From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Mon Jun 3 18:41:30 2019 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2610:1c1:1:606c::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D5E1315BA0C9 for ; Mon, 3 Jun 2019 18:41:29 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mout.kundenserver.de (mout.kundenserver.de [212.227.17.10]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 (128/128 bits)) (Client CN "mout.kundenserver.de", Issuer "TeleSec ServerPass Class 2 CA" (verified OK)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id AD3A18FA15 for ; Mon, 3 Jun 2019 18:41:28 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from r56.edvax.de ([94.222.28.116]) by mrelayeu.kundenserver.de (mreue109 [212.227.15.183]) with ESMTPA (Nemesis) id 1MzQc2-1gcl0C3QlU-00vKs2; Mon, 03 Jun 2019 20:41:13 +0200 Date: Mon, 3 Jun 2019 20:41:12 +0200 From: Polytropon To: tech-lists Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: non-blocky console font Message-Id: <20190603204112.e750bc75.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <20190603134759.GA52553@rpi3.zyxst.net> References: <20190603134759.GA52553@rpi3.zyxst.net> 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 X-Provags-ID: V03:K1:kIMc+URjKSEmxd/ffCGQzdmaWIlkMJQtjhCsDGBa4DB6YQiCkxn H+ZIsQinaSpOADhqkEWS/Oh6jQutorhc7rzsgVhEOF7FecmAU4P+DsqhuEUT8Q15xmAdNBp KnGMkMdvSZKejQiof9gjrehITZIE9DrY88x+uZrXve+8Gkt/JDqGbZOOF/AbZ42F1cRvUN0 SzNuWk4fiG55IyHfqQafA== X-Spam-Flag: NO X-UI-Out-Filterresults: notjunk:1;V03:K0:aPRccmLNy1M=:DPPJ6SuYhAa+ceuZXywNhU ZlWIW6dvZiHQtIWJ8gssNp5mo67h0cA3jzlvQuO4hXqEiw4XlZFZZPT4klKtYUVKBg+aWR75k C7HfdbpwYL9k6HW8EJCSkjmrtuUsjyLQ7VjA8hQcfV/KSItDpsGVccWt/O8+E9pjkzIzXzJXG MrggSHhdUHMYOE08d24aDPcapqtMXEbkKeWE7QXyxu039KAuujDMhgORfdBJPpa/46OtxbN4H K5pS8sW2FEhBa1KshcKB1+afdtR9dzwBGtQMcsKKJ92ZS12ifZ6FnKP2Z/yrOsAmO5PukdO6k xUgC8g4vSjwwjqABn5JCgwqDteS33I8iRvsafwkHpkhRb2WMryl76M7wxs5MZJbsG9IAhU5tm dJtg6YudBAbrvvEDv+IXU+vriyoVISI2s726/5HS8RBj/7pqLbMLOPZtELn2z3x95siFfTa6+ j0fDxbSczenKW5hcQ3U3zdCCjC+agvKcmf+76HLZhjAWu97nhKCvOX2jFzQXYIyFmQWj4J11e dCNdc8FQqo7uyKbk1tslKMFB2A9VFJufNfHE8TjBThila0AV1/tuWpES0ZnBk+WfCs53voQlD d75IJztRaj6KQYAv4srqNFuOIlmW2CLaCp5fmZ8uIhg2/K7DEL7/NIlBhDSdYMQXZCwHxjRy6 KS4k58KB+94rxQEYIR1NVjbs5i9EGHQ/iFf+qxho+X0ArKhSdjp5D4dCBKBgjfKG9ExH4dr+P eHNOplSUN6V2YnGh1rTBPp/ksd9LDuL+0PMqzPpWVROg070vKqMKVR6uWjs= X-Rspamd-Queue-Id: AD3A18FA15 X-Spamd-Bar: ++++ Authentication-Results: mx1.freebsd.org X-Spamd-Result: default: False [4.27 / 15.00]; RCVD_VIA_SMTP_AUTH(0.00)[]; HAS_REPLYTO(0.00)[freebsd@edvax.de]; TO_DN_SOME(0.00)[]; MV_CASE(0.50)[]; HAS_ORG_HEADER(0.00)[]; MX_GOOD(-0.01)[mx01.schlund.de,mx00.schlund.de]; RCPT_COUNT_TWO(0.00)[2]; RECEIVED_SPAMHAUS_PBL(0.00)[116.28.222.94.zen.spamhaus.org : 127.0.0.11]; RCVD_TLS_LAST(0.00)[]; R_DKIM_NA(0.00)[]; ASN(0.00)[asn:8560, ipnet:212.227.0.0/16, country:DE]; MIME_TRACE(0.00)[0:+]; FROM_EQ_ENVFROM(0.00)[]; ARC_NA(0.00)[]; REPLYTO_EQ_FROM(0.00)[]; FROM_HAS_DN(0.00)[]; NEURAL_SPAM_SHORT(0.32)[0.324,0]; MIME_GOOD(-0.10)[text/plain]; DMARC_NA(0.00)[edvax.de]; AUTH_NA(1.00)[]; NEURAL_SPAM_MEDIUM(0.52)[0.516,0]; TO_MATCH_ENVRCPT_SOME(0.00)[]; NEURAL_SPAM_LONG(0.95)[0.952,0]; RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE(0.00)[10.17.227.212.list.dnswl.org : 127.0.5.0]; MID_CONTAINS_FROM(1.00)[]; R_SPF_NA(0.00)[]; RWL_MAILSPIKE_POSSIBLE(0.00)[10.17.227.212.rep.mailspike.net : 127.0.0.17]; RCVD_COUNT_TWO(0.00)[2]; IP_SCORE(0.09)[ip: (-0.66), ipnet: 212.227.0.0/16(-1.46), asn: 8560(2.56), country: DE(-0.00)] X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.29 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 03 Jun 2019 18:41:30 -0000 On Mon, 3 Jun 2019 14:47:59 +0100, tech-lists wrote: > Thing is, there aren't any (it seems - I can't find them) *recent* > complete instructions how to do this on *recent* FreeBSD12. Confusingly, > both sc and vt are in the default kernel. What is best to use? The