1.\" 2.\" Copyright (c) 1999 3.\" Kazutaka YOKOTA <yokota@zodiac.mech.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp> 4.\" All rights reserved. 5.\" 6.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 7.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 8.\" are met: 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 13.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 14.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 15.\" 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, 22.\" DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY 23.\" THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT 24.\" (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF 25.\" THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. 26.\" 27.Dd May 25, 2022 28.Dt SYSCONS 4 29.Os 30.Sh NAME 31.Nm syscons , 32.Nm sc 33.Nd the legacy console driver 34.Sh SYNOPSIS 35.Cd "options MAXCONS=N" 36.Cd "options SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE" 37.Cd "options SC_CUT_SEPCHARS=_characters_" 38.Cd "options SC_CUT_SPACES2TABS" 39.Cd "options SC_DFLT_TERM" 40.Cd "options SC_DISABLE_KDBKEY" 41.Cd "options SC_DISABLE_REBOOT" 42.Cd "options SC_HISTORY_SIZE=N" 43.Cd "options SC_MOUSE_CHAR=C" 44.Cd "options SC_NO_CUTPASTE" 45.Cd "options SC_NO_FONT_LOADING" 46.Cd "options SC_NO_HISTORY" 47.Cd "options SC_NO_PALETTE_LOADING" 48.Cd "options SC_NO_SUSPEND_VTYSWITCH" 49.Cd "options SC_NO_SYSMOUSE" 50.Cd "options SC_NO_TERM_DUMB" 51.Cd "options SC_NO_TERM_SC" 52.Cd "options SC_NO_TERM_SCTEKEN" 53.Cd "options SC_PIXEL_MODE" 54.Cd "options SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE" 55.Cd "options SC_NORM_ATTR=_attribute_" 56.Cd "options SC_NORM_REV_ATTR=_attribute_" 57.Cd "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR=_attribute_" 58.Cd "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTRS=_attributes_" 59.Cd "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_REV_ATTR=_attribute_" 60.Cd "options SC_DFLT_FONT" 61.Cd "makeoptions SC_DFLT_FONT=_font_name_" 62.Cd "device sc" 63.Pp 64In 65.Pa /boot/device.hints : 66.Cd hint.sc.0.at="isa" 67.Cd hint.sc.0.vesa_mode=0x103 68.Pp 69In 70.Pa /boot/loader.conf : 71.Cd kern.vty=sc 72.Sh DESCRIPTION 73The 74.Nm 75driver provides multiple virtual terminals. 76It resembles the SCO color console driver. 77.Pp 78Note that the 79.Nm 80driver is not compatible with systems booted via 81.Xr UEFI 8 . 82Forcing use of 83.Nm 84on such systems will result in no usable console. 85.Pp 86The 87.Nm 88driver is implemented on top of the keyboard driver 89.Pq Xr atkbd 4 90and the video card driver 91.Pq Xr vga 4 92and so requires both of them to be configured in the system. 93.Pp 94There can be only one 95.Nm 96device defined in the system. 97.Ss Virtual Terminals 98The 99.Nm 100driver provides multiple virtual terminals which appear as if they were 101separate terminals. 102One virtual terminal is considered current and exclusively 103occupies the screen and the keyboard; the other virtual terminals 104are placed in the background. 105.Pp 106In order to use virtual terminals, they must be individually 107marked ``on'' in 108.Pa /etc/ttys 109so that 110.Xr getty 8 111will recognize them to be active and run 112.Xr login 1 113to let the user log in to the system. 114By default, only the first eight virtual terminals are activated in 115.Pa /etc/ttys . 116.Pp 117You press the 118.Dv Alt 119key and a switch key to switch between 120virtual terminals. 121The following table summarizes the correspondence between the switch 122key and the virtual terminal. 123.Bd -literal -offset indent 124Alt-F1 ttyv0 Alt-F7 ttyv6 Shift-Alt-F1 ttyva 125Alt-F2 ttyv1 Alt-F8 ttyv7 Shift-Alt-F2 ttyvb 126Alt-F3 ttyv2 Alt-F9 ttyv8 Shift-Alt-F3 ttyvc 127Alt-F4 ttyv3 Alt-F10 ttyv9 Shift-Alt-F4 ttyvd 128Alt-F5 ttyv4 Alt-F11 ttyva Shift-Alt-F5 ttyve 129Alt-F6 ttyv5 Alt-F12 ttyvb Shift-Alt-F6 ttyvf 130.Ed 131.Pp 132You can also use the ``nscr'' key (usually the 133.Dv PrintScreen 134key on the AT Enhanced keyboard) to cycle available virtual terminals. 