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 November 2, 2024 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 DEPRECATION NOTICE 73The 74.Nm 75console is deprecated, and will be removed in a future version of 76.Fx . 77Users are advised to migrate to the 78.Xr vt 4 79console instead. 80.Sh DESCRIPTION 81The 82.Nm 83driver provides multiple virtual terminals. 84It resembles the SCO color console driver. 85.Pp 86Note that the 87.Nm 88driver is not compatible with systems booted via 89.Xr UEFI 8 . 90Forcing use of 91.Nm 92on such systems will result in no usable console. 93.Pp 94The 95.Nm 96driver is implemented on top of the keyboard driver 97.Pq Xr atkbd 4 98and the video card driver 99.Pq Xr vga 4 100and so requires both of them to be configured in the system. 101.Pp 102There can be only one 103.Nm 104device defined in the system. 105.Ss Virtual Terminals 106The 107.Nm 108driver provides multiple virtual terminals which appear as if they were 109separate terminals. 110One virtual terminal is considered current and exclusively 111occupies the screen and the keyboard; the other virtual terminals 112are placed in the background. 113.Pp 114In order to use virtual terminals, they must be individually 115marked ``on'' in 116.Pa /etc/ttys 117so that 118.Xr getty 8 119will recognize them to be active and run 120.Xr login 1 121to let the user log in to the system. 122By default, only the first eight virtual terminals are activated in 123.Pa /etc/ttys . 124.Pp 125You press the 126.Dv Alt 127key and a switch key to switch between 128virtual terminals. 129The following table summarizes the correspondence between the switch 130key and the virtual terminal. 131.Bd -literal -offset indent 132Alt-F1 ttyv0 Alt-F7 ttyv6 Shift-Alt-F1 ttyva 133Alt-F2 ttyv1 Alt-F8 ttyv7 Shift-Alt-F2 ttyvb 134Alt-F3 ttyv2 Alt-F9 ttyv8 Shift-Alt-F3 ttyvc 135Alt-F4 ttyv3 Alt-F10 ttyv9 Shift-Alt-F4 ttyvd 136Alt-F5 ttyv4 Alt-F11 ttyva Shift-Alt-F5 ttyve 137Alt-F6 ttyv5 Alt-F12 ttyvb Shift-Alt-F6 ttyvf 138.Ed 139.Pp 140You can also use the ``nscr'' key (usually the 141.Dv PrintScreen 142key on the AT Enhanced keyboard) to cycle available virtual terminals. 143.Pp 144The default number of available virtual terminals is 16. 145This can be changed with the kernel configuration option 146.Dv MAXCONS 147(see below). 148.Pp 149Note that the X server usually requires a virtual terminal for display 150purposes, so at least one terminal must be left unused by 151.Xr getty 8 152so that it can be used by the X server. 153.Ss Key Definitions and Function Key Strings 154The 155.Nm 156driver, in conjunction with the keyboard driver, allows the user 157to change key definitions and function key strings. 158The 159.Xr kbdcontrol 1 160command will load a key definition file (known as ``keymap'' file), 161dump the current keymap, and assign a string to a function key. 162See 163.Xr keyboard 4 164and 165.Xr kbdmap 5 166for the keymap file. 167.Pp 168You may want to set the 169.Ar keymap 170variable in 171.Pa /etc/rc.conf.local 172to the desired keymap file so that it will be automatically loaded 173when the system starts up. 174.Ss Software Font 175For most modern video cards, e.g., VGA, the 176.Nm 177driver and the video card driver allow the user to change 178the font used on the screen. 179The 180.Xr vidcontrol 1 181command can be used to load a font file from 182.Pa /usr/share/syscons/fonts . 183.Pp 184The font comes in various sizes: 8x8, 8x14 and 8x16. 185The 8x16 font is typically used for the VGA card in the 18680-column-by-25-line mode. 187Other video modes may require different font sizes. 