xref: /freebsd/share/man/man4/vt.4 (revision 57718be8fa0bd5edc11ab9a72e68cc71982939a6)
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25.\" $FreeBSD$
26.\"
27.Dd July 2, 2014
28.Dt "VIRTUAL TERMINALS" 4
29.Os
30.Sh NAME
31.Nm vt
32.Nd virtual terminal console driver
33.Sh SYNOPSIS
34.Cd "options TERMINAL_KERN_ATTR=_attribute_"
35.Cd "options TERMINAL_NORM_ATTR=_attribute_"
36.Cd "options VT_MAXWINDOWS=N"
37.Cd "options VT_ALT_TO_ESC_HACK=1"
38.Cd "options VT_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE"
39.Cd "options VT_FB_DEFAULT_WIDTH=X"
40.Cd "options VT_FB_DEFAULT_HEIGHT=Y"
41.Cd "options SC_NO_CUTPASTE"
42.Cd "device vt"
43.Pp
44In
45.Xr loader.conf 5 :
46.Cd hw.vga.textmode=1
47.Cd kern.vty=vt
48.Cd kern.vt.spclkeys=15
49.Sh DESCRIPTION
50The
51.Nm
52device provides multiple virtual terminals with an extensive feature
53set:
54.Bl -item -offset indent
55.It
56Unicode UTF-8 text with double-width characters.
57.It
58Large font maps in graphics mode, including support for Asian
59character sets.
60.It
61Graphics-mode consoles.
62.It
63Integration with
64KMS
65.Pq Kernel Mode Setting
66video drivers for switching between the
67.Em X Window System
68and virtual terminals.
69.El
70.Ss Virtual Terminals
71Multiple virtual terminals are provided on a single computer.
72Up to sixteen virtual terminals can be defined.
73A single virtual terminal is connected to the screen and keyboard
74at a time.
75Key combinations are used to select a virtual terminal.
76Alt-F1 through Alt-F12 correspond to the first twelve virtual terminals.
77If more than twelve virtual terminals are created, Shift-Alt-F1 through
78Shift-Alt-F4 are used to switch to the additional terminals.
79.Ss Copying and Pasting Text with a Mouse
80Copying and pasting text from the screen with a mouse is supported.
81Press and hold down mouse button 1, usually the left button, while
82moving the mouse to select text.
83Selected text is highlighted with reversed foreground and background
84colors.
85To select more text after releasing mouse button 1, press mouse button
863, usually the right button.
87To paste text that has been selected, press mouse button 2, usually the
88middle button.
89The text is entered as if it were typed at the keyboard.
90The
91.Dv VT_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE
92kernel option can be used with mice that only have two buttons.
93Setting this option makes the second mouse button into the
94paste button.
95See
96.Xr moused 8
97for more information.
98.Ss Scrolling Back
99Output that has scrolled off the screen can be reviewed by pressing the
100Scroll Lock key, then scrolling up and down with the arrow keys.
101The Page Up and Page Down keys scroll up or down a full screen at a
102time.
103The Home and End keys jump to the beginning or end of the scrollback
104buffer.
105When finished reviewing, press the Scroll Lock key again to return to
106normal use.
107.Sh DRIVER CONFIGURATION
108.Ss Kernel Configuration Options
109These kernel options control the
110.Nm
111driver.
112.Bl -tag -width MAXCONS
113.It Dv TERMINAL_NORM_ATTR= Ns Pa attribute
114.It Dv TERMINAL_KERN_ATTR= Ns Pa attribute
115These options allow changing the default colors used for normal and kernel
116text.
117Available colors are defined in
118.In sys/terminal.h .
119See
120.Sx EXAMPLES
121below.
122.It Dv VT_MAXWINDOWS=N
123Set the number of virtual terminals to be created to
124.Fa N .
125The value defaults to 12.
126.It Dv VT_ALT_TO_ESC_HACK=1
127When the Alt key is held down while pressing another key, send an ESC
128sequence instead of the Alt key.
129.It Dv VT_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE
130If defined, swap the functions of mouse buttons 2 and 3.
131In effect, this makes the right-hand mouse button perform a paste.
132These options are checked in the order shown.
133.It Dv SC_NO_CUTPASTE
134Disable mouse support.
135.It VT_FB_DEFAULT_WIDTH=X
136Set the default width to
137.Fa X .
138.It VT_FB_DEFAULT_HEIGHT=Y
139Set the default height to
140.Fa Y .
141.El
142.Sh BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY
143Several options are provided for compatibility with the previous
144console device,
145.Xr sc 4 .
146These options will be removed in a future
147.Fx
148version.
