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.\" $FreeBSD$ 28.\" 29.Dd June 30, 1999 30.Dt SYSCONS 4 31.Os FreeBSD 32.Sh NAME 33.Nm syscons , 34.Nm sc 35.Nd 36the console driver 37.Sh SYNOPSIS 38.Cd "options MAXCONS=N" 39.Cd "options SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE" 40.Cd "options SC_DISABLE_DDBKEY" 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_SYSMOUSE" 49.Cd "options SC_PIXEL_MODE" 50.Cd "options SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE 51.Cd "options SC_NORM_ATTR=_attribute_" 52.Cd "options SC_NORM_REV_ATTR=_attribute_" 53.Cd "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR=_attribute_" 54.Cd "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_REV_ATTR=_attribute_" 55.Cd "options SC_DFLT_FONT" 56.Cd "makeoptions SC_DFLT_FONT=_font_name_" 57.Cd "device sc0 at isa?" Op flags Ar flags 58.Sh DESCRIPTION 59The 60.Nm 61driver provides multiple virtual terminals. 62It resembles the SCO color console driver. 63.Pp 64The 65.Nm 66driver is implemented on top of the keyboard driver 67.Pq Xr atkbd 4 68and the video card driver 69.Pq Xr vga 4 70and so requires both of them to be configured in the system. 71.Pp 72There can be only one 73.Nm 74device defined in the system. 75.Ss Virtual Terminals 76The 77.Nm 78driver provides multiple virtual terminals which appear as if they were 79separate terminals. 80One virtual terminal is considered current and exclusively 81occupies the screen and the keyboard; the other virtual terminals 82are placed in the background. 83.Pp 84In order to use virtual terminals, they must be individually 85marked ``on'' in 86.Pa /etc/ttys 87so that 88.Xr getty 8 89will recognize them to be active and run 90.Xr login 1 91to let the user to login to the system. 92By default, only the first eight virtual terminals are activated in 93.Pa /etc/ttys . 94.Pp 95You press the 96.Dv Alt 97key and a switch key to switch between 98virtual terminals. 99The following table summarizes the correspondence between the switch 100key and the virtual terminal. 101.Bd -literal -offset indent 102Alt-F1 ttyv0 Alt-F7 ttyv6 Shift-Alt-F1 ttyv10 103Alt-F2 ttyv1 Alt-F8 ttyv7 Shift-Alt-F2 ttyv11 104Alt-F3 ttyv2 Alt-F9 ttyv8 Shift-Alt-F3 ttyv12 105Alt-F4 ttyv3 Alt-F10 ttyv9 Shift-Alt-F4 ttyv13 106Alt-F5 ttyv4 Alt-F11 ttyv10 Shift-Alt-F5 ttyv14 107Alt-F6 ttyv5 Alt-F12 ttyv11 Shift-Alt-F6 ttyv15 108.Ed 109.Pp 110You can also use the ``nscr'' key (usually the 111.Dv PrintScreen 112key on the AT Enhanced keyboard) to cycle available virtual terminals. 113.Pp 114The default number of available virtual terminals is 16. 115This can be changed by the kernel configuration option 116.Dv MAXCONS 117(see below). 118.Pp 119Note that the X server usually requires a virtual terminal for display 120purposes, so at least one terminal must be left unused by 121.Xr getty 8 122so that it can be used by the X server. 123.Ss Key Definitions and Function Key Strings 124The 125.Nm 126driver, in conjunction with the keyboard driver, allows the user 127to change key definitions and function key strings. 128The 129.Xr kbdcontrol 1 130command will load a key definition file (known as ``keymap'' file), 131dump the current keymap, and assign a string to a function key. 132See 133.Xr keyboard 4 134and 135.Xr kbdmap 5 136for the keymap file. 137.Pp 138You may want to set the 139.Ar keymap 140variable in 141.Pa /etc/rc.conf.local 142to the desired keymap file so that it will be automatically loaded 143when the system starts up. 144.Ss Software Font 145For most modern video cards, e.g. VGA, the 146.Nm 147driver and the video card driver allow the user to change 148the font used on the screen. 149The 150.Xr vidcontrol 1 151command can be used to load a font file from 152.Pa /usr/share/syscons/fonts . 153.Pp 154The font comes in various sizes: 8x8, 8x14 and 8x16. 