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 2, 2018 30.Dt SYSCONS 4 31.Os 32.Sh NAME 33.Nm syscons , 34.Nm sc 35.Nd the console driver 36.Sh SYNOPSIS 37.Cd "options MAXCONS=N" 38.Cd "options SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE" 39.Cd "options SC_CUT_SEPCHARS=_characters_" 40.Cd "options SC_CUT_SPACES2TABS" 41.Cd "options SC_DFLT_TERM" 42.Cd "options SC_DISABLE_KDBKEY" 43.Cd "options SC_DISABLE_REBOOT" 44.Cd "options SC_HISTORY_SIZE=N" 45.Cd "options SC_MOUSE_CHAR=C" 46.Cd "options SC_NO_CUTPASTE" 47.Cd "options SC_NO_FONT_LOADING" 48.Cd "options SC_NO_HISTORY" 49.Cd "options SC_NO_PALETTE_LOADING" 50.Cd "options SC_NO_SUSPEND_VTYSWITCH" 51.Cd "options SC_NO_SYSMOUSE" 52.Cd "options SC_NO_TERM_DUMB" 53.Cd "options SC_NO_TERM_SC" 54.Cd "options SC_NO_TERM_SCTEKEN" 55.Cd "options SC_PIXEL_MODE" 56.Cd "options SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE" 57.Cd "options SC_NORM_ATTR=_attribute_" 58.Cd "options SC_NORM_REV_ATTR=_attribute_" 59.Cd "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR=_attribute_" 60.Cd "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTRS=_attributes_" 61.Cd "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_REV_ATTR=_attribute_" 62.Cd "options SC_DFLT_FONT" 63.Cd "makeoptions SC_DFLT_FONT=_font_name_" 64.Cd "device sc" 65.Pp 66In 67.Pa /boot/device.hints : 68.Cd hint.sc.0.at="isa" 69.Cd hint.sc.0.vesa_mode=0x103 70.Pp 71In 72.Pa /boot/loader.conf : 73.Cd kern.vty=sc 74.Sh DESCRIPTION 75The 76.Nm 77driver provides multiple virtual terminals. 78It resembles the SCO color console driver. 79.Pp 80The 81.Nm 82driver is implemented on top of the keyboard driver 83.Pq Xr atkbd 4 84and the video card driver 85.Pq Xr vga 4 86and so requires both of them to be configured in the system. 87.Pp 88There can be only one 89.Nm 90device defined in the system. 91.Ss Virtual Terminals 92The 93.Nm 94driver provides multiple virtual terminals which appear as if they were 95separate terminals. 96One virtual terminal is considered current and exclusively 97occupies the screen and the keyboard; the other virtual terminals 98are placed in the background. 99.Pp 100In order to use virtual terminals, they must be individually 101marked ``on'' in 102.Pa /etc/ttys 103so that 104.Xr getty 8 105will recognize them to be active and run 106.Xr login 1 107to let the user log in to the system. 108By default, only the first eight virtual terminals are activated in 109.Pa /etc/ttys . 110.Pp 111You press the 112.Dv Alt 113key and a switch key to switch between 114virtual terminals. 115The following table summarizes the correspondence between the switch 116key and the virtual terminal. 117.Bd -literal -offset indent 118Alt-F1 ttyv0 Alt-F7 ttyv6 Shift-Alt-F1 ttyva 119Alt-F2 ttyv1 Alt-F8 ttyv7 Shift-Alt-F2 ttyvb 120Alt-F3 ttyv2 Alt-F9 ttyv8 Shift-Alt-F3 ttyvc 121Alt-F4 ttyv3 Alt-F10 ttyv9 Shift-Alt-F4 ttyvd 122Alt-F5 ttyv4 Alt-F11 ttyva Shift-Alt-F5 ttyve 123Alt-F6 ttyv5 Alt-F12 ttyvb Shift-Alt-F6 ttyvf 124.Ed 125.Pp 126You can also use the ``nscr'' key (usually the 127.Dv PrintScreen 128key on the AT Enhanced keyboard) to cycle available virtual terminals. 129.Pp 130The default number of available virtual terminals is 16. 131This can be changed with the kernel configuration option 132.Dv MAXCONS 133(see below). 134.Pp 135Note that the X server usually requires a virtual terminal for display 136purposes, so at least one terminal must be left unused by 137.Xr getty 8 138so that it can be used by the X server. 139.Ss Key Definitions and Function Key Strings 140The 141.Nm 142driver, in conjunction with the keyboard driver, allows the user 143to change key definitions and function key strings. 