xref: /freebsd/share/man/man4/dcons.4 (revision 123af6ec70016f5556da5972d4d63c7d175c06d3)
1.\" Copyright (c) 2003 Hidetoshi Shimokawa
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25.\" $FreeBSD$
26.\"
27.Dd January 26, 2008
28.Dt DCONS 4
29.Os
30.Sh NAME
31.Nm dcons
32.Nd dumb console device driver
33.Sh SYNOPSIS
34To compile this driver into the kernel,
35place the following lines in your kernel configuration file:
36.Bd -ragged -offset indent
37.Cd "options GDB"
38.Cd "device firewire"
39.Cd "device dcons"
40.Ed
41.Pp
42Alternatively, to load the driver as a module at boot time,
43place the following line in your kernel configuration file:
44.Bd -ragged -offset indent
45.Cd "options GDB"
46.Ed
47.Pp
48and in
49.Xr loader.conf 5 :
50.Bd -ragged -offset indent
51dcons_load="YES"
52.Ed
53.Sh DESCRIPTION
54The
55.Nm
56device is a simple console device which just reads from and writes to
57an allocated buffer for input and output respectively.
58It is of no use by itself and it is supposed that the buffer is accessed
59via a bus like
60.Xr firewire 4
61or
62.Xr kvm 3
63for interaction.
64.Pp
65The buffer consists of 4 channels.
66There are 2 ports, one for the console TTY and another is GDB port,
67then each port has an input channel and an output channel.
68.Sh FILES
69.Bl -tag -width indent -compact
70.It Pa /dev/dcons
71.It Pa /etc/ttys
72.El
73.Sh EXAMPLES
74If you want to run
75.Xr getty 8
76on
77.Nm ,
78insert the following line into
79.Xr ttys 5
80and send a
81.Dv HUP
82signal to
83.Xr init 8
84using
85.Xr kill 1 .
86.Bd -literal -offset indent
87dcons	"/usr/libexec/getty std.9600"	vt100	on  secure
88.Ed
89.Pp
90Once the
91.Xr fwohci 4
92device is initialized to allow physical access,
93the buffer can be accessed from another host via a
94.Xr firewire 4
95bus using the
96.Xr dconschat 8
97application.
98See
99.Xr dconschat 8
100for more details.
101.Pp
102If you want to use
103.Nm
104as a
105.Xr gdb 1
106port, add the following line into
107.Xr loader.conf 5 :
108.Bd -literal -offset indent
109dcons_gdb="1"
110.Ed
111.Sh SEE ALSO
112.Xr dcons_crom 4 ,
113.Xr ddb 4 ,
114.Xr firewire 4 ,
115.Xr fwohci 4 ,
116.Xr gdb 4 ,
117.Xr ttys 5 ,
118.Xr conscontrol 8 ,
119.Xr dconschat 8 ,
120.Xr fwcontrol 8
121.Sh AUTHORS
122.An Hidetoshi Shimokawa Aq Mt simokawa@FreeBSD.org
123.Sh BUGS
124This driver is
125.Ud
126