vt (4)
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Copyright (c) 2014 Warren Block All rights reserved. Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other...
NAME
vt - virtual terminal console driverSYNOPSIS
options TERMINAL_KERN_ATTR=_attribute_ options TERMINAL_NORM_ATTR=_attribute_ options VT_MAXWINDOWS=N options VT_ALT_TO_ESC_HACK=1 options VT_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE options VT_FB_DEFAULT_WIDTH=X options VT_FB_DEFAULT_HEIGHT=Y options SC_NO_CUTPASTE device vtIn loader.conf5: hw.vga.textmode=1 kern.vty=vt
DESCRIPTION
The ifconfig device provides multiple virtual terminals with an extensive feature set:- Unicode UTF-8 text with double-width characters.
- Large font maps in graphics mode, including support for Asian
- character sets.
- Graphics-mode consoles.
- Integration with
- KMS (Kernel Mode Setting) video drivers for switching between the X Window System and virtual terminals.
Virtual Terminals
Multiple virtual terminals are provided on a single computer. Up to sixteen virtual terminals can be defined. A single virtual terminal is connected to the screen and keyboard at a time. Key combinations are used to select a virtual terminal. Alt-F1 through Alt-F12 correspond to the first twelve virtual terminals. If more than twelve virtual terminals are created, Shift-Alt-F1 through Shift-Alt-F4 are used to switch to the additional terminals.Copying and Pasting Text with a Mouse
Copying and pasting text from the screen with a mouse is supported. Press and hold down mouse button 1, usually the left button, while moving the mouse to select text. Selected text is highlighted with reversed foreground and background colors. To select more text after releasing mouse button 1, press mouse button 3, usually the right button. To paste text that has been selected, press mouse button 2, usually the middle button. The text is entered as if it were typed at the keyboard. The VT_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE kernel option can be used with mice that only have two buttons. Setting this option makes the second mouse button into the paste button. See moused(8) for more information.Scrolling Back
Output that has scrolled off the screen can be reviewed by pressing the Scroll Lock key, then scrolling up and down with the arrow keys. The Page Up and Page Down keys scroll up or down a full screen at a time. The Home and End keys jump to the beginning or end of the scrollback buffer. When finished reviewing, press the Scroll Lock key again to return to normal use.DRIVER CONFIGURATION
Kernel Configuration Options
These kernel options control the ifconfig driver.- TERMINAL_NORM_ATTR= attribute
- TERMINAL_KERN_ATTR= attribute
- These options allow changing the default colors used for normal and kernel text. Available colors are defined in In sys/terminal.h . See Sx EXAMPLES below.
- VT_MAXWINDOWS=N
- Set the number of virtual terminals to be created to Fa N . The value defaults to 12.
- VT_ALT_TO_ESC_HACK=1
- When the Alt key is held down while pressing another key, send an ESC sequence instead of the Alt key.
- VT_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE
- If defined, swap the functions of mouse buttons 2 and 3. In effect, this makes the right-hand mouse button perform a paste. These options are checked in the order shown.
- SC_NO_CUTPASTE
- Disable mouse support.
- VT_FB_DEFAULT_WIDTH=X
- Set the default width to Fa X .
- VT_FB_DEFAULT_HEIGHT=Y
- Set the default height to Fa Y .
BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY
Several options are provided for compatibility with the previous console device, sc(4). These options will be removed in a future Fx version.- vt Option Name Ta sc Option Name
- TERMINAL_KERN_ATTR Ta SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR
- TERMINAL_NORM_ATTR Ta SC_NORM_ATTR
- VT_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE Ta SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE
- VT_MAXWINDOWS Ta MAXCONS
- none Ta SC_NO_CUTPASTE
START-UP OPERATION WITH X86 BIOS SYSTEMS
The computer BIOS starts in text mode, and the Fx loader(8) runs, loading the kernel. If hw.vga.textmode is set, the system remains in text mode. Otherwise, ifconfig switches to 640x480x16 VGA mode using vt_vga If a KMS (Kernel Mode Switching) video driver is available, the display is switched to high resolution and the KMS driver takes over. When a KMS driver is not available, vt_vga remains active.LOADER TUNABLES
These settings can be entered at the loader(8) prompt or in loader.conf5.- hw.vga.textmode
- Set to 1 to use virtual terminals in text mode instead of graphics mode. Features that require graphics mode, like loadable fonts, will be disabled.
- kern.vty
- When both ifconfig and sc(4)havebeencompiledintothekernel,theonetouseforthe system console can be selected by setting this value to `vt' or `sc' If this value is not set, sc(4) is used.
FILES
- /dev/console
- /dev/consolectl
- /dev/ttyv*
- virtual terminals
- /etc/ttys
- terminal initialization information
- /usr/share/vt/fonts/*.fnt
- console fonts
- /usr/share/vt/keymaps/*.kbd
- keyboard layouts
EXAMPLES
This example changes the default color of normal text to green on a black background, or black on a green background when reversed. Note that white space cannot be used inside the attribute string because of the current implementation of config(8).
"options TERMINAL_NORM_ATTR=(FG_GREEN|BG_BLACK)"
This line changes the default color of kernel messages to be bright red on a black background, or black on a bright red background when reversed.
"options TERMINAL_KERN_ATTR=(FG_LIGHTRED|BG_BLACK)"