135.Pp 136The default number of available virtual terminals is 16. 137This can be changed with the kernel configuration option 138.Dv MAXCONS 139(see below). 140.Pp 141Note that the X server usually requires a virtual terminal for display 142purposes, so at least one terminal must be left unused by 143.Xr getty 8 144so that it can be used by the X server. 145.Ss Key Definitions and Function Key Strings 146The 147.Nm 148driver, in conjunction with the keyboard driver, allows the user 149to change key definitions and function key strings. 150The 151.Xr kbdcontrol 1 152command will load a key definition file (known as ``keymap'' file), 153dump the current keymap, and assign a string to a function key. 154See 155.Xr keyboard 4 156and 157.Xr kbdmap 5 158for the keymap file. 159.Pp 160You may want to set the 161.Ar keymap 162variable in 163.Pa /etc/rc.conf.local 164to the desired keymap file so that it will be automatically loaded 165when the system starts up. 166.Ss Software Font 167For most modern video cards, e.g., VGA, the 168.Nm 169driver and the video card driver allow the user to change 170the font used on the screen. 171The 172.Xr vidcontrol 1 173command can be used to load a font file from 174.Pa /usr/share/syscons/fonts . 175.Pp 176The font comes in various sizes: 8x8, 8x14 and 8x16. 177The 8x16 font is typically used for the VGA card in the 17880-column-by-25-line mode. 179Other video modes may require different font sizes. 180It is better to always load all three sizes of the same font. 181.Pp 182You may set 183.Ar font8x8 , 184.Ar font8x14 185and 186.Ar font8x16 187variables in 188.Pa /etc/rc.conf 189to the desired font files so that they will be automatically loaded 190when the system starts up. 191.Pp 192Optionally you can specify a particular font file as the default. 193See the 194.Dv SC_DFLT_FONT 195option below. 196.Ss Screen Map 197If your video card does not support software fonts, you may still be able 198to achieve a similar effect by re-mapping the font built into your video card. 199Use 200.Xr vidcontrol 1 201to load a screen map file which defines the mapping between character codes. 202.Ss Mouse Support and Copy-and-Paste 203You can use your mouse to copy text on the screen and paste it as if 204it was typed by hand. 205You must be running the mouse daemon 206.Xr moused 8 207and enable the mouse cursor in the virtual terminal via 208.Xr vidcontrol 1 . 209.Pp 210Pressing mouse button 1 (usually the left button) will start selection. 211Releasing button 1 will end the selection process. 212The selected text will be marked by inverting foreground and 213background colors. 214You can press button 3 (usually the right button) to extend 215the selected region. 216The selected text is placed in the copy buffer and can be pasted 217at the cursor position by pressing button 2 (usually the 218middle button) as many times as you like. 219.Pp 220If your mouse has only two buttons, you may want to use the 221.Dv SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE 222option below to make the right button to paste the text. 223Alternatively you can make the mouse daemon 224emulate the middle button. 225See the man page for 226.Xr moused 8 227for more details. 228.Ss Back Scrolling 229The 230.Nm 231driver allows the user to browse the output which has ``scrolled off'' 232the top of the screen. 233.Pp 234Press the ``slock'' key (usually 235.Dv ScrllLock 236/ 237.Dv Scroll Lock 238or 239.Dv Pause 240on many keyboards) and the terminal is 241in the ``scrollback'' mode. 242It is indicated by the 243.Dv Scroll Lock 244LED. 245Use the arrow keys, the 246.Dv Page Up/Down 247keys and the 248.Dv Home/End 249keys to scroll buffered terminal output. 250Press the ``slock'' key again to get back to the normal terminal mode. 251.Pp 252The size of the scrollback buffer can be set by the 253.Dv SC_HISTORY_SIZE 254option described below. 255.Ss Screen Saver 256The 257.Nm 258driver can be made to put up the screen saver if the current 259virtual terminal is idle, that is, the user is not typing 260on the keyboard nor moving the mouse. 