155The 8x16 font is typically used for the VGA card in the 80-column- 156by-25-line mode. 157Other video modes may require different size of font. 158It is better to always load these three sizes of the same font. 159.Pp 160You may set 161.Ar font8x8 , 162.Ar font8x14 163and 164.Ar font8x16 165variables in 166.Pa /etc/rc.conf.local 167to the desired font files so that they will be automatically loaded 168when the system starts up. 169.Pp 170Optionally you can make a particular font file as the default font. 171See the 172.Dv SC_DFLT_FONT 173option below. 174.Ss Screen Map 175If your video card does not support software font, you may still be able 176to have similar effect by re-mapping font hard-wired in the video card. 177Use 178.Xr vidcontrol 1 179to load a screen map file which defines mapping between character codes. 180.Ss Mouse Support and Copy-and-Paste 181You can use your mouse to copy text on the screen and paste it as if 182it is typed by hand. 183You must be running the mouse daemon 184.Xr moused 8 185and enable the mouse cursor in the virtual terminal via 186.Xr vidcontrol 1 . 187.Pp 188Pressing the mouse button 1 (usually the left button) will start selection. 189Releasing the button 1 will end the selection process. 190The selected text will be marked by inverting foreground and 191background colors. 192You can press the button 3 (usually the right button) to extend 193the selected region. 194The selected text is placed in the copy buffer and can be pasted 195at the cursor position by your pressing the button 2 (usually the 196middle button) as many times as you like. 197.Pp 198If your mouse has only two buttons, you may want to use the 199.Dv SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE 200option below to make the right button to paste the text. 201Alternatively you can make the mouse daemon 202to emulate the middle button. 203See the man page for 204.Xr moused 8 205for more details. 206.Ss Back Scrolling 207The 208.Nm 209driver allows the user to browse the output which has ``scrolled off'' 210from the top of the screen. 211.Pp 212Press the ``slock'' key (usually 213.Dv ScrllLock 214and/or 215.Dv Pause 216keys on many AT Enhanced keyboards) and the terminal is 217in the ``back scrolling'' mode. 218It is indicated by the 219.Dv Scroll Lock 220LED. 221Use arrow keys, 222.Dv Page Up/Down 223keys and 224.Dv Home/End 225keys to scroll buffered terminal output. 226Press the ``slock'' key again to get back to the normal terminal mode. 227.Pp 228The size of the back-scroll buffer can be set by the 229.Dv SC_HISTORY_SIZE 230option below. 231.Ss Screen Saver 232The 233.Nm 234driver can be made to put up the screen saver if the current 235virtual terminal is idle, that is, the user is not typing 236on the keyboard nor moving mouse. 237See 238.Xr splash 4 239and 240.Xr vidcontrol 1 241for more details. 242.Sh DRIVER CONFIGURATION 243.Ss Kernel Configuration Options 244The following kernel configuration options control the 245.Nm 246driver. 247.Bl -tag -width MOUSE 248.It Dv MAXCONS=N 249This option sets the number of virtual terminals to 250.Fa N . 251The default value is 16. 252.It Dv SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE 253This option selects the alternative way of displaying the mouse cursor 254in the virtual terminal. 255It may be vastly costly for some video cards to draw the arrow-shaped 256cursor and you may want to try this option. 257However, the appearance of the alternative mouse cursor may not be 258very appealing. 259Note that if you use the 260.Dv SC_NO_FONT_LOADING 261option then you must also use this option if you wish to be able to use 262the mouse. 263.It Dv SC_DISABLE_DDBKEY 264This option disables the ``debug'' key (by default, it is 265.Dv Alt-Esc , 266or 267.Dv Ctl-PrintScreen 268). 