144The 145.Xr kbdcontrol 1 146command will load a key definition file (known as ``keymap'' file), 147dump the current keymap, and assign a string to a function key. 148See 149.Xr keyboard 4 150and 151.Xr kbdmap 5 152for the keymap file. 153.Pp 154You may want to set the 155.Ar keymap 156variable in 157.Pa /etc/rc.conf.local 158to the desired keymap file so that it will be automatically loaded 159when the system starts up. 160.Ss Software Font 161For most modern video cards, e.g., VGA, the 162.Nm 163driver and the video card driver allow the user to change 164the font used on the screen. 165The 166.Xr vidcontrol 1 167command can be used to load a font file from 168.Pa /usr/share/syscons/fonts . 169.Pp 170The font comes in various sizes: 8x8, 8x14 and 8x16. 171The 8x16 font is typically used for the VGA card in the 17280-column-by-25-line mode. 173Other video modes may require different font sizes. 174It is better to always load all three sizes of the same font. 175.Pp 176You may set 177.Ar font8x8 , 178.Ar font8x14 179and 180.Ar font8x16 181variables in 182.Pa /etc/rc.conf 183to the desired font files so that they will be automatically loaded 184when the system starts up. 185.Pp 186Optionally you can specify a particular font file as the default. 187See the 188.Dv SC_DFLT_FONT 189option below. 190.Ss Screen Map 191If your video card does not support software fonts, you may still be able 192to achieve a similar effect by re-mapping the font built into your video card. 193Use 194.Xr vidcontrol 1 195to load a screen map file which defines the mapping between character codes. 196.Ss Mouse Support and Copy-and-Paste 197You can use your mouse to copy text on the screen and paste it as if 198it was typed by hand. 199You must be running the mouse daemon 200.Xr moused 8 201and enable the mouse cursor in the virtual terminal via 202.Xr vidcontrol 1 . 203.Pp 204Pressing mouse button 1 (usually the left button) will start selection. 205Releasing button 1 will end the selection process. 206The selected text will be marked by inverting foreground and 207background colors. 208You can press button 3 (usually the right button) to extend 209the selected region. 210The selected text is placed in the copy buffer and can be pasted 211at the cursor position by pressing button 2 (usually the 212middle button) as many times as you like. 213.Pp 214If your mouse has only two buttons, you may want to use the 215.Dv SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE 216option below to make the right button to paste the text. 217Alternatively you can make the mouse daemon 218emulate the middle button. 219See the man page for 220.Xr moused 8 221for more details. 222.Ss Back Scrolling 223The 224.Nm 225driver allows the user to browse the output which has ``scrolled off'' 226the top of the screen. 227.Pp 228Press the ``slock'' key (usually 229.Dv ScrllLock 230/ 231.Dv Scroll Lock 232or 233.Dv Pause 234on many keyboards) and the terminal is 235in the ``scrollback'' mode. 236It is indicated by the 237.Dv Scroll Lock 238LED. 239Use the arrow keys, the 240.Dv Page Up/Down 241keys and the 242.Dv Home/End 243keys to scroll buffered terminal output. 244Press the ``slock'' key again to get back to the normal terminal mode. 245.Pp 246The size of the scrollback buffer can be set by the 247.Dv SC_HISTORY_SIZE 248option described below. 249.Ss Screen Saver 250The 251.Nm 252driver can be made to put up the screen saver if the current 253virtual terminal is idle, that is, the user is not typing 254on the keyboard nor moving the mouse. 255See 256.Xr splash 4 257and 258.Xr vidcontrol 1 259for more details. 260.Sh DRIVER CONFIGURATION 261.Ss Kernel Configuration Options 262The following kernel configuration options control the 263.Nm 264driver. 265.Bl -tag -width MOUSE 266.It Dv MAXCONS=N 267This option sets the number of virtual terminals to 268.Fa N . 269The default value is 16. 270.It Dv SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE 271This option selects the alternative way of displaying the mouse cursor 272in the virtual terminal. 