decision is simple: If you want to be able to use X on that system, you will have to use vt. If you only want to use traditional text mode, and you don't have a requirement for UTF-8 (maybe you're using ISO-8859-1 or something like that - that's okay), you can use sc. Keep in mind that vt's functionality hasn't arrived yet at where sc has been for decades. Many things don't work as good as they do in sc. Especially the documentation isn't fully up to date. You can find several threads about how to set a readable font in vt in the mailing list's archives. My individual opinion: I've given up on text mode (which. in vt, isn't even a text mode anymore, it's a graphical mode), and use X with much better font support (in xterm and others). > This is a desktop system, and it runs X fine. This means you're already using vt, which is the default in FreeBSD 12 anyway. > It has an nvidia graphics > card, and is using the latest drm-kmod for FreeBSD12. I don't want the > console configuration interfering with the working X setup. But I'd like > a fon't that isn't huge for the times I don't want to start X. This attitude is no longer supported. ;-) > If I follow the console section in the handbook and for instance try > > # kldload vesa > > I get this error: > module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (vesa, 0xffffffff836c6000, 0) error 19 > sysctl_unregister_oid: failed(22) to unregister sysctl(vesa) > > or > > # vidcontrol -i mode > (no modes displayed) That is correct. VESA is an "extension" to sc which allows you to use "graphical fonts". With vt, "graphical fonts" are the norm already, so no need to deal with VESA. > Basically all that I'm looking for are instructions about: > 1. whether to use sc or vt Use vt. You're already using it. :-) > 2. how to change resolution That's complicated. :-) > 3. how to change console font That's easy. However, the font doesn't always look as you would expect it to look, because there is no real interface to tell the system "I want a screen of 80x25" or something like that in terms of columns x rows. What you need to find is a combination of screen size ("resolution") and font that works for you. First, make sure that you have /boot/loader.conf with the following settings: kern.vty=vt kern.vt.fb.default_mode="1280x1024" The 1st line is optional, but it's a good reminder that we are in "vt land" now. The 2nd line should be the size of the display you're using. In /etc/rc.conf, you can define the font you want to use. For example: allscreens_flags="-f vgarom-8x16" But before you do so, experiment with the following command: vidcontrol -f vgarom-16x32 You can use font names from the /usr/share/vt/fonts directory; names without ".fnt" appended will work, like: vidcontrol -f gallant The choice of fonts is limited at the moment. Maybe you can use font files from an OpenBSD installation? Sidenote: You can use the loader ("Ok") prompt to issue the command gop list as well as gop set to tell the kernel about the screen mode. This will affect how the kernel will display messages, before a user font is loaded. Further sidenote: The _resolution_ of your screen is fixed, as it has one physical size (pixels horizontally x pixels vertically), which cannot be changed (leaving "software scaling" aside). While the display size is often provided in pixels, the resolution is a value of "pixels (or dots) per inch" and can be provided for X and Y separately, like "75 dpi" or "600 x 300 dpi". Additional sidenote: CRTs actually _can_ have more than one resolution, as the logical size (in px) changes, while the physical size (in inch or cm) stays the same. :-) You can find more information here: https://wiki.freebsd.org/Newcons https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/kernel-boot-resolution.53150/ See "man vidcontrol" for details. Also check the mailing list archives. -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...