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 September 11, 2009 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_DISABLE_KDBKEY" 42.Cd "options SC_DISABLE_REBOOT" 43.Cd "options SC_HISTORY_SIZE=N" 44.Cd "options SC_MOUSE_CHAR=C" 45.Cd "options SC_NO_CUTPASTE" 46.Cd "options SC_NO_FONT_LOADING" 47.Cd "options SC_NO_HISTORY" 48.Cd "options SC_NO_PALETTE_LOADING" 49.Cd "options SC_NO_SUSPEND_VTYSWITCH" 50.Cd "options SC_NO_SYSMOUSE" 51.Cd "options SC_PIXEL_MODE" 52.Cd "options SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE" 53.Cd "options SC_NORM_ATTR=_attribute_" 54.Cd "options SC_NORM_REV_ATTR=_attribute_" 55.Cd "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR=_attribute_" 56.Cd "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_REV_ATTR=_attribute_" 57.Cd "options SC_DFLT_FONT" 58.Cd "makeoptions SC_DFLT_FONT=_font_name_" 59.Cd "device sc" 60.Pp 61In 62.Pa /boot/device.hints : 63.Cd hint.sc.0.at="isa" 64.Cd hint.sc.0.vesa_mode=0x103 65.Sh DESCRIPTION 66The 67.Nm 68driver provides multiple virtual terminals. 69It resembles the SCO color console driver. 70.Pp 71The 72.Nm 73driver is implemented on top of the keyboard driver 74.Pq Xr atkbd 4 75and the video card driver 76.Pq Xr vga 4 77and so requires both of them to be configured in the system. 78.Pp 79There can be only one 80.Nm 81device defined in the system. 82.Ss Virtual Terminals 83The 84.Nm 85driver provides multiple virtual terminals which appear as if they were 86separate terminals. 87One virtual terminal is considered current and exclusively 88occupies the screen and the keyboard; the other virtual terminals 89are placed in the background. 90.Pp 91In order to use virtual terminals, they must be individually 92marked ``on'' in 93.Pa /etc/ttys 94so that 95.Xr getty 8 96will recognize them to be active and run 97.Xr login 1 98to let the user log in to the system. 99By default, only the first eight virtual terminals are activated in 100.Pa /etc/ttys . 101.Pp 102You press the 103.Dv Alt 104key and a switch key to switch between 105virtual terminals. 106The following table summarizes the correspondence between the switch 107key and the virtual terminal. 108.Bd -literal -offset indent 109Alt-F1 ttyv0 Alt-F7 ttyv6 Shift-Alt-F1 ttyva 110Alt-F2 ttyv1 Alt-F8 ttyv7 Shift-Alt-F2 ttyvb 111Alt-F3 ttyv2 Alt-F9 ttyv8 Shift-Alt-F3 ttyvc 112Alt-F4 ttyv3 Alt-F10 ttyv9 Shift-Alt-F4 ttyvd 113Alt-F5 ttyv4 Alt-F11 ttyva Shift-Alt-F5 ttyve 114Alt-F6 ttyv5 Alt-F12 ttyvb Shift-Alt-F6 ttyvf 115.Ed 116.Pp 117You can also use the ``nscr'' key (usually the 118.Dv PrintScreen 119key on the AT Enhanced keyboard) to cycle available virtual terminals. 120.Pp 121The default number of available virtual terminals is 16. 122This can be changed with the kernel configuration option 123.Dv MAXCONS 124(see below). 125.Pp 126Note that the X server usually requires a virtual terminal for display 127purposes, so at least one terminal must be left unused by 128.Xr getty 8 129so that it can be used by the X server. 130.Ss Key Definitions and Function Key Strings 131The 132.Nm 133driver, in conjunction with the keyboard driver, allows the user 134to change key definitions and function key strings. 135The 136.Xr kbdcontrol 1 137command will load a key definition file (known as ``keymap'' file), 138dump the current keymap, and assign a string to a function key. 139See 140.Xr keyboard 4 141and 142.Xr kbdmap 5 143for the keymap file. 144.Pp 145You may want to set the 146.Ar keymap 147variable in 148.Pa /etc/rc.conf.local 149to the desired keymap file so that it will be automatically loaded 150when the system starts up. 151.Ss Software Font 152For most modern video cards, e.g., VGA, the 153.Nm 154driver and the video card driver allow the user to change 155the font used on the screen. 156The 157.Xr vidcontrol 1 158command can be used to load a font file from 159.Pa /usr/share/syscons/fonts . 160.Pp 161The font comes in various sizes: 8x8, 8x14 and 8x16. 162The 8x16 font is typically used for the VGA card in the 16380-column-by-25-line mode. 164Other video modes may require different font sizes. 