269It will prevent the user from 270entering the kernel debugger DDB by pressing the key combination. 271DDB will still be invoked when the kernel panics or hits a break point 272if it is included in the kernel. 273.It Dv SC_DISABLE_REBOOT 274This option disables the ``reboot'' key (by default, it is 275.Dv Ctl-Alt-Del 276), so that the casual user may not accidentally reboot the system. 277.It Dv SC_HISTORY_SIZE=N 278Sets the size of back scroll buffer to 279.Fa N 280lines. 281The default value is 100. 282.It Dv SC_MOUSE_CHAR=C 283Unless the 284.Dv SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE 285option above is specified, the 286The 287.Nm 288driver reserves four consecutive character codes in order to display the 289mouse cursor in the virtual terminals in some systems. 290This option specifies the first character code to 291.Fa C 292to be used for this purpose. 293The default value is 0xd0. 294A good candidate is 0x03. 295.It Dv SC_PIXEL_MODE 296Adds support for pixel (raster) mode console. 297This mode is useful on some laptop computers, but less so on 298most other systems, and it adds substantial amount of code to syscons. 299If the this option is NOT defined, you can reduce the kernel size a lot. 300See the 301.Dv VESA800X600 302flag below. 303.It Dv SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE 304If you have a two button mouse, you may want to add this option 305to use the right button of the mouse to paste text. 306See 307.Sx Mouse Support and Copy-and-Paste 308above. 309.It Dv SC_NORM_ATTR=_attribute_ 310.It Dv SC_NORM_REV_ATTR=_attribute_ 311.It Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR=_attribute_ 312.It Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_REV_ATTR=_attribute_ 313These options will set the default colors. 314Available colors are defined in 315.Pa /usr/include/machine/pc/display.h . 316See 317.Sx EXAMPLES 318below. 319.It Dv SC_DFLT_FONT 320This option will specify the default font. 321Available fonts are: iso, iso2, koi8-r, cp437, cp850, cp865 and cp866. 32216-line, 14-line and 8-line font data will be compiled in. 323Without this option, the 324.Nm 325driver will use whatever font already loaded in the video card, 326unless you explicitly load software font at startup. 327See 328.Sx EXAMPLES 329below. 330.El 331.Pp 332The following options will remove some features from the 333.Nm 334driver and save kernel memory. 335.Bl -tag -width MOUSE 336.It Dv SC_NO_CUTPASTE 337This option disables ``copy and paste'' operation in virtual 338terminals. 339.It Dv SC_NO_FONT_LOADING 340The 341.Nm 342driver can load software font on some video cards. 343This option removes this feature. 344Note that if you still wish to use 345the mouse with this option then you must also use the 346.Dv SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE 347option. 348.It Dv SC_NO_HISTORY 349This option disables back-scrolling in virtual terminals. 350.\".It Dv SC_NO_PALETTE_LOADING 351.It Dv SC_NO_SYSMOUSE 352This option removes mouse support in the 353.Nm 354driver. 355The mouse daemon 356.Xr moused 8 357will fail if this option is defined. 358This option implies the 359.Dv SC_NO_CUTPASTE 360option too. 361.El 362.Ss Driver Flags 363The following driver flags can be used to control the 364.Nm 365driver. 366They can be set either in the kernel configuration file 367.Pq see Xr config 8 , 368or else in the User Configuration Menu at boot 369time 370.Pq see Xr boot 8 . 371.Bl -tag -width bit_0 372.\".It bit 0 (VISUAL_BELL) 373.\"Uses the ``visual'' bell. 374.\"The screen will blink instead of generating audible sound. 375.\".It bit 1,2 (CURSOR_TYPE) 376.\"This option specifies the cursor appearance. 377.\"Possible values are: 378.\".Bl -tag -width TYPE -compact 379.\".It Dv 0 380.\"normal block cursor 381.\".It Dv 2 382.