From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Oct 12 04:37:38 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7E91716A417 for ; Thu, 12 Oct 2006 04:37:38 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from perryh@pluto.rain.com) Received: from agora.rdrop.com (agora.rdrop.com [199.26.172.34]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9661443D5A for ; Thu, 12 Oct 2006 04:37:37 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from perryh@pluto.rain.com) Received: from agora.rdrop.com (66@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by agora.rdrop.com (8.13.1/8.12.7) with ESMTP id k9C4a5w5030941 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT); Wed, 11 Oct 2006 21:36:05 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from perryh@pluto.rain.com) Received: (from uucp@localhost) by agora.rdrop.com (8.13.1/8.12.9/Submit) with UUCP id k9C4a5Y1030940; Wed, 11 Oct 2006 21:36:05 -0700 (PDT) Received: from fbsd61 ([192.168.200.61]) by pluto.rain.com (4.1/SMI-4.1-pluto-M2060407) id AA17082; Wed, 11 Oct 06 21:35:53 PDT Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2006 21:37:07 -0700 From: perryh@pluto.rain.com To: MTaylor@bytecraft.com.au Message-Id: <452dc673.ZUYEOl0cLuZ7H4yX%perryh@pluto.rain.com> References: <04E232FDCD9FBE43857F7066CAD3C0F11EF96C@svmailmel.bytecraft.internal> In-Reply-To: <04E232FDCD9FBE43857F7066CAD3C0F11EF96C@svmailmel.bytecraft.internal> User-Agent: nail 11.25 7/29/05 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Question re ncurses and the various ttys X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2006 04:37:38 -0000 > I want to know if it is possible to _programatically_ switch to > an unused virtual tty, and then use this as the display page. > ( By unused I mean marked 'off' in /etc/ttys ) > > So if I set ttyv7 to off, can I launch a program (possibly from > a cold boot) that selects tty7 ( ie the now getty-less terminal ), > possibly sets the rows and cols like th ecommand line vidcontrol > can, and then continues executing a curses app ? ... > Can I programtically do the same as Alt-F8 to preselect my screen? It must be possible, because it's what xdm (the X-windows login screen) does. Check out the ttyv8 line in /etc/ttys. (xdm puts the vt into a graphic mode rather than leaving it in text mode, but the allocation and control issues are presumably similar.)