From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Nov 10 18:22:51 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8A747106568C for ; Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:22:51 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from lists@jnielsen.net) Received: from ns1.jnielsen.net (ns1.jnielsen.net [69.55.238.237]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5267B8FC2B for ; Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:22:51 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from lists@jnielsen.net) Received: from [192.168.213.128] (BSTech1.uncc.edu [152.15.200.209]) (authenticated bits=0) by ns1.jnielsen.net (8.12.9p2/8.12.9) with ESMTP id mAAIMnUf061486; Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:22:50 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from lists@jnielsen.net) From: John Nielsen To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:22:42 -0500 User-Agent: KMail/1.9.10 References: <6cadf1f00811100507r3347e30ft2c7a3ed22f9c049b@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <6cadf1f00811100507r3347e30ft2c7a3ed22f9c049b@mail.gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Message-Id: <200811101322.42981.lists@jnielsen.net> X-Virus-Scanned: ClamAV version 0.88.4, clamav-milter version 0.88.4 on ns1.jnielsen.net X-Virus-Status: Clean Cc: James Williams Subject: Re: Console size and scrollback buffer. 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: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:22:51 -0000 On Monday 10 November 2008 08:07:23 am James Williams wrote: > Hello List, > > [On FreeBSD 7.1-BETA2, i386.] > > 1) How can I change the number of rowsxcols of the console? I'd like > to use the maximum rows/cols available for the 1440x900 screen. In order to use "graphical" VESA modes you need a custom kernel that includes these options: options VESA options SC_PIXEL_MODE You will only be able to use a 1440x900 resolution if your video hardware advertises that as a standard VESA mode. Once you are running a kernel with the above options you can use vidcontrol to list the available options: vidcontrol -i mode When you see a mode you like you can switch to it using vidcontrol again. For example: vidcontrol MODE_XX -f 8x8 cp437-8x8.fnt Replace XX with the number of the mode you'd like to use. Adjust the arguments to -f to suit your needs. Other sizes are 8x14 and 8x16. You should choose a font to match the specified size and the character set you're using. See the manpage for vidcontrol for greater detail. With a standard kernel you can use "text" modes like 80x50 or even 80x60 to get more rows than the standard 80x25. e.g: vidcontrol -f 8x8 cp437-8x8.fnt VGA_80x60 > 2) How can these settings be made default (takes effect at boot)? > > IOW, what is the equivalent of the "vga=0x365" Linux kernel option? Use the "allscreens_flags" option in rc.conf. For the text example above you'd want: allscreens_flags="-f 8x8 cp437-8x8.fnt VGA_80x60" Similarly for graphics modes, just include everything you'd include on the command line to vidcontrol. > 3) How I can set the scrollback buffer size (if that's the name) of > the console -- the equivalent of Shift+{PgUp,PgDn} on Linux? I usually do this via the SC_HISTORY_SIZE kernel option. Scroll-lock can be used to browse the history in any console virtual terminal. See the sc(4) manpage for details on this option and the SC_PIXEL_MODE option mentioned above. JN