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 May 25, 2022 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 80Note that the 81.Nm 82driver is not compatible with systems booted via 83.Xr UEFI 8 . 84Forcing use of 85.Nm 86on such systems will result in no usable console. 87.Pp 88The 89.Nm 90driver is implemented on top of the keyboard driver 91.Pq Xr atkbd 4 92and the video card driver 93.Pq Xr vga 4 94and so requires both of them to be configured in the system. 95.Pp 96There can be only one 97.Nm 98device defined in the system. 99.Ss Virtual Terminals 100The 101.Nm 102driver provides multiple virtual terminals which appear as if they were 103separate terminals. 104One virtual terminal is considered current and exclusively 105occupies the screen and the keyboard; the other virtual terminals 106are placed in the background. 107.Pp 108In order to use virtual terminals, they must be individually 109marked ``on'' in 110.Pa /etc/ttys 111so that 112.Xr getty 8 113will recognize them to be active and run 114.Xr login 1 115to let the user log in to the system. 116By default, only the first eight virtual terminals are activated in 117.Pa /etc/ttys . 118.Pp 119You press the 120.Dv Alt 121key and a switch key to switch between 122virtual terminals. 123The following table summarizes the correspondence between the switch 124key and the virtual terminal. 125.Bd -literal -offset indent 126Alt-F1 ttyv0 Alt-F7 ttyv6 Shift-Alt-F1 ttyva 127Alt-F2 ttyv1 Alt-F8 ttyv7 Shift-Alt-F2 ttyvb 128Alt-F3 ttyv2 Alt-F9 ttyv8 Shift-Alt-F3 ttyvc 129Alt-F4 ttyv3 Alt-F10 ttyv9 Shift-Alt-F4 ttyvd 130Alt-F5 ttyv4 Alt-F11 ttyva Shift-Alt-F5 ttyve 131Alt-F6 ttyv5 Alt-F12 ttyvb Shift-Alt-F6 ttyvf 132.Ed 133.Pp 134You can also use the ``nscr'' key (usually the 135.Dv PrintScreen 136key on the AT Enhanced keyboard) to cycle available virtual terminals. 137.Pp 138The default number of available virtual terminals is 16. 139This can be changed with the kernel configuration option 140.Dv MAXCONS 141(see below). 142.Pp 143Note that the X server usually requires a virtual terminal for display 144purposes, so at least one terminal must be left unused by 145.Xr getty 8 146so that it can be used by the X server. 147.Ss Key Definitions and Function Key Strings 148The 149.Nm 150driver, in conjunction with the keyboard driver, allows the user 151to change key definitions and function key strings. 152The 153.Xr kbdcontrol 1 154command will load a key definition file (known as ``keymap'' file), 155dump the current keymap, and assign a string to a function key. 156See 157.Xr keyboard 4 158and 159.Xr kbdmap 5 160for the keymap file. 161.Pp 162You may want to set the 163.Ar keymap 164variable in 165.Pa /etc/rc.conf.local 166to the desired keymap file so that it will be automatically loaded 167when the system starts up. 168.Ss Software Font 169For most modern video cards, e.g., VGA, the 170.Nm 171driver and the video card driver allow the user to change 172the font used on the screen. 173The 174.Xr vidcontrol 1 175command can be used to load a font file from 176.Pa /usr/share/syscons/fonts . 177.Pp 178The font comes in various sizes: 8x8, 8x14 and 8x16. 179The 8x16 font is typically used for the VGA card in the 18080-column-by-25-line mode. 181Other video modes may require different font sizes. 182It is better to always load all three sizes of the same font. 183.Pp 184You may set 185.Ar font8x8 , 186.Ar font8x14 187and 188.Ar font8x16 189variables in 190.Pa /etc/rc.conf 191to the desired font files so that they will be automatically loaded 192when the system starts up. 193.Pp 194Optionally you can specify a particular font file as the default. 195See the 196.Dv SC_DFLT_FONT 197option below. 198.Ss Screen Map 199If your video card does not support software fonts, you may still be able 200to achieve a similar effect by re-mapping the font built into your video card. 201Use 202.Xr vidcontrol 1 203to load a screen map file which defines the mapping between character codes. 204.Ss Mouse Support and Copy-and-Paste 205You can use your mouse to copy text on the screen and paste it as if 206it was typed by hand. 207You must be running the mouse daemon 208.Xr moused 8 209and enable the mouse cursor in the virtual terminal via 210.Xr vidcontrol 1 . 211.Pp 212Pressing mouse button 1 (usually the left button) will start selection. 213Releasing button 1 will end the selection process. 214The selected text will be marked by inverting foreground and 215background colors. 