188It is better to always load all three sizes of the same font. 189.Pp 190You may set 191.Ar font8x8 , 192.Ar font8x14 193and 194.Ar font8x16 195variables in 196.Pa /etc/rc.conf 197to the desired font files so that they will be automatically loaded 198when the system starts up. 199.Pp 200Optionally you can specify a particular font file as the default. 201See the 202.Dv SC_DFLT_FONT 203option below. 204.Ss Screen Map 205If your video card does not support software fonts, you may still be able 206to achieve a similar effect by re-mapping the font built into your video card. 207Use 208.Xr vidcontrol 1 209to load a screen map file which defines the mapping between character codes. 210.Ss Mouse Support and Copy-and-Paste 211You can use your mouse to copy text on the screen and paste it as if 212it was typed by hand. 213You must be running the mouse daemon 214.Xr moused 8 215and enable the mouse cursor in the virtual terminal via 216.Xr vidcontrol 1 . 217.Pp 218Pressing mouse button 1 (usually the left button) will start selection. 219Releasing button 1 will end the selection process. 220The selected text will be marked by inverting foreground and 221background colors. 222You can press button 3 (usually the right button) to extend 223the selected region. 224The selected text is placed in the copy buffer and can be pasted 225at the cursor position by pressing button 2 (usually the 226middle button) as many times as you like. 227.Pp 228If your mouse has only two buttons, you may want to use the 229.Dv SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE 230option below to make the right button to paste the text. 231Alternatively you can make the mouse daemon 232emulate the middle button. 233See the man page for 234.Xr moused 8 235for more details. 236.Ss Back Scrolling 237The 238.Nm 239driver allows the user to browse the output which has ``scrolled off'' 240the top of the screen. 241.Pp 242Press the ``slock'' key (usually 243.Dv ScrllLock 244/ 245.Dv Scroll Lock 246or 247.Dv Pause 248on many keyboards) and the terminal is 249in the ``scrollback'' mode. 250It is indicated by the 251.Dv Scroll Lock 252LED. 253Use the arrow keys, the 254.Dv Page Up/Down 255keys and the 256.Dv Home/End 257keys to scroll buffered terminal output. 258Press the ``slock'' key again to get back to the normal terminal mode. 259.Pp 260The size of the scrollback buffer can be set by the 261.Dv SC_HISTORY_SIZE 262option described below. 263.Ss Screen Saver 264The 265.Nm 266driver can be made to put up the screen saver if the current 267virtual terminal is idle, that is, the user is not typing 268on the keyboard nor moving the mouse. 269See 270.Xr splash 4 271and 272.Xr vidcontrol 1 273for more details. 274.Sh DRIVER CONFIGURATION 275.Ss Kernel Configuration Options 276The following kernel configuration options control the 277.Nm 278driver. 279.Bl -tag -width MOUSE 280.It Dv MAXCONS=N 281This option sets the number of virtual terminals to 282.Fa N . 283The default value is 16. 284.It Dv SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE 285This option selects the alternative way of displaying the mouse cursor 286in the virtual terminal. 287It may be expensive for some video cards to draw the arrow-shaped 288cursor, and you may want to try this option. 289However, the appearance of the alternative mouse cursor may not be 290very appealing. 291Note that if you use the 292.Dv SC_NO_FONT_LOADING 293option then you must also use this option if you wish to be able to use 294the mouse. 295.It Dv SC_CUT_SEPCHARS=_characters_ 296This options specifies characters that will be looked for when the 297driver searches for words boundaries when doing cut operation. 298By default, its value is 299.Qq Li \ex20 300\(em a space character. 