From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Oct 23 01:54:18 2014 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher AECDH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 493AE1FF for ; Thu, 23 Oct 2014 01:54:18 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mx01.qsc.de (mx01.qsc.de [213.148.129.14]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (Client did not present a certificate) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 08EC528A for ; Thu, 23 Oct 2014 01:54:17 +0000 (UTC) Received: from r56.edvax.de (port-92-195-84-5.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.84.5]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mx01.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 5DFFB3CD85; Thu, 23 Oct 2014 03:54:14 +0200 (CEST) Received: from r56.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r56.edvax.de (8.14.5/8.14.5) with SMTP id s9N1sDKn002087; Thu, 23 Oct 2014 03:54:13 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 03:54:13 +0200 From: Polytropon To: Lars Eighner Subject: Re: Keep using syscons -- how? Message-Id: <20141023035413.e5335aeb.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: References: <20141022072744.9a7574eb.freebsd@edvax.de> Reply-To: Polytropon Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 3.1.1 (GTK+ 2.24.5; i386-portbld-freebsd8.2) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18-1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 01:54:18 -0000 On Wed, 22 Oct 2014 18:12:50 -0500 (CDT), Lars Eighner wrote: > On Wed, 22 Oct 2014, Warren Block wrote: > > > On Wed, 22 Oct 2014, Lars Eighner wrote: > > > >> On Wed, 22 Oct 2014, Polytropon wrote: > >> > >>> On Wed, 22 Oct 2014 04:25:12 -0500 (CDT), Lars Eighner wrote: > >>>> What do I have to do or not do to keep being able to use syscons in VGA > >>>> mode? Is there any way to keep the ability to switch between xwindows and > >>>> syscons (in VGA i.e. text mode)? > >>> > >>> Allow me a more general question. I'm not asking as > >>> a "means of insult", but because I'm really interested > >>> in the answer: > >>> > >>> Why not use terminal emulators (xterm, rxvt, konsole, > >>> gnome-terminal etc.) inside an X session? > >> > >> Because raster fonts are illegible compared to vga fonts, > > > > The text-mode fonts are raster fonts, too. > > I don't understand this. There are raster text modes, but 80x24 VGA has > never been called "raster" that I know of. This is just a "terminology issue": The fonts displayed in the 80x25 (I think it's really 25 lines, not 24) are stored in the graphics card, whereas the VGA-based console uses fonts supplied and graphics generated by the OS, which are of course a raster representation. The graphics card can also generate characters for alternate fonts, but as far as I understand, those fonts are "stored" in the card and only selected by the OS, so you can't display characters that the card does not have in its memory - of course it stores its characters in a raster format as well. I hope I didn't say something stupid. ;-) > >> Text mode is robust. That is really the bottom line. > > > > Use vt(4) in text mode: > > Yes, just like Linux. What I am asking is where do I have to freeze to > avoid this? At what point is cons25l1 and xwindows to vtty switching still > available? I think FreeBSD 9 will do, whereas FreeBSD 10.1 will probably have the new environment by default... -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...