216You can press button 3 (usually the right button) to extend 217the selected region. 218The selected text is placed in the copy buffer and can be pasted 219at the cursor position by pressing button 2 (usually the 220middle button) as many times as you like. 221.Pp 222If your mouse has only two buttons, you may want to use the 223.Dv SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE 224option below to make the right button to paste the text. 225Alternatively you can make the mouse daemon 226emulate the middle button. 227See the man page for 228.Xr moused 8 229for more details. 230.Ss Back Scrolling 231The 232.Nm 233driver allows the user to browse the output which has ``scrolled off'' 234the top of the screen. 235.Pp 236Press the ``slock'' key (usually 237.Dv ScrllLock 238/ 239.Dv Scroll Lock 240or 241.Dv Pause 242on many keyboards) and the terminal is 243in the ``scrollback'' mode. 244It is indicated by the 245.Dv Scroll Lock 246LED. 247Use the arrow keys, the 248.Dv Page Up/Down 249keys and the 250.Dv Home/End 251keys to scroll buffered terminal output. 252Press the ``slock'' key again to get back to the normal terminal mode. 253.Pp 254The size of the scrollback buffer can be set by the 255.Dv SC_HISTORY_SIZE 256option described below. 257.Ss Screen Saver 258The 259.Nm 260driver can be made to put up the screen saver if the current 261virtual terminal is idle, that is, the user is not typing 262on the keyboard nor moving the mouse. 263See 264.Xr splash 4 265and 266.Xr vidcontrol 1 267for more details. 268.Sh DRIVER CONFIGURATION 269.Ss Kernel Configuration Options 270The following kernel configuration options control the 271.Nm 272driver. 273.Bl -tag -width MOUSE 274.It Dv MAXCONS=N 275This option sets the number of virtual terminals to 276.Fa N . 277The default value is 16. 278.It Dv SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE 279This option selects the alternative way of displaying the mouse cursor 280in the virtual terminal. 281It may be expensive for some video cards to draw the arrow-shaped 282cursor, and you may want to try this option. 283However, the appearance of the alternative mouse cursor may not be 284very appealing. 285Note that if you use the 286.Dv SC_NO_FONT_LOADING 287option then you must also use this option if you wish to be able to use 288the mouse. 289.It Dv SC_CUT_SEPCHARS=_characters_ 290This options specifies characters that will be looked for when the 291driver searches for words boundaries when doing cut operation. 292By default, its value is 293.Qq Li \ex20 294\(em a space character. 295.It Dv SC_CUT_SPACES2TABS 296This options instructs the driver to convert leading spaces into tabs 297when copying data into cut buffer. 298This might be useful to preserve 299indentation when copying tab-indented text. 300.It Dv SC_DFLT_TERM=_name_ 301This option specifies the name of the preferred terminal emulator. 302.It Dv SC_DISABLE_KDBKEY 303This option disables the ``debug'' key combination (by default, it is 304.Dv Alt-Esc , 305or 306.Dv Ctl-PrintScreen ) . 307It will prevent users from 308entering the kernel debugger (KDB) by pressing the key combination. 309KDB will still be invoked when the kernel panics or hits a break point 310if it is included in the kernel. 311If this option is not defined, this behavior may be controlled at runtime 312by the 313.Xr sysctl 8 314variable 315.Va hw.syscons.kbd_debug . 316.It Dv SC_DISABLE_REBOOT 317This option disables the ``reboot'' key (by default, it is 318.Dv Ctl-Alt-Del ) , 319so that the casual user may not accidentally reboot the system. 320If this option is not defined, this behavior may be controlled at runtime 321by the 322.Xr sysctl 8 323variable 324.Va hw.syscons.kbd_reboot . 325.It Dv SC_HISTORY_SIZE=N 326Sets the size of back scroll buffer to 327.Fa N 328lines. 329The default value is 100. 330.It Dv SC_MOUSE_CHAR=C 331Unless the 332.Dv SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE 333option above is specified, the 334.Nm 335driver reserves four consecutive character codes in order to display the 336mouse cursor in the virtual terminals in some systems. 337This option specifies the first character code to 338.Fa C 339to be used for this purpose. 340The default value is 0xd0. 341A good candidate is 0x03. 342.It Dv SC_PIXEL_MODE 343Adds support for pixel (raster) mode console. 344This mode is useful on some laptop computers, but less so on 345most other systems, and it adds substantial amount of code to syscons. 346If this option is NOT defined, you can reduce the kernel size a lot. 347See the 348.Dv VESAMODE 349flag below. 