273It may be expensive for some video cards to draw the arrow-shaped 274cursor, and you may want to try this option. 275However, the appearance of the alternative mouse cursor may not be 276very appealing. 277Note that if you use the 278.Dv SC_NO_FONT_LOADING 279option then you must also use this option if you wish to be able to use 280the mouse. 281.It Dv SC_CUT_SEPCHARS=_characters_ 282This options specifies characters that will be looked for when the 283driver searches for words boundaries when doing cut operation. 284By default, its value is 285.Qq Li \ex20 286\(em a space character. 287.It Dv SC_CUT_SPACES2TABS 288This options instructs the driver to convert leading spaces into tabs 289when copying data into cut buffer. 290This might be useful to preserve 291indentation when copying tab-indented text. 292.It Dv SC_DFLT_TERM=_name_ 293This option specifies the name of the preferred terminal emulator. 294.It Dv SC_DISABLE_KDBKEY 295This option disables the ``debug'' key combination (by default, it is 296.Dv Alt-Esc , 297or 298.Dv Ctl-PrintScreen ) . 299It will prevent users from 300entering the kernel debugger (KDB) by pressing the key combination. 301KDB will still be invoked when the kernel panics or hits a break point 302if it is included in the kernel. 303If this option is not defined, this behavior may be controlled at runtime 304by the 305.Xr sysctl 8 306variable 307.Va hw.syscons.kbd_debug . 308.It Dv SC_DISABLE_REBOOT 309This option disables the ``reboot'' key (by default, it is 310.Dv Ctl-Alt-Del ) , 311so that the casual user may not accidentally reboot the system. 312If this option is not defined, this behavior may be controlled at runtime 313by the 314.Xr sysctl 8 315variable 316.Va hw.syscons.kbd_reboot . 317.It Dv SC_HISTORY_SIZE=N 318Sets the size of back scroll buffer to 319.Fa N 320lines. 321The default value is 100. 322.It Dv SC_MOUSE_CHAR=C 323Unless the 324.Dv SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE 325option above is specified, the 326.Nm 327driver reserves four consecutive character codes in order to display the 328mouse cursor in the virtual terminals in some systems. 329This option specifies the first character code to 330.Fa C 331to be used for this purpose. 332The default value is 0xd0. 333A good candidate is 0x03. 334.It Dv SC_PIXEL_MODE 335Adds support for pixel (raster) mode console. 336This mode is useful on some laptop computers, but less so on 337most other systems, and it adds substantial amount of code to syscons. 338If this option is NOT defined, you can reduce the kernel size a lot. 339See the 340.Dv VESAMODE 341flag below. 342.It Dv SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE 343If you have a two button mouse, you may want to add this option 344to use the right button of the mouse to paste text. 345See 346.Sx Mouse Support and Copy-and-Paste 347above. 348.It Dv SC_NORM_ATTR=_attribute_ 349.It Dv SC_NORM_REV_ATTR=_attribute_ 350.It Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR=_attribute_ 351.It Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTRS=_attributes_ 352.It Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_REV_ATTR=_attribute_ 353These options will set the default colors. 354Available colors are defined in 355.In machine/pc/display.h . 356See 357.Sx EXAMPLES 358below. 359.Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTRS 360is a character string giving a sequence of attributes in binary format. 361The sequence will be repeated up to the number of CPUs. 362Beware that the string must not be null, 363since the kernel divides by its length. 364.It Dv SC_DFLT_FONT 365This option will specify the default font. 366Available fonts are: iso, iso2, koi8-r, koi8-u, cp437, cp850, cp865, 367cp866 and cp866u. 36816-line, 14-line and 8-line font data will be compiled in. 369Without this option, the 370.Nm 371driver will use whatever font is already loaded in the video card, 372unless you explicitly load a software font at startup. 