165It is better to always load all three sizes of the same font. 166.Pp 167You may set 168.Ar font8x8 , 169.Ar font8x14 170and 171.Ar font8x16 172variables in 173.Pa /etc/rc.conf 174to the desired font files so that they will be automatically loaded 175when the system starts up. 176.Pp 177Optionally you can specify a particular font file as the default. 178See the 179.Dv SC_DFLT_FONT 180option below. 181.Ss Screen Map 182If your video card does not support software fonts, you may still be able 183to achieve a similar effect by re-mapping the font built into your video card. 184Use 185.Xr vidcontrol 1 186to load a screen map file which defines the mapping between character codes. 187.Ss Mouse Support and Copy-and-Paste 188You can use your mouse to copy text on the screen and paste it as if 189it was typed by hand. 190You must be running the mouse daemon 191.Xr moused 8 192and enable the mouse cursor in the virtual terminal via 193.Xr vidcontrol 1 . 194.Pp 195Pressing mouse button 1 (usually the left button) will start selection. 196Releasing button 1 will end the selection process. 197The selected text will be marked by inverting foreground and 198background colors. 199You can press button 3 (usually the right button) to extend 200the selected region. 201The selected text is placed in the copy buffer and can be pasted 202at the cursor position by pressing button 2 (usually the 203middle button) as many times as you like. 204.Pp 205If your mouse has only two buttons, you may want to use the 206.Dv SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE 207option below to make the right button to paste the text. 208Alternatively you can make the mouse daemon 209emulate the middle button. 210See the man page for 211.Xr moused 8 212for more details. 213.Ss Back Scrolling 214The 215.Nm 216driver allows the user to browse the output which has ``scrolled off'' 217the top of the screen. 218.Pp 219Press the ``slock'' key (usually 220.Dv ScrllLock 221/ 222.Dv Scroll Lock 223or 224.Dv Pause 225on many keyboards) and the terminal is 226in the ``scrollback'' mode. 227It is indicated by the 228.Dv Scroll Lock 229LED. 230Use the arrow keys, the 231.Dv Page Up/Down 232keys and the 233.Dv Home/End 234keys to scroll buffered terminal output. 235Press the ``slock'' key again to get back to the normal terminal mode. 236.Pp 237The size of the scrollback buffer can be set by the 238.Dv SC_HISTORY_SIZE 239option described below. 240.Ss Screen Saver 241The 242.Nm 243driver can be made to put up the screen saver if the current 244virtual terminal is idle, that is, the user is not typing 245on the keyboard nor moving the mouse. 246See 247.Xr splash 4 248and 249.Xr vidcontrol 1 250for more details. 251.Sh DRIVER CONFIGURATION 252.Ss Kernel Configuration Options 253The following kernel configuration options control the 254.Nm 255driver. 256.Bl -tag -width MOUSE 257.It Dv MAXCONS=N 258This option sets the number of virtual terminals to 259.Fa N . 260The default value is 16. 261.It Dv SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE 262This option selects the alternative way of displaying the mouse cursor 263in the virtual terminal. 264It may be expensive for some video cards to draw the arrow-shaped 265cursor, and you may want to try this option. 266However, the appearance of the alternative mouse cursor may not be 267very appealing. 268Note that if you use the 269.Dv SC_NO_FONT_LOADING 270option then you must also use this option if you wish to be able to use 271the mouse. 272.It Dv SC_CUT_SEPCHARS=_characters_ 273This options specifies characters that will be looked for when the 274driver searches for words boundaries when doing cut operation. 275By default, its value is 276.Qq Li \ex20 277\(em a space character. 278.It Dv SC_CUT_SPACES2TABS 279This options instructs the driver to convert leading spaces into tabs 280when copying data into cut buffer. 281This might be useful to preserve 282indentation when copying tab-indented text. 283.It Dv SC_DISABLE_KDBKEY 284This option disables the ``debug'' key combination (by default, it is 285.Dv Alt-Esc , 286or 287.Dv Ctl-PrintScreen ) . 288It will prevent users from 289entering the kernel debugger (KDB) by pressing the key combination. 290KDB will still be invoked when the kernel panics or hits a break point 291if it is included in the kernel. 