261See 262.Xr splash 4 263and 264.Xr vidcontrol 1 265for more details. 266.Sh DRIVER CONFIGURATION 267.Ss Kernel Configuration Options 268The following kernel configuration options control the 269.Nm 270driver. 271.Bl -tag -width MOUSE 272.It Dv MAXCONS=N 273This option sets the number of virtual terminals to 274.Fa N . 275The default value is 16. 276.It Dv SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE 277This option selects the alternative way of displaying the mouse cursor 278in the virtual terminal. 279It may be expensive for some video cards to draw the arrow-shaped 280cursor, and you may want to try this option. 281However, the appearance of the alternative mouse cursor may not be 282very appealing. 283Note that if you use the 284.Dv SC_NO_FONT_LOADING 285option then you must also use this option if you wish to be able to use 286the mouse. 287.It Dv SC_CUT_SEPCHARS=_characters_ 288This options specifies characters that will be looked for when the 289driver searches for words boundaries when doing cut operation. 290By default, its value is 291.Qq Li \ex20 292\(em a space character. 293.It Dv SC_CUT_SPACES2TABS 294This options instructs the driver to convert leading spaces into tabs 295when copying data into cut buffer. 296This might be useful to preserve 297indentation when copying tab-indented text. 298.It Dv SC_DFLT_TERM=_name_ 299This option specifies the name of the preferred terminal emulator. 300.It Dv SC_DISABLE_KDBKEY 301This option disables the ``debug'' key combination (by default, it is 302.Dv Alt-Esc , 303or 304.Dv Ctl-PrintScreen ) . 305It will prevent users from 306entering the kernel debugger (KDB) by pressing the key combination. 307KDB will still be invoked when the kernel panics or hits a break point 308if it is included in the kernel. 309If this option is not defined, this behavior may be controlled at runtime 310by the 311.Xr sysctl 8 312variable 313.Va hw.syscons.kbd_debug . 314.It Dv SC_DISABLE_REBOOT 315This option disables the ``reboot'' key (by default, it is 316.Dv Ctl-Alt-Del ) , 317so that the casual user may not accidentally reboot the system. 318If this option is not defined, this behavior may be controlled at runtime 319by the 320.Xr sysctl 8 321variable 322.Va hw.syscons.kbd_reboot . 323.It Dv SC_HISTORY_SIZE=N 324Sets the size of back scroll buffer to 325.Fa N 326lines. 327The default value is 100. 328.It Dv SC_MOUSE_CHAR=C 329Unless the 330.Dv SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE 331option above is specified, the 332.Nm 333driver reserves four consecutive character codes in order to display the 334mouse cursor in the virtual terminals in some systems. 335This option specifies the first character code to 336.Fa C 337to be used for this purpose. 338The default value is 0xd0. 339A good candidate is 0x03. 340.It Dv SC_PIXEL_MODE 341Adds support for pixel (raster) mode console. 342This mode is useful on some laptop computers, but less so on 343most other systems, and it adds substantial amount of code to syscons. 344If this option is NOT defined, you can reduce the kernel size a lot. 345See the 346.Dv VESAMODE 347flag below. 348.It Dv SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE 349If you have a two button mouse, you may want to add this option 350to use the right button of the mouse to paste text. 351See 352.Sx Mouse Support and Copy-and-Paste 353above. 354.It Dv SC_NORM_ATTR=_attribute_ 355.It Dv SC_NORM_REV_ATTR=_attribute_ 356.It Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR=_attribute_ 357.It Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTRS=_attributes_ 358.It Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_REV_ATTR=_attribute_ 359These options will set the default colors. 360Available colors are defined in 361.In machine/pc/display.h . 362See 363.Sx EXAMPLES 364below. 365.Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTRS 366is a character string giving a sequence of attributes in binary format. 