1 .\" Copyright (c) 2014 Warren Block
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28 .Dt "VIRTUAL TERMINALS" 4
32 .Nd virtual terminal console driver
34 .Cd "options VT_MAXWINDOWS=N"
35 .Cd "options VT_ALT_TO_ESC_HACK=1"
36 .Cd "options VT_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE"
37 .Cd "options VT_FB_DEFAULT_WIDTH=X"
38 .Cd "options VT_FB_DEFAULT_HEIGHT=Y"
39 .Cd "options SC_NO_CUTPASTE"
40 .Cd "options SC_NO_SYSMOUSE"
49 device provides multiple virtual terminals with an extensive feature
51 .Bl -item -offset indent
53 Unicode UTF-8 text with double-width characters.
55 Large font maps in graphics mode, including support for Asian
58 Graphics-mode consoles.
62 .Pq Kernel Mode Setting
63 video drivers for switching between the
65 and virtual terminals.
68 Multiple virtual terminals are provided on a single computer.
69 Up to sixteen virtual terminals can be defined.
70 A single virtual terminal is connected to the screen and keyboard
72 Key combinations are used to select a virtual terminal.
73 Alt-F1 through Alt-F12 correspond to the first twelve virtual terminals.
74 If more than twelve virtual terminals are created, Shift-Alt-F1 through
75 Shift-Alt-F4 are used to switch to the additional terminals.
76 .Ss Copying and Pasting Text with a Mouse
77 Copying and pasting text from the screen with a mouse is supported.
78 Press and hold down mouse button 1, usually the left button, while
79 moving the mouse to select text.
80 Selected text is highlighted with reversed foreground and background
82 To select more text after releasing mouse button 1, press mouse button
83 3, usually the right button.
84 To paste text that has been selected, press mouse button 2, usually the
86 The text is entered as if it were typed at the keyboard.
88 .Dv VT_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE
89 kernel option can be used with mice that only have two buttons.
90 Setting this option makes the second mouse button into the
96 Output that has scrolled off the screen can be reviewed by pressing the
97 Scroll Lock key, then scrolling up and down with the arrow keys.
98 The Page Up and Page Down keys scroll up or down a full screen at a
100 The Home and End keys jump to the beginning or end of the scrollback
102 When finished reviewing, press the Scroll Lock key again to return to
104 .Sh DRIVER CONFIGURATION
105 .Ss Kernel Configuration Options
106 These kernel options control the
109 .Bl -tag -width MAXCONS
110 .It Dv VT_MAXWINDOWS=N
111 Set the number of virtual terminals to be created to
113 The value defaults to 12.
114 .It Dv VT_ALT_TO_ESC_HACK=1
115 When the Alt key is held down while pressing another key, send an ESC
116 sequence instead of the Alt key.
117 .It Dv VT_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE
118 If defined, swap the functions of mouse buttons 2 and 3.
119 In effect, this makes the right-hand mouse button perform a paste.
120 These options are checked in the order shown.
121 .It Dv SC_NO_CUTPASTE
122 Disable mouse support.
123 .It VT_FB_DEFAULT_WIDTH=X
124 Set the default width to
126 .It VT_FB_DEFAULT_HEIGHT=Y
127 Set the default height to
130 .Sh BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY
131 Several options are provided for compatibility with the previous
134 These options will be removed in a future
137 .Bl -column -offset indent ".Sy vt VT_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE" ".Sy SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE"
138 .It Sy vt Option Name Ta Sy sc Option Name
139 .It Dv VT_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE Ta Dv SC_TWOBUTTON_MOUSE
140 .It Dv VT_MAXWINDOWS Ta Dv MAXCONS
141 .It none Ta Dv SC_NO_CUTPASTE
142 .It none Ta Dv SC_NO_SYSMOUSE
144 .Sh START-UP OPERATION WITH X86 BIOS SYSTEMS
145 The computer BIOS starts in text mode, and
149 runs, loading the kernel.
152 is set, the system remains in text mode.
155 switches to 640x480x16 VGA mode using
158 .Pq Kernel Mode Switching
159 video driver is available, the display is switched to high resolution
160 and the KMS driver takes over.
161 When a KMS driver is not available,
165 These settings can be entered at the
169 .Bl -tag -width indent
170 .It Va hw.vga.textmode
171 Set to 1 to use virtual terminals in text mode instead of graphics mode.
172 Features that require graphics mode, like loadable fonts, will be
176 .Bl -tag -width /usr/share/syscons/keymaps/* -compact
178 .It Pa /dev/consolectl
182 terminal initialization information
204 .\" WB: to be uncommented when an actual release contains vt(4)
208 .\" driver first appeared in
214 device driver was developed by
215 .An Ed Schouten Aq ed@FreeBSD.org ,
216 .An Ed Maste Aq emaste@FreeBSD.org ,
218 .An Aleksandr Rybalko Aq ray@FreeBSD.org ,
219 with sponsorship provided by the
222 This manual page was written by
223 .An Warren Block <wblock@FreeBSD.org>.
225 Paste buffer size is limited by the system value
227 the number of bytes that can be stored in the terminal
228 input queue, usually 1024 bytes