292If this option is not defined, this behavior may be controlled at runtime 293by the 294.Xr sysctl 8 295variable 296.Va hw.syscons.kbd_debug . 297.It Dv SC_DISABLE_REBOOT 298This option disables the ``reboot'' key (by default, it is 299.Dv Ctl-Alt-Del ) , 300so that the casual user may not accidentally reboot the system. 301If this option is not defined, this behavior may be controlled at runtime 302by the 303.Xr sysctl 8 304variable 305.Va hw.syscons.kbd_reboot . 306.It Dv SC_HISTORY_SIZE=N 307Sets the size of back scroll buffer to 308.Fa N 309lines. 310The default value is 100. 311.It Dv SC_MOUSE_CHAR=C 312Unless the 313.Dv SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE 314option above is specified, the 315.Nm 316driver reserves four consecutive character codes in order to display the 317mouse cursor in the virtual terminals in some systems. 318This option specifies the first character code to 319.Fa C 320to be used for this purpose. 321The default value is 0xd0. 322A good candidate is 0x03. 323.It Dv SC_PIXEL_MODE 324Adds support for pixel (raster) mode console. 325This mode is useful on some laptop computers, but less so on 326most other systems, and it adds substantial amount of code to syscons. 327If this option is NOT defined, you can reduce the kernel size a lot. 328See the 329.Dv VESAMODE 330flag below. 331.It Dv SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE 332If you have a two button mouse, you may want to add this option 333to use the right button of the mouse to paste text. 334See 335.Sx Mouse Support and Copy-and-Paste 336above. 337.It Dv SC_NORM_ATTR=_attribute_ 338.It Dv SC_NORM_REV_ATTR=_attribute_ 339.It Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR=_attribute_ 340.It Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_REV_ATTR=_attribute_ 341These options will set the default colors. 342Available colors are defined in 343.In machine/pc/display.h . 344See 345.Sx EXAMPLES 346below. 347.It Dv SC_DFLT_FONT 348This option will specify the default font. 349Available fonts are: iso, iso2, koi8-r, koi8-u, cp437, cp850, cp865, 350cp866 and cp866u. 35116-line, 14-line and 8-line font data will be compiled in. 352Without this option, the 353.Nm 354driver will use whatever font is already loaded in the video card, 355unless you explicitly load a software font at startup. 356See 357.Sx EXAMPLES 358below. 359.It Dv SC_NO_SUSPEND_VTYSWITCH 360This option, which is also available as 361.Xr loader 8 362tunable and 363.Xr sysctl 8 364variable 365.Va hw.syscons.sc_no_suspend_vtswitch , 366disables switching between virtual terminals (graphics <-> text) during 367suspend/resume (ACPI and APM). 368Use this option if your system is freezing 369when you are running X and trying to suspend. 370.El 371.Pp 372The following options will remove some features from the 373.Nm 374driver and save kernel memory. 375.Bl -tag -width MOUSE 376.It Dv SC_NO_CUTPASTE 377This option disables ``copy and paste'' operation in virtual 378terminals. 379.It Dv SC_NO_FONT_LOADING 380The 381.Nm 382driver can load software fonts on some video cards. 383This option removes this feature. 384Note that if you still wish to use 385the mouse with this option then you must also use the 386.Dv SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE 387option. 388.It Dv SC_NO_HISTORY 389This option disables back-scrolling in virtual terminals. 390.\".It Dv SC_NO_PALETTE_LOADING 391.It Dv SC_NO_SYSMOUSE 392This option removes mouse support in the 393.Nm 394driver. 395The mouse daemon 396.Xr moused 8 397will fail if this option is defined. 398This option implies the 399.Dv SC_NO_CUTPASTE 400option too. 401.El 402.Ss Driver Flags 403The following driver flags can be used to control the 404.Nm 405driver. 406They can be set either in 407.Pa /boot/device.hints , 408or else at the loader prompt (see 409.Xr loader 8 ) . 410.Bl -tag -width bit_0 411.\".It bit 0 (VISUAL_BELL) 412.\"Uses the ``visual'' bell. 413.\"The screen will blink instead of generating audible sound. 414.\".It bit 1,2 (CURSOR_TYPE) 415.\"This option specifies the cursor appearance. 416.\"Possible values are: 417.\".Bl -tag -width TYPE -compact 418.\".It Dv 0 419.\"normal block cursor 420.\".It Dv 2 421.\"blinking block cursor 422.