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 July 3, 2014 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.Pp 66In 67.Pa /boot/loader.conf : 68.Cd kern.vty=sc 69.Sh DESCRIPTION 70The 71.Nm 72driver provides multiple virtual terminals. 73It resembles the SCO color console driver. 74.Pp 75The 76.Nm 77driver is implemented on top of the keyboard driver 78.Pq Xr atkbd 4 79and the video card driver 80.Pq Xr vga 4 81and so requires both of them to be configured in the system. 82.Pp 83There can be only one 84.Nm 85device defined in the system. 86.Ss Virtual Terminals 87The 88.Nm 89driver provides multiple virtual terminals which appear as if they were 90separate terminals. 91One virtual terminal is considered current and exclusively 92occupies the screen and the keyboard; the other virtual terminals 93are placed in the background. 94.Pp 95In order to use virtual terminals, they must be individually 96marked ``on'' in 97.Pa /etc/ttys 98so that 99.Xr getty 8 100will recognize them to be active and run 101.Xr login 1 102to let the user log in to the system. 103By default, only the first eight virtual terminals are activated in 104.Pa /etc/ttys . 105.Pp 106You press the 107.Dv Alt 108key and a switch key to switch between 109virtual terminals. 110The following table summarizes the correspondence between the switch 111key and the virtual terminal. 112.Bd -literal -offset indent 113Alt-F1 ttyv0 Alt-F7 ttyv6 Shift-Alt-F1 ttyva 114Alt-F2 ttyv1 Alt-F8 ttyv7 Shift-Alt-F2 ttyvb 115Alt-F3 ttyv2 Alt-F9 ttyv8 Shift-Alt-F3 ttyvc 116Alt-F4 ttyv3 Alt-F10 ttyv9 Shift-Alt-F4 ttyvd 117Alt-F5 ttyv4 Alt-F11 ttyva Shift-Alt-F5 ttyve 118Alt-F6 ttyv5 Alt-F12 ttyvb Shift-Alt-F6 ttyvf 119.Ed 120.Pp 121You can also use the ``nscr'' key (usually the 122.Dv PrintScreen 123key on the AT Enhanced keyboard) to cycle available virtual terminals. 124.Pp 125The default number of available virtual terminals is 16. 126This can be changed with the kernel configuration option 127.Dv MAXCONS 128(see below). 129.Pp 130Note that the X server usually requires a virtual terminal for display 131purposes, so at least one terminal must be left unused by 132.Xr getty 8 133so that it can be used by the X server. 134.Ss Key Definitions and Function Key Strings 135The 136.Nm 137driver, in conjunction with the keyboard driver, allows the user 138to change key definitions and function key strings. 139The 140.Xr kbdcontrol 1 141command will load a key definition file (known as ``keymap'' file), 142dump the current keymap, and assign a string to a function key. 143See 144.Xr keyboard 4 145and 146.Xr kbdmap 5 147for the keymap file. 148.Pp 149You may want to set the 150.Ar keymap 151variable in 152.Pa /etc/rc.conf.local 153to the desired keymap file so that it will be automatically loaded 154when the system starts up. 155.Ss Software Font 156For most modern video cards, e.g., VGA, the 157.Nm 158driver and the video card driver allow the user to change 159the font used on the screen. 160The 161.Xr vidcontrol 1 162command can be used to load a font file from 163.Pa /usr/share/syscons/fonts . 164.Pp 165The font comes in various sizes: 8x8, 8x14 and 8x16. 166The 8x16 font is typically used for the VGA card in the 16780-column-by-25-line mode. 168Other video modes may require different font sizes. 169It is better to always load all three sizes of the same font. 170.Pp 171You may set 172.Ar font8x8 , 173.Ar font8x14 174and 175.Ar font8x16 176variables in 177.Pa /etc/rc.conf 178to the desired font files so that they will be automatically loaded 179when the system starts up. 180.Pp 181Optionally you can specify a particular font file as the default. 182See the 183.Dv SC_DFLT_FONT 184option below. 185.Ss Screen Map 186If your video card does not support software fonts, you may still be able 187to achieve a similar effect by re-mapping the font built into your video card. 188Use 189.Xr vidcontrol 1 190to load a screen map file which defines the mapping between character codes. 191.Ss Mouse Support and Copy-and-Paste 192You can use your mouse to copy text on the screen and paste it as if 193it was typed by hand. 194You must be running the mouse daemon 195.Xr moused 8 196and enable the mouse cursor in the virtual terminal via 197.Xr vidcontrol 1 . 