xref: /freebsd/share/man/man4/vt.4 (revision a3cbca537ef1d8ac03a693cd51d98fb8087acc8d)
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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.Sh DESCRIPTION
49The
50.Nm
51device provides multiple virtual terminals with an extensive feature
52set:
53.Bl -item -offset indent
54.It
55Unicode UTF-8 text with double-width characters.
56.It
57Large font maps in graphics mode, including support for Asian
58character sets.
59.It
60Graphics-mode consoles.
61.It
62Integration with
63KMS
64.Pq Kernel Mode Setting
65video drivers for switching between the
66.Em X Window System
67and virtual terminals.
68.El
69.Ss Virtual Terminals
70Multiple virtual terminals are provided on a single computer.
71Up to sixteen virtual terminals can be defined.
72A single virtual terminal is connected to the screen and keyboard
73at a time.
74Key combinations are used to select a virtual terminal.
75Alt-F1 through Alt-F12 correspond to the first twelve virtual terminals.
76If more than twelve virtual terminals are created, Shift-Alt-F1 through
77Shift-Alt-F4 are used to switch to the additional terminals.
78.Ss Copying and Pasting Text with a Mouse
79Copying and pasting text from the screen with a mouse is supported.
80Press and hold down mouse button 1, usually the left button, while
81moving the mouse to select text.
82Selected text is highlighted with reversed foreground and background
83colors.
84To select more text after releasing mouse button 1, press mouse button
853, usually the right button.
86To paste text that has been selected, press mouse button 2, usually the
87middle button.
88The text is entered as if it were typed at the keyboard.
89The
90.Dv VT_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE
91kernel option can be used with mice that only have two buttons.
92Setting this option makes the second mouse button into the
93paste button.
94See
95.Xr moused 8
96for more information.
97.Ss Scrolling Back
98Output that has scrolled off the screen can be reviewed by pressing the
99Scroll Lock key, then scrolling up and down with the arrow keys.
100The Page Up and Page Down keys scroll up or down a full screen at a
101time.
102The Home and End keys jump to the beginning or end of the scrollback
103buffer.
104When finished reviewing, press the Scroll Lock key again to return to
105normal use.
106.Sh DRIVER CONFIGURATION
107.Ss Kernel Configuration Options
108These kernel options control the
109.Nm
110driver.
111.Bl -tag -width MAXCONS
112.It Dv TERMINAL_NORM_ATTR= Ns Pa attribute
113.It Dv TERMINAL_KERN_ATTR= Ns Pa attribute
114These options allow changing the default colors used for normal and kernel
115text.
116Available colors are defined in
117.In sys/terminal.h .
118See
119.Sx EXAMPLES
120below.
121.It Dv VT_MAXWINDOWS=N
122Set the number of virtual terminals to be created to
123.Fa N .
124The value defaults to 12.
125.It Dv VT_ALT_TO_ESC_HACK=1
126When the Alt key is held down while pressing another key, send an ESC
127sequence instead of the Alt key.
128.It Dv VT_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE
129If defined, swap the functions of mouse buttons 2 and 3.
130In effect, this makes the right-hand mouse button perform a paste.
131These options are checked in the order shown.
132.It Dv SC_NO_CUTPASTE
133Disable mouse support.
134.It VT_FB_DEFAULT_WIDTH=X
135Set the default width to
136.Fa X .
137.It VT_FB_DEFAULT_HEIGHT=Y
138Set the default height to
139.Fa Y .
140.El
141.Sh BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY
142Several options are provided for compatibility with the previous
143console device,
144.Xr sc 4 .
145These options will be removed in a future
146.Fx
147version.
