl -tag -width CONS_BLINK_CURSOR -compact
534 .It Dv CONS_BLINK_CURSOR
535 Set for a blinking cursor, unset for a non-blinking cursor.
536 .It Dv CONS_CHAR_CURSOR
537 Set for an underscore-shaped cursor, unset for a rectangle.
540 .It Dv CONS_BELLTYPE Ar int *type
541 Set the bell type. The argument
545 .Bl -tag -width CONS_VISUAL_BELL -compact
546 .It Dv CONS_VISUAL_BELL
547 Set for a visual bell, unset for an audible bell.
548 .It Dv CONS_QUIET_BELL
549 Set to enable the bell, unset to disable it.
552 .It Dv CONS_HISTORY Ar int *size
553 Set the history (scroll back) buffer size (in lines).
556 Clear the history (scroll back) buffer.
558 .It Dv CONS_IDLE Ar int *idle
559 Check if the (virtual) console has been idle.
561 .It Dv CONS_SAVERMODE Ar int *mode
562 Set the screen saver mode. The argument
566 .Bl -tag -width CONS_LKM_SAVER -compact
569 .It Dv CONS_USR_SAVER
571 .It Dv CONS_LKM_SAVER
572 Add a new screen saver
575 .It Dv CONS_SAVERSTART Ar int *start
576 Start or stop the screen saver.
578 .It Dv PIO_FONT8x8 Ar fnt8_t *font
579 .It Dv GIO_FONT8x8 Ar fnt8_t *font
580 Get or set the 8x8 font. The
582 argument structure is defined as follows:
589 .It Dv PIO_FONT8x14 Ar fnt14_t *font
590 .It Dv GIO_FONT8x14 Ar fnt14_t *font
591 Get or set the 8x14 font. The
593 argument structure is defined as follows:
596 char fnt8x14[14*256];
600 .It Dv PIO_FONT8x16 Ar fnt16_t *font
601 .It Dv GIO_FONT8x16 Ar fnt16_t *font
602 Get or set the 8x16 font. The
604 argument structure is defined as follows:
607 char fnt8x16[16*256];
611 .It Dv CONS_GETINFO Ar vid_info_t *info
612 Get information about the current video mode. The
614 structure is defined as follows:
620 u_short mv_row, mv_col;
621 u_short mv_rsz, mv_csz;
622 struct colors mv_norm,
630 .It Dv CONS_GETVERS Ar int *version
631 Get the version of the driver.
633 .It Dv CONS_CURRENTADP Ar int *adapter
634 Get the video adapter index. This is equivalent to
637 .It Dv CONS_ADPINFO Ar video_adapter_info_t *info
638 Get the video adapter information. This is equivalent to
641 .It Dv CONS_MODEINFO Ar video_info_t *info
642 Get the video mode information. This is equivalent to
645 .It Dv CONS_FINDMODE Ar video_info_t *info
646 Find a video mode. This is equivalent to
649 .It Dv CONS_SETWINORG Ar u_int *origin
650 Set the frame buffer window origin. This is equivalent to
653 .It Dv CONS_SETKBD Ar int *kbd
657 Release the current keyboard.
659 .It Dv CONS_SCRSHOT Ar scrshot_t *data
660 Make a snapshot of the current video buffer. The
662 structure is defined as:
671 .It Dv CONS_GETTERM Ar term_info_t *info
672 .It Dv CONS_SETTERM Ar term_info_t *info
673 Get or set terminal characteristics. The
675 structure is defined as:
680 u_char ti_name[TI_NAME_LEN];
681 u_char ti_desc[TI_DESC_LEN];
685 .It Dv VT_OPENQRY Ar int *term
686 Get the next available terminal.
688 .It Dv VT_SETMODE Ar vtmode_t *mode
689 .It Dv VT_GETMODE Ar vtmode_t *mode
690 Get or set the terminal switching mode. The
692 argument structure is defined as follows:
703 .It Dv VT_RELDISP Ar int *ack
704 Acknowledge the release or acquisition of a terminal. The
706 argument can be one of:
708 .Bl -tag -width VT_ACKACQ -compact
710 The user refuses to release the screen, abort
712 The user has released the screen, go on
714 Acquisition of the screen acknowledged, switch completed
717 .It Dv VT_ACTIVATE Ar int *term
718 Activate the specified terminal.
720 .It Dv VT_WAITACTIVE Ar int *term
721 Wait until the specified terminal is active.
723 .It Dv VT_GETACTIVE Ar int *term
724 Get the currently active terminal.
726 .It Dv VT_GETINDEX Ar int *index
727 Get the index of the terminal.
729 .It Dv VT_LOCKSWITCH Ar int *lock
730 Prevent or permit terminal switching.
733 .Bl -tag -width /usr/share/syscons/xxxxyyyyzzz -compact
735 .It Pa /dev/consolectl
739 terminal initialization information
740 .It Pa /usr/share/syscons/fonts/*
742 .It Pa /usr/share/syscons/keymaps/*
744 .It Pa /usr/share/syscons/scrmaps/*
750 driver requires the keyboard driver and the video card driver,
751 the kernel configuration file should contain the following lines.
753 .D1 Cd device atkbdc0 at isa? port IO_KBD
754 .D1 Cd device atkbd0 at atkbdc? irq 1
755 .D1 Cd device vga0 at isa?
756 .D1 Cd device sc0 at isa?
757 .D1 Cd pseudo-device splash
759 If you do not intend to load the splash image or use the screen saver,
760 the last line is not necessary, and can be omitted.
762 Note that the keyboard controller driver
764 is required by the keyboard driver
767 The following lines will set the default colors.
768 The normal text will be green on black background.
769 The reversed text will be yellow on green background.
770 Note that you cannot put any white space inside the quoted string,
771 because of the current implementation of
774 .D1 Cd "options SC_NORM_ATTR=(FG_GREEN|BG_BLACK)"
775 .D1 Cd "options SC_NORM_REV_ATTR=(FG_YELLOW|BG_GREEN)"
777 The following lines will set the default colors of the kernel message.
778 The kernel message will be printed bright red on black background.
779 The reversed message will be black on red background.
781 .D1 Cd "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR=(FG_LIGHTRED|BG_BLACK)"
782 .D1 Cd "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_REV_ATTR=(FG_BLACK|BG_RED)"
784 The following line will set the default border color of the terminal.
785 If the console is in framebuffer mode, or in raster (pixel) text mode,
786 a thin green border will be visible around the terminal if the screen
787 size is not an exact multiple of the font size.
788 This border area can be much larger if the column or row count is
789 explicitly specified (for example when using the
793 .D1 Cd "options SC_BORDER_COLOR=FG_GREEN"
795 The following example adds the font files
802 .D1 Cd "options SC_DFLT_FONT"
803 .D1 Cd "makeoptions SC_DFLT_FONT=cp850"
804 .D1 Cd "device sc0 at isa?"
807 The amount of data that is possible to insert from the cut buffer is limited
810 a system limit on the number of bytes that may be stored in the terminal
811 input queue - usually 1024 bytes
836 driver first appeared in
842 driver was written by
843 .An S\(/oren Schmidt Aq Mt sos@FreeBSD.org .
844 This manual page was written by
845 .An Kazutaka Yokota Aq Mt yokota@FreeBSD.org
849 This manual page is incomplete and needs revision.