301.It Dv SC_CUT_SPACES2TABS 302This options instructs the driver to convert leading spaces into tabs 303when copying data into cut buffer. 304This might be useful to preserve 305indentation when copying tab-indented text. 306.It Dv SC_DFLT_TERM=_name_ 307This option specifies the name of the preferred terminal emulator. 308.It Dv SC_DISABLE_KDBKEY 309This option disables the ``debug'' key combination (by default, it is 310.Dv Alt-Esc , 311or 312.Dv Ctl-PrintScreen ) . 313It will prevent users from 314entering the kernel debugger (KDB) by pressing the key combination. 315KDB will still be invoked when the kernel panics or hits a break point 316if it is included in the kernel. 317If this option is not defined, this behavior may be controlled at runtime 318by the 319.Xr sysctl 8 320variable 321.Va hw.syscons.kbd_debug . 322.It Dv SC_DISABLE_REBOOT 323This option disables the ``reboot'' key (by default, it is 324.Dv Ctl-Alt-Del ) , 325so that the casual user may not accidentally reboot the system. 326If this option is not defined, this behavior may be controlled at runtime 327by the 328.Xr sysctl 8 329variable 330.Va hw.syscons.kbd_reboot . 331.It Dv SC_HISTORY_SIZE=N 332Sets the size of back scroll buffer to 333.Fa N 334lines. 335The default value is 100. 336.It Dv SC_MOUSE_CHAR=C 337Unless the 338.Dv SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE 339option above is specified, the 340.Nm 341driver reserves four consecutive character codes in order to display the 342mouse cursor in the virtual terminals in some systems. 343This option specifies the first character code to 344.Fa C 345to be used for this purpose. 346The default value is 0xd0. 347A good candidate is 0x03. 348.It Dv SC_PIXEL_MODE 349Adds support for pixel (raster) mode console. 350This mode is useful on some laptop computers, but less so on 351most other systems, and it adds substantial amount of code to syscons. 352If this option is NOT defined, you can reduce the kernel size a lot. 353See the 354.Dv VESAMODE 355flag below. 356.It Dv SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE 357If you have a two button mouse, you may want to add this option 358to use the right button of the mouse to paste text. 359See 360.Sx Mouse Support and Copy-and-Paste 361above. 362.It Dv SC_NORM_ATTR=_attribute_ 363.It Dv SC_NORM_REV_ATTR=_attribute_ 364.It Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR=_attribute_ 365.It Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTRS=_attributes_ 366.It Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_REV_ATTR=_attribute_ 367These options will set the default colors. 368Available colors are defined in 369.In machine/pc/display.h . 370See 371.Sx EXAMPLES 372below. 373.Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTRS 374is a character string giving a sequence of attributes in binary format. 375The sequence will be repeated up to the number of CPUs. 376Beware that the string must not be null, 377since the kernel divides by its length. 378.It Dv SC_DFLT_FONT 379This option will specify the default font. 380Available fonts are: iso, iso2, koi8-r, koi8-u, cp437, cp850, cp865, 381cp866 and cp866u. 38216-line, 14-line and 8-line font data will be compiled in. 383Without this option, the 384.Nm 385driver will use whatever font is already loaded in the video card, 386unless you explicitly load a software font at startup. 387See 388.Sx EXAMPLES 389below. 390.It Dv SC_NO_SUSPEND_VTYSWITCH 391This option, which is also available as 392.Xr loader 8 393tunable and 394.Xr sysctl 8 395variable 396.Va hw.syscons.sc_no_suspend_vtswitch , 397disables switching between virtual terminals (graphics <-> text) during 398suspend/resume (ACPI and APM). 