148.Bl -column -offset indent ".Sy vt VT_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE" ".Sy SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE"
149.It Sy vt Option Name Ta Sy sc Option Name
150.It Dv TERMINAL_KERN_ATTR Ta Dv SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR
151.It Dv TERMINAL_NORM_ATTR Ta Dv SC_NORM_ATTR
152.It Dv VT_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE Ta Dv SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE
153.It Dv VT_MAXWINDOWS Ta Dv MAXCONS
154.It none Ta Dv SC_NO_CUTPASTE
155.El
156.Sh START-UP OPERATION WITH X86 BIOS SYSTEMS
157The computer BIOS starts in text mode, and
158the
159.Fx
160.Xr loader 8
161runs, loading the kernel.
162If
163.Va hw.vga.textmode
164is set, the system remains in text mode.
165Otherwise,
166.Nm
167switches to 640x480x16 VGA mode using
168.Cm vt_vga .
169If a KMS
170.Pq Kernel Mode Switching
171video driver is available, the display is switched to high resolution
172and the KMS driver takes over.
173When a KMS driver is not available,
174.Cm vt_vga
175remains active.
176.Sh LOADER TUNABLES
177These settings can be entered at the
178.Xr loader 8
179prompt or in
180.Xr loader.conf 5 .
181.Bl -tag -width indent
182.It Va hw.vga.textmode
183Set to 1 to use virtual terminals in text mode instead of graphics mode.
184Features that require graphics mode, like loadable fonts, will be
185disabled.
186.It Va kern.vty
187When both
188.Nm
189and
190.Xr sc 4 have been compiled into the kernel, the one to use for the
191system console can be selected by setting this value to
192.Ql vt
193or
194.Ql sc .
195If this value is not set,
196.Xr sc 4
197is used.
198.El
199.Sh FILES
200.Bl -tag -width /usr/share/syscons/keymaps/* -compact
201.It Pa /dev/console
202.It Pa /dev/consolectl
203.It Pa /dev/ttyv*
204virtual terminals
205.It Pa /etc/ttys
206terminal initialization information
207.El
208.Sh EXAMPLES
209This example changes the default color of normal text to green on a
210black background, or black on a green background when reversed.
211Note that white space cannot be used inside the attribute string
212because of the current implementation of
213.Xr config 8 .
214.Pp
215.Dl "options TERMINAL_NORM_ATTR=(FG_GREEN|BG_BLACK)"
216.Pp
217This line changes the default color of kernel messages to be bright red
218on a black background, or black on a bright red background when reversed.
219.Pp
220.Dl "options TERMINAL_KERN_ATTR=(FG_LIGHTRED|BG_BLACK)"
221.Sh SEE ALSO
222.Xr kbdcontrol 1 ,
223.Xr login 1 ,
224.Xr vidcontrol 1 ,
225.Xr atkbd 4 ,
226.Xr atkbdc 4 ,
227.Xr keyboard 4 ,
228.Xr screen 4 ,
229.Xr splash 4 ,
230.Xr syscons 4 ,
231.Xr ukbd 4 ,
232.Xr vga 4 ,
233.Xr kbdmap 5 ,
234.Xr rc.conf 5 ,
235.Xr ttys 5 ,
236.Xr config 8 ,
237.Xr getty 8 ,
238.Xr kbdmux 8 ,
239.Xr kldload 8 ,
240.Xr moused 8
241.Sh HISTORY
242The
243.Nm
244driver first appeared in
245.Fx 9.3 .
246.Sh AUTHORS
247.An -nosplit
248The
249.Nm
250device driver was developed by
251.An Ed Schouten Aq Mt ed@FreeBSD.org ,
252.An Ed Maste Aq Mt emaste@FreeBSD.org ,
253and
254.An Aleksandr Rybalko Aq Mt ray@FreeBSD.org ,
255with sponsorship provided by the
256.Fx
257Foundation.
258This manual page was written by
259.An Warren Block Aq Mt wblock@FreeBSD.org .
260.Sh CAVEATS
261Paste buffer size is limited by the system value
262.Brq Dv MAX_INPUT ,
263the number of bytes that can be stored in the terminal
264input queue, usually 1024 bytes
265(see
266.Xr termios 4 ) .
267