373See 374.Sx EXAMPLES 375below. 376.It Dv SC_NO_SUSPEND_VTYSWITCH 377This option, which is also available as 378.Xr loader 8 379tunable and 380.Xr sysctl 8 381variable 382.Va hw.syscons.sc_no_suspend_vtswitch , 383disables switching between virtual terminals (graphics <-> text) during 384suspend/resume (ACPI and APM). 385Use this option if your system is freezing 386when you are running X and trying to suspend. 387.El 388.Pp 389The following options will remove some features from the 390.Nm 391driver and save kernel memory. 392.Bl -tag -width MOUSE 393.It Dv SC_NO_CUTPASTE 394This option disables ``copy and paste'' operation in virtual 395terminals. 396.It Dv SC_NO_FONT_LOADING 397The 398.Nm 399driver can load software fonts on some video cards. 400This option removes this feature. 401Note that if you still wish to use 402the mouse with this option then you must also use the 403.Dv SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE 404option. 405.It Dv SC_NO_HISTORY 406This option disables back-scrolling in virtual terminals. 407.\".It Dv SC_NO_PALETTE_LOADING 408.It Dv SC_NO_SYSMOUSE 409This option removes mouse support in the 410.Nm 411driver. 412The mouse daemon 413.Xr moused 8 414will fail if this option is defined. 415This option implies the 416.Dv SC_NO_CUTPASTE 417option too. 418.It Dv SC_NO_TERM_DUMB 419.It Dv SC_NO_TERM_SC 420.It Dv SC_NO_TERM_SCTEKEN 421These options remove the 422.Qq dumb , 423.Qq sc , 424and 425.Qq scteken 426terminal emulators, respectively. 427.El 428.Ss Driver Flags 429The following driver flags can be used to control the 430.Nm 431driver. 432Driver flags can be set with the 433.Cd hint.sc.0.flags 434tunable, either in 435.Pa /boot/device.hints , 436or else at the loader prompt (see 437.Xr loader 8 ) . 438.Bl -tag -width bit_0 439.\".It bit 0 (VISUAL_BELL) 440.\"Uses the ``visual'' bell. 441.\"The screen will blink instead of generating audible sound. 442.\".It bit 1,2 (CURSOR_TYPE) 443.\"This option specifies the cursor appearance. 444.\"Possible values are: 445.\".Bl -tag -width TYPE -compact 446.\".It Dv 0 447.\"normal block cursor 448.\".It Dv 2 449.\"blinking block cursor 450.\".It Dv 4 451.\"underline cursor 452.\".It Dv 6 453.\"blinking underline (aka destructive) cursor 454.\".El 455.\".It bit 6 (QUIET_BELL) 456.\"This option suppresses the bell, whether audible or visual, 457.\"if it is rung in a background virtual terminal. 458.It 0x0080 (VESAMODE) 459This option puts the video card in the VESA mode specified by 460.Pa /boot/device.hints 461variable 462.Va vesa_mode 463during kernel initialization. 464Note that in order for this flag to work, the kernel must be 465compiled with the 466.Dv SC_PIXEL_MODE 467option explained above. 468A list of the available mode can be obtained via 469.Xr vidcontrol 1 . 470.\"Note also that the ``copy-and-paste'' function is not currently supported 471.\"in this mode and the mouse pointer will not be displayed. 472.It 0x0100 (AUTODETECT_KBD) 473This option instructs the syscons driver to periodically scan 474for a keyboard device if it is not currently attached to one. 475Otherwise, the driver only probes for a keyboard once during bootup. 476.El 477.Ss Loader Tunables 478These settings can be entered at the 479.Xr loader 8 480prompt or in 481.Xr loader.conf 5 . 482.Bl -tag -width indent 483.It Va kern.vty 484When both 485.Nm 486and 487.Xr vt 4 488have been compiled into the kernel, the one to use for the system console can 489be selected by setting this variable to 490.Ql sc 491or 492.Ql vt . 