RFT vidcontrol for vt(4)

[Kevin Oberman]

On Thu, May 29, 2014 at 7:56 AM, Claude Buisson <clbuisson at orange.fr> wrote:

> On 05/29/2014 15:17, Aleksandr Rybalko wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 12 May 2014 17:10:54 +0200
>> Claude Buisson <clbuisson at orange.fr> wrote:
>>
>>  On 05/12/2014 16:14, Aleksandr Rybalko wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Mon, 12 May 2014 15:35:48 +0200
>>>> Claude Buisson <clbuisson at orange.fr> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>  On 03/11/2014 15:27, Aleksandr Rybalko wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Hello hackers!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Here is link to the patch[1] for vidcontrol that makes it to know if
>>>>>> it
>>>>>> run w/ or w/o vt(4) and if vt(4) is present, then:
>>>>>> 1. screen map feature disabled (vt(4) use Unicode, so screen map not
>>>>>> needed).
>>>>>> 2. enable to load fornt from /usr/share/vt/fonts/ dir. PLease put
>>>>>> "gallant" font[2] to /usr/share/vt/fonts/.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Looks like it works fine, but maybe I forgot something :)
>>>>>> So please test it in your own environment.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Big thanks to Ed for preparing that font file!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 1.
>>>>>> http://people.freebsd.org/~ray/newcons/vidcontrol_for_vt_
>>>>>> 2014-03-11.patch
>>>>>> 2. http://people.freebsd.org/~emaste/newcons/gallant.fnt
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> WBW
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>> I applied this patch on a 10.0-STABLE r264390 with a Radeon Mobility
>>>>> X300 (M22)
>>>>> 5460, and DRM2.
>>>>>
>>>>> I could load an home made terminus 16x32 font (my eyes are too old to
>>>>> work with
>>>>> a 8x16 font on a 1920x1200 17" screen), by
>>>>>
>>>>> - looping on each ttyvN in a rc.local script
>>>>>
>>>>> or
>>>>>
>>>>> - adding allscreens_flags="-f terminus-u32" to rc.conf (for
>>>>> /etc/rc.d/syscons
>>>>> consumption)
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Cool!
>>>> Are you like to share that font?
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Off course.
>>> In fact I generated 12x24, 14x28 and 16x32 fonts from terminus-font-4.38
>>> by
>>> using the tools/tools/vt/fontcvt utility.
>>> I will send you these fonts offlist (because the FreeBSD lists do not
>>> like
>>> attachments).
>>>
>>>
>>>>> I just discovered than scrolling back in console mode works ONLY on
>>>>> ttyv0.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Huh, it's surprising me. Before your mail I think we have problem with
>>>> scrollback on vty0, but not on others. :)
>>>> Looks like I have to concentrate and fix them all at once.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> I confirm that scrollback works on ttyv0, but not on others ttyv when a
>>> font is
>>> loaded.
>>>
>>>
>>>>> What I have to do to get scrolling on every ttyvN ?
>>>>>
>>>>> The only way to get the system working in normal VGA mode (640x480)
>>>>> (not loading
>>>>> the drm2 and radeon kms modules by loader.conf) is by configuring the
>>>>> BIOS to
>>>>> not do display expansion - which leads to the same ridiculously small
>>>>> font..
>>>>>
>>>>> And of course, kbdmux keeps being mandatory to be able to load a
>>>>> keymap.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Yeah, I still remember. :)
>>>>
>>>>
>>> This could be noted in the newly born vt(4) man page ..
>>>
>>>
>>>>> TIA
>>>>>
>>>>> Claude Buisson
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> Many thanks Claude!
>>>>
>>>> WBW
>>>>
>>>>
>>> CBu
>>>
>>>
>> Hello Claude!
>>
>> Looks like nobody care about this patch, only you did test for it :)
>> So I commit it to HEAD, if you need it to be MFCed, I will do it a week
>> later.
>>
>> Many thanks for your help!!!
>>
>> WBW
>>
>>
> Hello !
>
> I (sort of) solved the scroll problem by patching
>   sys/dev/vt/font/vt_font_default.c
> to compile my 16x32 font into the kernel.
>
> Clearly some more work is needed to make the modified vidcontrol a finished
> utility and to have the proper rc.conf knob to load a custom font at boot.
> And it must also be possible to generate a kernel with a custom font,
> without
> having to patch the source.
>
> I also found that
>   tools/tools/vt/mkkfont/mkkfont.c
> does not put a comma after the final "}" of .vf_map, so one must apply the
> attached patch.
>
> Keep the work going !
>
> CBu
>

Actually, I did test vidcontrol patches, but everything just seemed to work
fine, so I failed to report anything. I guess reporting that nothing
happened is a bit boring, but still important.

-- 
R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer, Retired
E-mail: rkoberman at gmail.com