149.Bl -column -offset indent ".Sy vt VT_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE" ".Sy SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE"
150.It Sy vt Option Name Ta Sy sc Option Name
151.It Dv TERMINAL_KERN_ATTR Ta Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR
152.It Dv TERMINAL_NORM_ATTR Ta Dv SC_NORM_ATTR
153.It Dv VT_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE Ta Dv SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE
154.It Dv VT_MAXWINDOWS Ta Dv MAXCONS
155.It none Ta Dv SC_NO_CUTPASTE
156.El
157.Sh START-UP OPERATION WITH X86 BIOS SYSTEMS
158The computer BIOS starts in text mode, and
159the
160.Fx
161.Xr loader 8
162runs, loading the kernel.
163If
164.Va hw.vga.textmode
165is set, the system remains in text mode.
166Otherwise,
167.Nm
168switches to 640x480x16 VGA mode using
169.Cm vt_vga .
170If a KMS
171.Pq Kernel Mode Switching
172video driver is available, the display is switched to high resolution
173and the KMS driver takes over.
174When a KMS driver is not available,
175.Cm vt_vga
176remains active.
177.Sh LOADER TUNABLES
178These settings can be entered at the
179.Xr loader 8
180prompt or in
181.Xr loader.conf 5 .
182.Bl -tag -width indent
183.It Va hw.vga.textmode
184Set to 1 to use virtual terminals in text mode instead of graphics mode.
185Features that require graphics mode, like loadable fonts, will be
186disabled.
187.It Va kern.vty
188When both
189.Nm
190and
191.Xr sc 4 have been compiled into the kernel, the one to use for the
192system console can be selected by setting this value to
193.Ql vt
194or
195.Ql sc .
196If this value is not set,
197.Xr sc 4
198is used.
199.It Va kern.vt.spclkeys
200bitmap of allowed special keys. 1 is enabled, 0 is disabled. Encoded as:
201.Bl -tag -compact -width 0x000000
202.It 0x0001
203Debug request key combination. (Ctrl+Alt+Esc)
204.It 0x0002
205Reboot. (Ctrl+Alt+Del)
206.It 0x0004
207Halt.
208.It 0x0008
209Power down.
210.El
211Default is 15, all enabled.
212.El
213.Sh FILES
214.Bl -tag -width /usr/share/vt/keymaps/* -compact
215.It Pa /dev/console
216.It Pa /dev/consolectl
217.It Pa /dev/ttyv*
218virtual terminals
219.It Pa /etc/ttys
220terminal initialization information
221.It Pa /usr/share/vt/fonts/*.fnt
222console fonts
223.It Pa /usr/share/vt/keymaps/*.kbd
224keyboard layouts
225.El
226.Sh EXAMPLES
227This example changes the default color of normal text to green on a
228black background, or black on a green background when reversed.
229Note that white space cannot be used inside the attribute string
230because of the current implementation of
231.Xr config 8 .
232.Pp
233.Dl "options TERMINAL_NORM_ATTR=(FG_GREEN|BG_BLACK)"
234.Pp
235This line changes the default color of kernel messages to be bright red
236on a black background, or black on a bright red background when reversed.
237.Pp
238.Dl "options TERMINAL_KERN_ATTR=(FG_LIGHTRED|BG_BLACK)"
239.Sh SEE ALSO
240.Xr kbdcontrol 1 ,
241.Xr login 1 ,
242.Xr vidcontrol 1 ,
243.Xr atkbd 4 ,
244.Xr atkbdc 4 ,
245.Xr keyboard 4 ,
246.Xr screen 4 ,
247.Xr splash 4 ,
248.Xr syscons 4 ,
249.Xr ukbd 4 ,
250.Xr kbdmap 5 ,
251.Xr rc.conf 5 ,
252.Xr ttys 5 ,
253.Xr config 8 ,
254.Xr getty 8 ,
255.Xr kbdmux 8 ,
256.Xr kldload 8 ,
257.Xr moused 8
258.Sh HISTORY
259The
260.Nm
261driver first appeared in
262.Fx 9.3 .
263.Sh AUTHORS
264.An -nosplit
265The
266.Nm
267device driver was developed by
268.An Ed Schouten Aq Mt ed@FreeBSD.org ,
269.An Ed Maste Aq Mt emaste@FreeBSD.org ,
270and
271.An Aleksandr Rybalko Aq Mt ray@FreeBSD.org ,
272with sponsorship provided by the
273.Fx
274Foundation.
275This manual page was written by
276.An Warren Block Aq Mt wblock@FreeBSD.org .
277.Sh CAVEATS
278Paste buffer size is limited by the system value
279.Brq Dv MAX_INPUT ,
280the number of bytes that can be stored in the terminal
281input queue, usually 1024 bytes
282(see
283.Xr termios 4 ) .
284