198.Pp 199Pressing mouse button 1 (usually the left button) will start selection. 200Releasing button 1 will end the selection process. 201The selected text will be marked by inverting foreground and 202background colors. 203You can press button 3 (usually the right button) to extend 204the selected region. 205The selected text is placed in the copy buffer and can be pasted 206at the cursor position by pressing button 2 (usually the 207middle button) as many times as you like. 208.Pp 209If your mouse has only two buttons, you may want to use the 210.Dv SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE 211option below to make the right button to paste the text. 212Alternatively you can make the mouse daemon 213emulate the middle button. 214See the man page for 215.Xr moused 8 216for more details. 217.Ss Back Scrolling 218The 219.Nm 220driver allows the user to browse the output which has ``scrolled off'' 221the top of the screen. 222.Pp 223Press the ``slock'' key (usually 224.Dv ScrllLock 225/ 226.Dv Scroll Lock 227or 228.Dv Pause 229on many keyboards) and the terminal is 230in the ``scrollback'' mode. 231It is indicated by the 232.Dv Scroll Lock 233LED. 234Use the arrow keys, the 235.Dv Page Up/Down 236keys and the 237.Dv Home/End 238keys to scroll buffered terminal output. 239Press the ``slock'' key again to get back to the normal terminal mode. 240.Pp 241The size of the scrollback buffer can be set by the 242.Dv SC_HISTORY_SIZE 243option described below. 244.Ss Screen Saver 245The 246.Nm 247driver can be made to put up the screen saver if the current 248virtual terminal is idle, that is, the user is not typing 249on the keyboard nor moving the mouse. 250See 251.Xr splash 4 252and 253.Xr vidcontrol 1 254for more details. 255.Sh DRIVER CONFIGURATION 256.Ss Kernel Configuration Options 257The following kernel configuration options control the 258.Nm 259driver. 260.Bl -tag -width MOUSE 261.It Dv MAXCONS=N 262This option sets the number of virtual terminals to 263.Fa N . 264The default value is 16. 265.It Dv SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE 266This option selects the alternative way of displaying the mouse cursor 267in the virtual terminal. 268It may be expensive for some video cards to draw the arrow-shaped 269cursor, and you may want to try this option. 270However, the appearance of the alternative mouse cursor may not be 271very appealing. 272Note that if you use the 273.Dv SC_NO_FONT_LOADING 274option then you must also use this option if you wish to be able to use 275the mouse. 276.It Dv SC_CUT_SEPCHARS=_characters_ 277This options specifies characters that will be looked for when the 278driver searches for words boundaries when doing cut operation. 279By default, its value is 280.Qq Li \ex20 281\(em a space character. 282.It Dv SC_CUT_SPACES2TABS 283This options instructs the driver to convert leading spaces into tabs 284when copying data into cut buffer. 285This might be useful to preserve 286indentation when copying tab-indented text. 287.It Dv SC_DISABLE_KDBKEY 288This option disables the ``debug'' key combination (by default, it is 289.Dv Alt-Esc , 290or 291.Dv Ctl-PrintScreen ) . 292It will prevent users from 293entering the kernel debugger (KDB) by pressing the key combination. 294KDB will still be invoked when the kernel panics or hits a break point 295if it is included in the kernel. 296If this option is not defined, this behavior may be controlled at runtime 297by the 298.Xr sysctl 8 299variable 300.Va hw.syscons.kbd_debug . 301.It Dv SC_DISABLE_REBOOT 302This option disables the ``reboot'' key (by default, it is 303.Dv Ctl-Alt-Del ) , 304so that the casual user may not accidentally reboot the system. 305If this option is not defined, this behavior may be controlled at runtime 306by the 307.Xr sysctl 8 308variable 309.Va hw.syscons.kbd_reboot . 310.It Dv SC_HISTORY_SIZE=N 311Sets the size of back scroll buffer to 312.Fa N 313lines. 314The default value is 100. 