367The sequence will be repeated up to the number of CPUs. 368Beware that the string must not be null, 369since the kernel divides by its length. 370.It Dv SC_DFLT_FONT 371This option will specify the default font. 372Available fonts are: iso, iso2, koi8-r, koi8-u, cp437, cp850, cp865, 373cp866 and cp866u. 37416-line, 14-line and 8-line font data will be compiled in. 375Without this option, the 376.Nm 377driver will use whatever font is already loaded in the video card, 378unless you explicitly load a software font at startup. 379See 380.Sx EXAMPLES 381below. 382.It Dv SC_NO_SUSPEND_VTYSWITCH 383This option, which is also available as 384.Xr loader 8 385tunable and 386.Xr sysctl 8 387variable 388.Va hw.syscons.sc_no_suspend_vtswitch , 389disables switching between virtual terminals (graphics <-> text) during 390suspend/resume (ACPI and APM). 391Use this option if your system is freezing 392when you are running X and trying to suspend. 393.El 394.Pp 395The following options will remove some features from the 396.Nm 397driver and save kernel memory. 398.Bl -tag -width MOUSE 399.It Dv SC_NO_CUTPASTE 400This option disables ``copy and paste'' operation in virtual 401terminals. 402.It Dv SC_NO_FONT_LOADING 403The 404.Nm 405driver can load software fonts on some video cards. 406This option removes this feature. 407Note that if you still wish to use 408the mouse with this option then you must also use the 409.Dv SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE 410option. 411.It Dv SC_NO_HISTORY 412This option disables back-scrolling in virtual terminals. 413.\".It Dv SC_NO_PALETTE_LOADING 414.It Dv SC_NO_SYSMOUSE 415This option removes mouse support in the 416.Nm 417driver. 418The mouse daemon 419.Xr moused 8 420will fail if this option is defined. 421This option implies the 422.Dv SC_NO_CUTPASTE 423option too. 424.It Dv SC_NO_TERM_DUMB 425.It Dv SC_NO_TERM_SC 426.It Dv SC_NO_TERM_SCTEKEN 427These options remove the 428.Qq dumb , 429.Qq sc , 430and 431.Qq scteken 432terminal emulators, respectively. 433.El 434.Ss Driver Flags 435The following driver flags can be used to control the 436.Nm 437driver. 438Driver flags can be set with the 439.Cd hint.sc.0.flags 440tunable, either in 441.Pa /boot/device.hints , 442or else at the loader prompt (see 443.Xr loader 8 ) . 444.Bl -tag -width bit_0 445.\".It bit 0 (VISUAL_BELL) 446.\"Uses the ``visual'' bell. 447.\"The screen will blink instead of generating audible sound. 448.\".It bit 1,2 (CURSOR_TYPE) 449.\"This option specifies the cursor appearance. 450.\"Possible values are: 451.\".Bl -tag -width TYPE -compact 452.\".It Dv 0 453.\"normal block cursor 454.\".It Dv 2 455.\"blinking block cursor 456.\".It Dv 4 457.\"underline cursor 458.\".It Dv 6 459.\"blinking underline (aka destructive) cursor 460.\".El 461.\".It bit 6 (QUIET_BELL) 462.\"This option suppresses the bell, whether audible or visual, 463.\"if it is rung in a background virtual terminal. 464.It 0x0080 (VESAMODE) 465This option puts the video card in the VESA mode specified by 466.Pa /boot/device.hints 467variable 468.Va vesa_mode 469during kernel initialization. 470Note that in order for this flag to work, the kernel must be 471compiled with the 472.Dv SC_PIXEL_MODE 473option explained above. 474A list of the available mode can be obtained via 475.Xr vidcontrol 1 . 476.\"Note also that the ``copy-and-paste'' function is not currently supported 477.\"in this mode and the mouse pointer will not be displayed. 478.It 0x0100 (AUTODETECT_KBD) 479This option instructs the syscons driver to periodically scan 480for a keyboard device if it is not currently attached to one. 481Otherwise, the driver only probes for a keyboard once during bootup. 482.El 483.Ss Loader Tunables 484These settings can be entered at the 485.Xr loader 8 486prompt or in 487.Xr loader.conf 5 . 488.Bl -tag -width indent 489.It Va kern.vty 490When both 491.Nm 492and 493.Xr vt 4 494have been compiled into the kernel, the one to use for the system console can 495be selected by setting this variable to 496.Ql sc 497or 498.Ql vt . 