399Use this option if your system is freezing 400when you are running X and trying to suspend. 401.El 402.Pp 403The following options will remove some features from the 404.Nm 405driver and save kernel memory. 406.Bl -tag -width MOUSE 407.It Dv SC_NO_CUTPASTE 408This option disables ``copy and paste'' operation in virtual 409terminals. 410.It Dv SC_NO_FONT_LOADING 411The 412.Nm 413driver can load software fonts on some video cards. 414This option removes this feature. 415Note that if you still wish to use 416the mouse with this option then you must also use the 417.Dv SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE 418option. 419.It Dv SC_NO_HISTORY 420This option disables back-scrolling in virtual terminals. 421.\".It Dv SC_NO_PALETTE_LOADING 422.It Dv SC_NO_SYSMOUSE 423This option removes mouse support in the 424.Nm 425driver. 426The mouse daemon 427.Xr moused 8 428will fail if this option is defined. 429This option implies the 430.Dv SC_NO_CUTPASTE 431option too. 432.It Dv SC_NO_TERM_DUMB 433.It Dv SC_NO_TERM_SC 434.It Dv SC_NO_TERM_SCTEKEN 435These options remove the 436.Qq dumb , 437.Qq sc , 438and 439.Qq scteken 440terminal emulators, respectively. 441.El 442.Ss Driver Flags 443The following driver flags can be used to control the 444.Nm 445driver. 446Driver flags can be set with the 447.Cd hint.sc.0.flags 448tunable, either in 449.Pa /boot/device.hints , 450or else at the loader prompt (see 451.Xr loader 8 ) . 452.Bl -tag -width bit_0 453.\".It bit 0 (VISUAL_BELL) 454.\"Uses the ``visual'' bell. 455.\"The screen will blink instead of generating audible sound. 456.\".It bit 1,2 (CURSOR_TYPE) 457.\"This option specifies the cursor appearance. 458.\"Possible values are: 459.\".Bl -tag -width TYPE -compact 460.\".It Dv 0 461.\"normal block cursor 462.\".It Dv 2 463.\"blinking block cursor 464.\".It Dv 4 465.\"underline cursor 466.\".It Dv 6 467.\"blinking underline (aka destructive) cursor 468.\".El 469.\".It bit 6 (QUIET_BELL) 470.\"This option suppresses the bell, whether audible or visual, 471.\"if it is rung in a background virtual terminal. 472.It 0x0080 (VESAMODE) 473This option puts the video card in the VESA mode specified by 474.Pa /boot/device.hints 475variable 476.Va vesa_mode 477during kernel initialization. 478Note that in order for this flag to work, the kernel must be 479compiled with the 480.Dv SC_PIXEL_MODE 481option explained above. 482A list of the available mode can be obtained via 483.Xr vidcontrol 1 . 484.\"Note also that the ``copy-and-paste'' function is not currently supported 485.\"in this mode and the mouse pointer will not be displayed. 486.It 0x0100 (AUTODETECT_KBD) 487This option instructs the syscons driver to periodically scan 488for a keyboard device if it is not currently attached to one. 489Otherwise, the driver only probes for a keyboard once during bootup. 490.El 491.Ss Loader Tunables 492These settings can be entered at the 493.Xr loader 8 494prompt or in 495.Xr loader.conf 5 . 496.Bl -tag -width indent 497.It Va kern.vty 498When both 499.Nm 500and 501.Xr vt 4 502have been compiled into the kernel, the one to use for the system console can 503be selected by setting this variable to 504.Ql sc 505or 506.Ql vt . 507The 508.Pa GENERIC 509kernel uses 510.Xr vt 4 511when this value is not set. 512.El 513.Sh FILES 514.Bl -tag -width /usr/share/syscons/xxxxyyyyzzz -compact 515.It Pa /dev/console 516.It Pa /dev/consolectl 517.It Pa /dev/ttyv? 518virtual terminals 519.It Pa /etc/ttys 520terminal initialization information 521.It Pa /usr/share/syscons/fonts/* 522font files 523.It Pa /usr/share/syscons/keymaps/* 524key map files 525.It Pa /usr/share/syscons/scrmaps/* 526screen map files 527.El 528.Sh EXAMPLES 529As the 530.Nm 531driver requires the keyboard driver and the video card driver, 532the kernel configuration file should contain the following lines. 