315.It Dv SC_MOUSE_CHAR=C 316Unless the 317.Dv SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE 318option above is specified, the 319.Nm 320driver reserves four consecutive character codes in order to display the 321mouse cursor in the virtual terminals in some systems. 322This option specifies the first character code to 323.Fa C 324to be used for this purpose. 325The default value is 0xd0. 326A good candidate is 0x03. 327.It Dv SC_PIXEL_MODE 328Adds support for pixel (raster) mode console. 329This mode is useful on some laptop computers, but less so on 330most other systems, and it adds substantial amount of code to syscons. 331If this option is NOT defined, you can reduce the kernel size a lot. 332See the 333.Dv VESAMODE 334flag below. 335.It Dv SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE 336If you have a two button mouse, you may want to add this option 337to use the right button of the mouse to paste text. 338See 339.Sx Mouse Support and Copy-and-Paste 340above. 341.It Dv SC_NORM_ATTR=_attribute_ 342.It Dv SC_NORM_REV_ATTR=_attribute_ 343.It Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR=_attribute_ 344.It Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_REV_ATTR=_attribute_ 345These options will set the default colors. 346Available colors are defined in 347.In machine/pc/display.h . 348See 349.Sx EXAMPLES 350below. 351.It Dv SC_DFLT_FONT 352This option will specify the default font. 353Available fonts are: iso, iso2, koi8-r, koi8-u, cp437, cp850, cp865, 354cp866 and cp866u. 35516-line, 14-line and 8-line font data will be compiled in. 356Without this option, the 357.Nm 358driver will use whatever font is already loaded in the video card, 359unless you explicitly load a software font at startup. 360See 361.Sx EXAMPLES 362below. 363.It Dv SC_NO_SUSPEND_VTYSWITCH 364This option, which is also available as 365.Xr loader 8 366tunable and 367.Xr sysctl 8 368variable 369.Va hw.syscons.sc_no_suspend_vtswitch , 370disables switching between virtual terminals (graphics <-> text) during 371suspend/resume (ACPI and APM). 372Use this option if your system is freezing 373when you are running X and trying to suspend. 374.El 375.Pp 376The following options will remove some features from the 377.Nm 378driver and save kernel memory. 379.Bl -tag -width MOUSE 380.It Dv SC_NO_CUTPASTE 381This option disables ``copy and paste'' operation in virtual 382terminals. 383.It Dv SC_NO_FONT_LOADING 384The 385.Nm 386driver can load software fonts on some video cards. 387This option removes this feature. 388Note that if you still wish to use 389the mouse with this option then you must also use the 390.Dv SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE 391option. 392.It Dv SC_NO_HISTORY 393This option disables back-scrolling in virtual terminals. 394.\".It Dv SC_NO_PALETTE_LOADING 395.It Dv SC_NO_SYSMOUSE 396This option removes mouse support in the 397.Nm 398driver. 399The mouse daemon 400.Xr moused 8 401will fail if this option is defined. 402This option implies the 403.Dv SC_NO_CUTPASTE 404option too. 405.El 406.Ss Driver Flags 407The following driver flags can be used to control the 408.Nm 409driver. 410Driver flags can be set with the 411.Cd hint.sc.0.flags 412tunable, either in 413.Pa /boot/device.hints , 414or else at the loader prompt (see 415.Xr loader 8 ) . 416.Bl -tag -width bit_0 417.\".It bit 0 (VISUAL_BELL) 418.\"Uses the ``visual'' bell. 419.\"The screen will blink instead of generating audible sound. 420.\".It bit 1,2 (CURSOR_TYPE) 421.\"This option specifies the cursor appearance. 422.\"Possible values are: 423.\".Bl -tag -width TYPE -compact 424.\".It Dv 0 425.\"normal block cursor 426.\".It Dv 2 427.\"blinking block cursor 428.\".It Dv 4 429.\"underline cursor 430.\".It Dv 6 431.\"blinking underline (aka destructive) cursor 432.\".El 433.\".It bit 6 (QUIET_BELL) 434.\"This option suppresses the bell, whether audible or visual, 435.\"if it is rung in a background virtual terminal. 436.It 0x0080 (VESAMODE) 437This option puts the video card in the VESA mode specified by 438.Pa /boot/device.hints 439variable 440.Va vesa_mode 441during kernel initialization. 442Note that in order for this flag to work, the kernel must be 443compiled with the 444.Dv SC_PIXEL_MODE 445option explained above. 