350.It Dv SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE 351If you have a two button mouse, you may want to add this option 352to use the right button of the mouse to paste text. 353See 354.Sx Mouse Support and Copy-and-Paste 355above. 356.It Dv SC_NORM_ATTR=_attribute_ 357.It Dv SC_NORM_REV_ATTR=_attribute_ 358.It Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR=_attribute_ 359.It Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTRS=_attributes_ 360.It Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_REV_ATTR=_attribute_ 361These options will set the default colors. 362Available colors are defined in 363.In machine/pc/display.h . 364See 365.Sx EXAMPLES 366below. 367.Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTRS 368is a character string giving a sequence of attributes in binary format. 369The sequence will be repeated up to the number of CPUs. 370Beware that the string must not be null, 371since the kernel divides by its length. 372.It Dv SC_DFLT_FONT 373This option will specify the default font. 374Available fonts are: iso, iso2, koi8-r, koi8-u, cp437, cp850, cp865, 375cp866 and cp866u. 37616-line, 14-line and 8-line font data will be compiled in. 377Without this option, the 378.Nm 379driver will use whatever font is already loaded in the video card, 380unless you explicitly load a software font at startup. 381See 382.Sx EXAMPLES 383below. 384.It Dv SC_NO_SUSPEND_VTYSWITCH 385This option, which is also available as 386.Xr loader 8 387tunable and 388.Xr sysctl 8 389variable 390.Va hw.syscons.sc_no_suspend_vtswitch , 391disables switching between virtual terminals (graphics <-> text) during 392suspend/resume (ACPI and APM). 393Use this option if your system is freezing 394when you are running X and trying to suspend. 395.El 396.Pp 397The following options will remove some features from the 398.Nm 399driver and save kernel memory. 400.Bl -tag -width MOUSE 401.It Dv SC_NO_CUTPASTE 402This option disables ``copy and paste'' operation in virtual 403terminals. 404.It Dv SC_NO_FONT_LOADING 405The 406.Nm 407driver can load software fonts on some video cards. 408This option removes this feature. 409Note that if you still wish to use 410the mouse with this option then you must also use the 411.Dv SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE 412option. 413.It Dv SC_NO_HISTORY 414This option disables back-scrolling in virtual terminals. 415.\".It Dv SC_NO_PALETTE_LOADING 416.It Dv SC_NO_SYSMOUSE 417This option removes mouse support in the 418.Nm 419driver. 420The mouse daemon 421.Xr moused 8 422will fail if this option is defined. 423This option implies the 424.Dv SC_NO_CUTPASTE 425option too. 426.It Dv SC_NO_TERM_DUMB 427.It Dv SC_NO_TERM_SC 428.It Dv SC_NO_TERM_SCTEKEN 429These options remove the 430.Qq dumb , 431.Qq sc , 432and 433.Qq scteken 434terminal emulators, respectively. 435.El 436.Ss Driver Flags 437The following driver flags can be used to control the 438.Nm 439driver. 440Driver flags can be set with the 441.Cd hint.sc.0.flags 442tunable, either in 443.Pa /boot/device.hints , 444or else at the loader prompt (see 445.Xr loader 8 ) . 446.Bl -tag -width bit_0 447.\".It bit 0 (VISUAL_BELL) 448.\"Uses the ``visual'' bell. 449.\"The screen will blink instead of generating audible sound. 450.\".It bit 1,2 (CURSOR_TYPE) 451.\"This option specifies the cursor appearance. 452.\"Possible values are: 453.\".Bl -tag -width TYPE -compact 454.\".It Dv 0 455.\"normal block cursor 456.\".It Dv 2 457.\"blinking block cursor 458.\".It Dv 4 459.\"underline cursor 460.\".It Dv 6 461.\"blinking underline (aka destructive) cursor 462.\".El 463.\".It bit 6 (QUIET_BELL) 464.\"This option suppresses the bell, whether audible or visual, 465.\"if it is rung in a background virtual terminal. 466.It 0x0080 (VESAMODE) 467This option puts the video card in the VESA mode specified by 468.Pa /boot/device.hints 469variable 470.Va vesa_mode 471during kernel initialization. 472Note that in order for this flag to work, the kernel must be 473compiled with the 474.Dv SC_PIXEL_MODE 475option explained above. 476A list of the available mode can be obtained via 477.Xr vidcontrol 1 . 478.\"Note also that the ``copy-and-paste'' function is not currently supported 479.\"in this mode and the mouse pointer will not be displayed. 480.It 0x0100 (AUTODETECT_KBD) 481This option instructs the syscons driver to periodically scan 482for a keyboard device if it is not currently attached to one. 483Otherwise, the driver only probes for a keyboard once during bootup. 