533.Bd -literal -offset indent 534device atkbdc 535device atkbd 536device vga 537device sc 538device splash 539.Ed 540.Pp 541You also need the following lines in 542.Pa /boot/device.hints 543for these drivers. 544.Bd -literal -offset indent 545hint.atkbdc.0.at="isa" 546hint.atkbdc.0.port="0x060" 547hint.atkbd.0.at="atkbdc" 548hint.atkbd.0.irq="1" 549hint.vga.0.at="isa" 550hint.sc.0.at="isa" 551.Ed 552.Pp 553If you do not intend to load the splash image or use the screen saver, 554the last line is not necessary, and can be omitted. 555.Pp 556Note that the keyboard controller driver 557.Nm atkbdc 558is required by the keyboard driver 559.Nm atkbd . 560.Pp 561The following lines will set the default colors. 562The normal text will be green on black background. 563The reversed text will be yellow on green background. 564Note that you cannot put any white space inside the quoted string, 565because of the current implementation of 566.Xr config 8 . 567.Pp 568.Dl "options SC_NORM_ATTR=(FG_GREEN|BG_BLACK)" 569.Dl "options SC_NORM_REV_ATTR=(FG_YELLOW|BG_GREEN)" 570.Pp 571The following lines will set the default colors of the kernel message. 572The kernel message will be printed bright red on black background. 573The reversed message will be black on red background. 574.Pp 575.Dl "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR=(FG_LIGHTRED|BG_BLACK)" 576.Dl "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_REV_ATTR=(FG_BLACK|BG_RED)" 577.Pp 578Provided 579.Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR 580is not set, or is set to its default of bright white on black, 581the following line will set 4 red-ish colors 582for printing kernel messages in colors depending on the CPU. 583.Pp 584.Dl options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTRS=\e"\ex0c\ex04\ex40\ex0e\e" 585.Pp 586The default scheme is probably better for up to 8 CPUs. 587Use a long string to get unique colors for more than 8 CPUs. 588.Pp 589To turn off all per-CPU coloring of kernel messages, 590set SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR to a non-default value, 591or use the default in a pattern of length 1. 592.Pp 593.Dl options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTRS=\e"\ex0f\e" 594.Pp 595The following example adds the font files 596.Pa cp850-8x16.fnt , 597.Pa cp850-8x14.font 598and 599.Pa cp850-8x8.font 600to the kernel. 601.Pp 602.Dl "options SC_DFLT_FONT" 603.Dl "makeoptions SC_DFLT_FONT=cp850" 604.Dl "device sc" 605.\".Sh DIAGNOSTICS 606.Sh SEE ALSO 607.Xr kbdcontrol 1 , 608.Xr login 1 , 609.Xr vidcontrol 1 , 610.Xr atkbd 4 , 611.Xr atkbdc 4 , 612.Xr keyboard 4 , 613.Xr screen 4 , 614.Xr splash 4 , 615.Xr ukbd 4 , 616.Xr vga 4 , 617.Xr vt 4 , 618.Xr kbdmap 5 , 619.Xr rc.conf 5 , 620.Xr ttys 5 , 621.Xr config 8 , 622.Xr getty 8 , 623.Xr kldload 8 , 624.Xr moused 8 625.Sh HISTORY 626The 627.Nm 628driver first appeared in 629.Fx 1.0 . 630.Sh AUTHORS 631.An -nosplit 632The 633.Nm 634driver was written by 635.An S\(/oren Schmidt Aq Mt sos@FreeBSD.org . 636This manual page was written by 637.An Kazutaka Yokota Aq Mt yokota@FreeBSD.org . 638.Sh CAVEATS 639The amount of data that is possible to insert from the cut buffer is limited 640by the 641.Brq Dv MAX_INPUT , 642a system limit on the number of bytes that may be stored in the terminal 643input queue - usually 1024 bytes 644(see 645.Xr termios 4 ) . 646.Sh BUGS 647This manual page is incomplete and urgently needs revision. 648