\"blinking block cursor 383.\".It Dv 4 384.\"underline cursor 385.\".It Dv 6 386.\"blinking underline (aka destructive) cursor 387.\".El 388.\".It bit 6 (QUIET_BELL) 389.\"This option suppresses the bell, whether audible or visual, 390.\"if it is rung in a background virtual terminal. 391.It 0x0080 (VESA800X600) 392This option puts the video card in the VESA 800x600 dots, 16 color 393mode. 394It may be useful for laptop computers for which the 800x600 mode 395is otherwise unsupported by the X server. 396Note that in order for this flag to work, the kernel must be 397compiled with the 398.Dv SC_PIXEL_MODE 399option explained above. 400.\"Note also that the ``copy-and-paste'' function is not currently supported 401.\"in this mode and the mouse pointer will not be displayed. 402.It 0x0100 (AUTODETECT_KBD) 403This option instructs the syscons driver to periodically scan 404for a keyboard device if it is not currently attached to one. 405Otherwise, the driver only probes for a keyboard once during bootup. 406.El 407.Sh FILES 408.Bl -tag -width /usr/share/syscons/xxxxyyyyzzz -compact 409.It Pa /dev/console 410.It Pa /dev/consolectl 411.It Pa /dev/ttyv? 412virtual terminals 413.It Pa /etc/ttys 414terminal initialization information 415.It Pa /usr/share/syscons/fonts/* 416font files 417.It Pa /usr/share/syscons/keymaps/* 418key map files 419.It Pa /usr/share/syscons/scrmaps/* 420screen map files 421.El 422.Sh EXAMPLES 423As the 424.Nm 425driver requires the keyboard driver and the video card driver, 426the kernel configuration file should contain the following lines. 427.Pp 428.Bd -literal -offset indent 429device atkbdc0 at isa? port IO_KBD 430device atkbd0 at atkbdc? irq 1 431device vga0 at isa? conflicts 432device sc0 at isa? 433 434pseudo-device splash 435.Ed 436.Pp 437If you do not intend to load the splash image or use the screen saver, 438the last line is not necessary, and can be omitted. 439.Pp 440Note that the keyboard controller driver 441.Nm atkbdc 442is required by the keyboard driver 443.Nm atkbd . 444.Pp 445The following lines will set the default colors. 446The normal text will be green on black background. 447The reversed text will be yellow on green background. 448Note that you cannot put any white space inside the quoted string, 449because of the current implementation of 450.Xr config 8 . 451.Pp 452.Dl "options SC_NORM_ATTR=(FG_GREEN|BG_BLACK) 453.Dl "options SC_NORM_REV_ATTR=(FG_YELLOW|BG_GREEN) 454.Pp 455The following lines will set the default colors of the kernel message. 456The kernel message will be printed bright red on black background. 457The reversed message will be black on red background. 458.Pp 459.Dl "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR=(FG_LIGHTRED|BG_BLACK) 460.Dl "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_REV_ATTR=(FG_BLACK|BG_RED) 461.Pp 462The following example adds the font files 463.Pa cp850-8x16.fnt , 464.Pa cp850-8x14.font 465and 466.Pa cp850-8x8.font 467to the kernel. 468.Pp 469.Dl "options SC_DFLT_FONT" 470.Dl "makeoptions SC_DFLT_FONT=cp850 471.Dl "device sc0 at isa? 472.Pp 473.\".Sh DIAGNOSTICS 474.\".Sh CAVEATS 475.Sh BUGS 476This manual page is incomplete and urgently needs revision. 477.Sh SEE ALSO 478.Xr kbdcontrol 1 , 479.Xr login 1 , 480.Xr vidcontrol 1 , 481.Xr atkbd 4 , 482.Xr atkbdc 4 , 483.Xr keyboard 4 , 484.Xr screen 4 , 485.Xr splash 4 , 486.Xr ukbd 4 , 487.Xr vga 4 , 488.Xr kbdmap 5 , 489.Xr rc.conf 5 , 490.Xr screenmap 5 , 491.Xr ttys 5 , 492.Xr config 8 , 493.Xr getty 8 , 494.Xr kldload 8 , 495.Xr moused 8 496.Sh HISTORY 497The 498.Nm 499driver first appeared in 500.Fx 1.0 . 501.Sh AUTHORS 502.An -nosplit 503The 504.Nm 505driver was written by 506.An S\(/oren Schmidt Aq sos@FreeBSD.org . 507This manual page was written by 508.An Kazutaka Yokota Aq yokota@FreeBSD.org . 509