484.El 485.Ss Loader Tunables 486These settings can be entered at the 487.Xr loader 8 488prompt or in 489.Xr loader.conf 5 . 490.Bl -tag -width indent 491.It Va kern.vty 492When both 493.Nm 494and 495.Xr vt 4 496have been compiled into the kernel, the one to use for the system console can 497be selected by setting this variable to 498.Ql sc 499or 500.Ql vt . 501The 502.Pa GENERIC 503kernel uses 504.Xr vt 4 505when this value is not set. 506.El 507.Sh FILES 508.Bl -tag -width /usr/share/syscons/xxxxyyyyzzz -compact 509.It Pa /dev/console 510.It Pa /dev/consolectl 511.It Pa /dev/ttyv? 512virtual terminals 513.It Pa /etc/ttys 514terminal initialization information 515.It Pa /usr/share/syscons/fonts/* 516font files 517.It Pa /usr/share/syscons/keymaps/* 518key map files 519.It Pa /usr/share/syscons/scrmaps/* 520screen map files 521.El 522.Sh EXAMPLES 523As the 524.Nm 525driver requires the keyboard driver and the video card driver, 526the kernel configuration file should contain the following lines. 527.Bd -literal -offset indent 528device atkbdc 529device atkbd 530device vga 531device sc 532device splash 533.Ed 534.Pp 535You also need the following lines in 536.Pa /boot/device.hints 537for these drivers. 538.Bd -literal -offset indent 539hint.atkbdc.0.at="isa" 540hint.atkbdc.0.port="0x060" 541hint.atkbd.0.at="atkbdc" 542hint.atkbd.0.irq="1" 543hint.vga.0.at="isa" 544hint.sc.0.at="isa" 545.Ed 546.Pp 547If you do not intend to load the splash image or use the screen saver, 548the last line is not necessary, and can be omitted. 549.Pp 550Note that the keyboard controller driver 551.Nm atkbdc 552is required by the keyboard driver 553.Nm atkbd . 554.Pp 555The following lines will set the default colors. 556The normal text will be green on black background. 557The reversed text will be yellow on green background. 558Note that you cannot put any white space inside the quoted string, 559because of the current implementation of 560.Xr config 8 . 561.Pp 562.Dl "options SC_NORM_ATTR=(FG_GREEN|BG_BLACK)" 563.Dl "options SC_NORM_REV_ATTR=(FG_YELLOW|BG_GREEN)" 564.Pp 565The following lines will set the default colors of the kernel message. 566The kernel message will be printed bright red on black background. 567The reversed message will be black on red background. 568.Pp 569.Dl "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR=(FG_LIGHTRED|BG_BLACK)" 570.Dl "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_REV_ATTR=(FG_BLACK|BG_RED)" 571.Pp 572Provided 573.Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR 574is not set, or is set to its default of bright white on black, 575the following line will set 4 red-ish colors 576for printing kernel messages in colors depending on the CPU. 577.Pp 578.Dl options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTRS=\e"\ex0c\ex04\ex40\ex0e\e" 579.Pp 580The default scheme is probably better for up to 8 CPUs. 581Use a long string to get unique colors for more than 8 CPUs. 582.Pp 583To turn off all per-CPU coloring of kernel messages, 584set SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR to a non-default value, 585or use the default in a pattern of length 1. 586.Pp 587.Dl options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTRS=\e"\ex0f\e" 588.Pp 589The following example adds the font files 590.Pa cp850-8x16.fnt , 591.Pa cp850-8x14.font 592and 593.Pa cp850-8x8.font 594to the kernel. 595.Pp 596.Dl "options SC_DFLT_FONT" 597.Dl "makeoptions SC_DFLT_FONT=cp850" 598.Dl "device sc" 599.\".Sh DIAGNOSTICS 600.Sh SEE ALSO 601.Xr kbdcontrol 1 , 602.Xr login 1 , 603.Xr vidcontrol 1 , 604.Xr atkbd 4 , 605.Xr atkbdc 4 , 606.Xr keyboard 4 , 607.Xr screen 4 , 608.Xr splash 4 , 609.Xr ukbd 4 , 610.Xr vga 4 , 611.Xr vt 4 , 612.Xr kbdmap 5 , 613.Xr rc.conf 5 , 614.Xr ttys 5 , 615.Xr config 8 , 616.Xr getty 8 , 617.Xr kldload 8 , 618.Xr moused 8 619.Sh HISTORY 620The 621.Nm 622driver first appeared in 623.Fx 1.0 . 624.Sh AUTHORS 625.An -nosplit 626The 627.Nm 628driver was written by 629.An S\(/oren Schmidt Aq Mt sos@FreeBSD.org . 630This manual page was written by 631.An Kazutaka Yokota Aq Mt yokota@FreeBSD.org . 632.Sh CAVEATS 633The amount of data that is possible to insert from the cut buffer is limited 634by the 635.Brq Dv MAX_INPUT , 636a system limit on the number of bytes that may be stored in the terminal 637input queue - usually 1024 bytes 638(see 639.Xr termios 4 ) . 640.Sh BUGS 641This manual page is incomplete and urgently needs revision. 642