493The 494.Pa GENERIC 495kernel uses 496.Xr vt 4 497when this value is not set. 498.El 499.Sh FILES 500.Bl -tag -width /usr/share/syscons/xxxxyyyyzzz -compact 501.It Pa /dev/console 502.It Pa /dev/consolectl 503.It Pa /dev/ttyv? 504virtual terminals 505.It Pa /etc/ttys 506terminal initialization information 507.It Pa /usr/share/syscons/fonts/* 508font files 509.It Pa /usr/share/syscons/keymaps/* 510key map files 511.It Pa /usr/share/syscons/scrmaps/* 512screen map files 513.El 514.Sh EXAMPLES 515As the 516.Nm 517driver requires the keyboard driver and the video card driver, 518the kernel configuration file should contain the following lines. 519.Bd -literal -offset indent 520device atkbdc 521device atkbd 522device vga 523device sc 524device splash 525.Ed 526.Pp 527You also need the following lines in 528.Pa /boot/device.hints 529for these drivers. 530.Bd -literal -offset indent 531hint.atkbdc.0.at="isa" 532hint.atkbdc.0.port="0x060" 533hint.atkbd.0.at="atkbdc" 534hint.atkbd.0.irq="1" 535hint.vga.0.at="isa" 536hint.sc.0.at="isa" 537.Ed 538.Pp 539If you do not intend to load the splash image or use the screen saver, 540the last line is not necessary, and can be omitted. 541.Pp 542Note that the keyboard controller driver 543.Nm atkbdc 544is required by the keyboard driver 545.Nm atkbd . 546.Pp 547The following lines will set the default colors. 548The normal text will be green on black background. 549The reversed text will be yellow on green background. 550Note that you cannot put any white space inside the quoted string, 551because of the current implementation of 552.Xr config 8 . 553.Pp 554.Dl "options SC_NORM_ATTR=(FG_GREEN|BG_BLACK)" 555.Dl "options SC_NORM_REV_ATTR=(FG_YELLOW|BG_GREEN)" 556.Pp 557The following lines will set the default colors of the kernel message. 558The kernel message will be printed bright red on black background. 559The reversed message will be black on red background. 560.Pp 561.Dl "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR=(FG_LIGHTRED|BG_BLACK)" 562.Dl "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_REV_ATTR=(FG_BLACK|BG_RED)" 563.Pp 564Provided 565.Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR 566is not set, or is set to its default of bright white on black, 567the following line will set 4 red-ish colors 568for printing kernel messages in colors depending on the CPU. 569.Pp 570.Dl options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTRS=\e"\ex0c\ex04\ex40\ex0e\e" 571.Pp 572The default scheme is probably better for up to 8 CPUs. 573Use a long string to get unique colors for more than 8 CPUs. 574.Pp 575To turn off all per-CPU coloring of kernel messages, 576set SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR to a non-default value, 577or use the default in a pattern of length 1. 578.Pp 579.Dl options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTRS=\e"\ex0f\e" 580.Pp 581The following example adds the font files 582.Pa cp850-8x16.fnt , 583.Pa cp850-8x14.font 584and 585.Pa cp850-8x8.font 586to the kernel. 587.Pp 588.Dl "options SC_DFLT_FONT" 589.Dl "makeoptions SC_DFLT_FONT=cp850" 590.Dl "device sc" 591.\".Sh DIAGNOSTICS 592.Sh SEE ALSO 593.Xr kbdcontrol 1 , 594.Xr login 1 , 595.Xr vidcontrol 1 , 596.Xr atkbd 4 , 597.Xr atkbdc 4 , 598.Xr keyboard 4 , 599.Xr screen 4 , 600.Xr splash 4 , 601.Xr ukbd 4 , 602.Xr vga 4 , 603.Xr vt 4 , 604.Xr kbdmap 5 , 605.Xr rc.conf 5 , 606.Xr ttys 5 , 607.Xr config 8 , 608.Xr getty 8 , 609.Xr kldload 8 , 610.Xr moused 8 611.Sh HISTORY 612The 613.Nm 614driver first appeared in 615.Fx 1.0 . 616.Sh AUTHORS 617.An -nosplit 618The 619.Nm 620driver was written by 621.An S\(/oren Schmidt Aq Mt sos@FreeBSD.org . 622This manual page was written by 623.An Kazutaka Yokota Aq Mt yokota@FreeBSD.org . 624.Sh CAVEATS 625The amount of data that is possible to insert from the cut buffer is limited 626by the 627.Brq Dv MAX_INPUT , 628a system limit on the number of bytes that may be stored in the terminal 629input queue - usually 1024 bytes 630(see 631.Xr termios 4 ) . 632.Sh BUGS 633This manual page is incomplete and urgently needs revision. 634