\".It Dv 4 423.\"underline cursor 424.\".It Dv 6 425.\"blinking underline (aka destructive) cursor 426.\".El 427.\".It bit 6 (QUIET_BELL) 428.\"This option suppresses the bell, whether audible or visual, 429.\"if it is rung in a background virtual terminal. 430.It 0x0080 (VESAMODE) 431This option puts the video card in the VESA mode specified by 432.Pa /boot/device.hints 433variable 434.Va vesa_mode 435during kernel initialization. 436Note that in order for this flag to work, the kernel must be 437compiled with the 438.Dv SC_PIXEL_MODE 439option explained above. 440A list of the available mode can be obtained via 441.Xr vidcontrol 1 . 442.\"Note also that the ``copy-and-paste'' function is not currently supported 443.\"in this mode and the mouse pointer will not be displayed. 444.It 0x0100 (AUTODETECT_KBD) 445This option instructs the syscons driver to periodically scan 446for a keyboard device if it is not currently attached to one. 447Otherwise, the driver only probes for a keyboard once during bootup. 448.El 449.Sh FILES 450.Bl -tag -width /usr/share/syscons/xxxxyyyyzzz -compact 451.It Pa /dev/console 452.It Pa /dev/consolectl 453.It Pa /dev/ttyv? 454virtual terminals 455.It Pa /etc/ttys 456terminal initialization information 457.It Pa /usr/share/syscons/fonts/* 458font files 459.It Pa /usr/share/syscons/keymaps/* 460key map files 461.It Pa /usr/share/syscons/scrmaps/* 462screen map files 463.El 464.Sh EXAMPLES 465As the 466.Nm 467driver requires the keyboard driver and the video card driver, 468the kernel configuration file should contain the following lines. 469.Bd -literal -offset indent 470device atkbdc 471device atkbd 472device vga 473device sc 474 475device splash 476.Ed 477You also need the following lines in 478.Pa /boot/device.hints 479for these drivers. 480.Bd -literal -offset indent 481hint.atkbdc.0.at="isa" 482hint.atkbdc.0.port="0x060" 483hint.atkbd.0.at="atkbdc" 484hint.atkbd.0.irq="1" 485hint.vga.0.at="isa" 486hint.sc.0.at="isa" 487.Ed 488.Pp 489If you do not intend to load the splash image or use the screen saver, 490the last line is not necessary, and can be omitted. 491.Pp 492Note that the keyboard controller driver 493.Nm atkbdc 494is required by the keyboard driver 495.Nm atkbd . 496.Pp 497The following lines will set the default colors. 498The normal text will be green on black background. 499The reversed text will be yellow on green background. 500Note that you cannot put any white space inside the quoted string, 501because of the current implementation of 502.Xr config 8 . 503.Pp 504.Dl "options SC_NORM_ATTR=(FG_GREEN|BG_BLACK)" 505.Dl "options SC_NORM_REV_ATTR=(FG_YELLOW|BG_GREEN)" 506.Pp 507The following lines will set the default colors of the kernel message. 508The kernel message will be printed bright red on black background. 509The reversed message will be black on red background. 510.Pp 511.Dl "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR=(FG_LIGHTRED|BG_BLACK)" 512.Dl "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_REV_ATTR=(FG_BLACK|BG_RED)" 513.Pp 514The following example adds the font files 515.Pa cp850-8x16.fnt , 516.Pa cp850-8x14.font 517and 518.Pa cp850-8x8.font 519to the kernel. 520.Pp 521.Dl "options SC_DFLT_FONT" 522.Dl "makeoptions SC_DFLT_FONT=cp850" 523.Dl "device sc" 524.\".Sh DIAGNOSTICS 525.Sh SEE ALSO 526.Xr kbdcontrol 1 , 527.Xr login 1 , 528.Xr vidcontrol 1 , 529.Xr atkbd 4 , 530.Xr atkbdc 4 , 531.Xr keyboard 4 , 532.Xr screen 4 , 533.Xr splash 4 , 534.Xr ukbd 4 , 535.Xr vga 4 , 536.Xr kbdmap 5 , 537.Xr rc.conf 5 , 538.Xr ttys 5 , 539.Xr config 8 , 540.Xr getty 8 , 541.Xr kldload 8 , 542.Xr moused 8 543.Sh HISTORY 544The 545.Nm 546driver first appeared in 547.Fx 1.0 . 548.Sh AUTHORS 549.An -nosplit 550The 551.Nm 552driver was written by 553.An S\(/oren Schmidt Aq sos@FreeBSD.org . 554This manual page was written by 555.An Kazutaka Yokota Aq yokota@FreeBSD.org . 556.Sh CAVEATS 557The amount of data that is possible to insert from the cut buffer is limited 558by the 559.Brq Dv MAX_INPUT , 560a system limit on the number of bytes that may be stored in the terminal 561input queue - usually 1024 bytes 562(see 563.Xr termios 4 ) . 564.Sh BUGS 565This manual page is incomplete and urgently needs revision. 566