446A list of the available mode can be obtained via 447.Xr vidcontrol 1 . 448.\"Note also that the ``copy-and-paste'' function is not currently supported 449.\"in this mode and the mouse pointer will not be displayed. 450.It 0x0100 (AUTODETECT_KBD) 451This option instructs the syscons driver to periodically scan 452for a keyboard device if it is not currently attached to one. 453Otherwise, the driver only probes for a keyboard once during bootup. 454.El 455.Ss Loader Tunables 456These settings can be entered at the 457.Xr loader 8 458prompt or in 459.Xr loader.conf 5 . 460.Bl -tag -width indent 461.It Va kern.vty 462When both 463.Nm 464and 465.Xr vt 4 466have been compiled into the kernel, the one to use for the system console can 467be selected by setting this variable to 468.Ql sc 469or 470.Ql vt . 471If not set, 472.Nm 473provides the default system console. 474.El 475.Sh FILES 476.Bl -tag -width /usr/share/syscons/xxxxyyyyzzz -compact 477.It Pa /dev/console 478.It Pa /dev/consolectl 479.It Pa /dev/ttyv? 480virtual terminals 481.It Pa /etc/ttys 482terminal initialization information 483.It Pa /usr/share/syscons/fonts/* 484font files 485.It Pa /usr/share/syscons/keymaps/* 486key map files 487.It Pa /usr/share/syscons/scrmaps/* 488screen map files 489.El 490.Sh EXAMPLES 491As the 492.Nm 493driver requires the keyboard driver and the video card driver, 494the kernel configuration file should contain the following lines. 495.Bd -literal -offset indent 496device atkbdc 497device atkbd 498device vga 499device sc 500device splash 501.Ed 502.Pp 503You also need the following lines in 504.Pa /boot/device.hints 505for these drivers. 506.Bd -literal -offset indent 507hint.atkbdc.0.at="isa" 508hint.atkbdc.0.port="0x060" 509hint.atkbd.0.at="atkbdc" 510hint.atkbd.0.irq="1" 511hint.vga.0.at="isa" 512hint.sc.0.at="isa" 513.Ed 514.Pp 515If you do not intend to load the splash image or use the screen saver, 516the last line is not necessary, and can be omitted. 517.Pp 518Note that the keyboard controller driver 519.Nm atkbdc 520is required by the keyboard driver 521.Nm atkbd . 522.Pp 523The following lines will set the default colors. 524The normal text will be green on black background. 525The reversed text will be yellow on green background. 526Note that you cannot put any white space inside the quoted string, 527because of the current implementation of 528.Xr config 8 . 529.Pp 530.Dl "options SC_NORM_ATTR=(FG_GREEN|BG_BLACK)" 531.Dl "options SC_NORM_REV_ATTR=(FG_YELLOW|BG_GREEN)" 532.Pp 533The following lines will set the default colors of the kernel message. 534The kernel message will be printed bright red on black background. 535The reversed message will be black on red background. 536.Pp 537.Dl "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR=(FG_LIGHTRED|BG_BLACK)" 538.Dl "options SC_KERNEL_CONS_REV_ATTR=(FG_BLACK|BG_RED)" 539.Pp 540The following example adds the font files 541.Pa cp850-8x16.fnt , 542.Pa cp850-8x14.font 543and 544.Pa cp850-8x8.font 545to the kernel. 546.Pp 547.Dl "options SC_DFLT_FONT" 548.Dl "makeoptions SC_DFLT_FONT=cp850" 549.Dl "device sc" 550.\".Sh DIAGNOSTICS 551.Sh SEE ALSO 552.Xr kbdcontrol 1 , 553.Xr login 1 , 554.Xr vidcontrol 1 , 555.Xr atkbd 4 , 556.Xr atkbdc 4 , 557.Xr keyboard 4 , 558.Xr screen 4 , 559.Xr splash 4 , 560.Xr ukbd 4 , 561.Xr vga 4 , 562.Xr vt 4 , 563.Xr kbdmap 5 , 564.Xr rc.conf 5 , 565.Xr ttys 5 , 566.Xr config 8 , 567.Xr getty 8 , 568.Xr kldload 8 , 569.Xr moused 8 570.Sh HISTORY 571The 572.Nm 573driver first appeared in 574.Fx 1.0 . 575.Sh AUTHORS 576.An -nosplit 577The 578.Nm 579driver was written by 580.An S\(/oren Schmidt Aq Mt sos@FreeBSD.org . 581This manual page was written by 582.An Kazutaka Yokota Aq Mt yokota@FreeBSD.org . 583.Sh CAVEATS 584The amount of data that is possible to insert from the cut buffer is limited 585by the 586.Brq Dv MAX_INPUT , 587a system limit on the number of bytes that may be stored in the terminal 588input queue - usually 1024 bytes 589(see 590.Xr termios 4 ) . 591.Sh BUGS 592This manual page is incomplete and urgently needs revision. 593