499The 500.Pa GENERIC 501kernel uses 502.Xr vt 4 503when this value is not set. 504.El 505.Sh FILES 506.Bl -tag -width /usr/share/syscons/xxxxyyyyzzz -compact 507.It Pa /dev/console 508.It Pa /dev/consolectl 509.It Pa /dev/ttyv? 510virtual terminals 511.It Pa /etc/ttys 512terminal initialization information 513.It Pa /usr/share/syscons/fonts/* 514font files 515.It Pa /usr/share/syscons/keymaps/* 516key map files 517.It Pa /usr/share/syscons/scrmaps/* 518screen map files 519.El 520.Sh EXAMPLES 521As the 522.Nm 523driver requires the keyboard driver and the video card driver, 524the kernel configuration file should contain the following lines. 525.Bd -literal -offset indent 526device atkbdc 527device atkbd 528device vga 529device sc 530device splash 531.Ed 532.Pp 533You also need the following lines in 534.Pa /boot/device.hints 535for these drivers. 536.Bd -literal -offset indent 537hint.atkbdc.0.at="isa" 538hint.atkbdc.0.port="0x060" 539hint.atkbd.0.at="atkbdc" 540hint.atkbd.0.irq="1" 541hint.vga.0.at="isa" 542hint.sc.0.at="isa" 543.Ed 544.Pp 545If you do not intend to load the splash image or use the screen saver, 546the last line is not necessary, and can be omitted. 547.Pp 548Note that the keyboard controller driver 549.Nm atkbdc 550is required by the keyboard driver 551.Nm atkbd . 552.Pp 553The following lines will set the default colors. 554The normal text will be green on black background. 555The reversed text will be yellow on green background. 556Note that you cannot put any white space inside the quoted string, 557because of the current implementation of 558.Xr config 8 . 559.Pp 560.Dl "options SC_NORM_ATTR=(FG_GREEN|BG_BLACK)" 561.Dl "options SC_NORM_REV_ATTR=(FG_YELLOW|BG_GREEN)" 562.Pp 563The following lines will set the default colors of the kernel message. 564The kernel message will be printed bright red on black background. 565The reversed message will be black on red background. 566.Pp 567.Dl "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR=(FG_LIGHTRED|BG_BLACK)" 568.Dl "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_REV_ATTR=(FG_BLACK|BG_RED)" 569.Pp 570Provided 571.Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR 572is not set, or is set to its default of bright white on black, 573the following line will set 4 red-ish colors 574for printing kernel messages in colors depending on the CPU. 575.Pp 576.Dl options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTRS=\e"\ex0c\ex04\ex40\ex0e\e" 577.Pp 578The default scheme is probably better for up to 8 CPUs. 579Use a long string to get unique colors for more than 8 CPUs. 580.Pp 581To turn off all per-CPU coloring of kernel messages, 582set SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR to a non-default value, 583or use the default in a pattern of length 1. 584.Pp 585.Dl options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTRS=\e"\ex0f\e" 586.Pp 587The following example adds the font files 588.Pa cp850-8x16.fnt , 589.Pa cp850-8x14.font 590and 591.Pa cp850-8x8.font 592to the kernel. 593.Pp 594.Dl "options SC_DFLT_FONT" 595.Dl "makeoptions SC_DFLT_FONT=cp850" 596.Dl "device sc" 597.\".Sh DIAGNOSTICS 598.Sh SEE ALSO 599.Xr kbdcontrol 1 , 600.Xr login 1 , 601.Xr vidcontrol 1 , 602.Xr atkbd 4 , 603.Xr atkbdc 4 , 604.Xr keyboard 4 , 605.Xr screen 4 , 606.Xr splash 4 , 607.Xr ukbd 4 , 608.Xr vga 4 , 609.Xr vt 4 , 610.Xr kbdmap 5 , 611.Xr rc.conf 5 , 612.Xr ttys 5 , 613.Xr config 8 , 614.Xr getty 8 , 615.Xr kldload 8 , 616.Xr moused 8 617.Sh HISTORY 618The 619.Nm 620driver first appeared in 621.Fx 1.0 . 622.Sh AUTHORS 623.An -nosplit 624The 625.Nm 626driver was written by 627.An S\(/oren Schmidt Aq Mt sos@FreeBSD.org . 628This manual page was written by 629.An Kazutaka Yokota Aq Mt yokota@FreeBSD.org . 630.Sh CAVEATS 631The amount of data that is possible to insert from the cut buffer is limited 632by the 633.Brq Dv MAX_INPUT , 634a system limit on the number of bytes that may be stored in the terminal 635input queue - usually 1024 bytes 636(see 637.Xr termios 4 ) . 638.Sh BUGS 639This manual page is incomplete and urgently needs revision. 640