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1 perry 1 CONSOLECHARS
2 !!!CONSOLECHARS
3 NAME
4 SYNOPSIS
5 DESCRIPTION
6 OPTIONS
7 COMMANDS
8 HISTORY
9 FILES
10 BUGS
11 AUTHORS
12 SEE ALSO
13 ----
14 !!NAME
15
16
17 consolechars - load EGA/VGA console screen font, screen-font map, and/or application-charset map.
18 !!SYNOPSIS
19
20
21 __consolechars [[__''-v''__|__''--verbose''__]
22 [[__''-V''__|__''--version''__]
23 [[__''-h''__|__''--help''__]
24 [[__''-1''__|__''--g1''__]
25 [[__''-n''__|__''--no-act''__]
26 [[__''--force-no-sfm''__]
27 [[__''-H''__|__''--char-height=N''__]
28 [[__''--tty=device''__]
29 [[__''-m''__|__''--acm=''__|__''--app-charset-map=acm''__]
30 [[__''-M''__|__''--old-acm=acm.orig''__]
31 [[__''-f''__|__''--font=font.new''__]
32 [[__''-F''__|__''--old-font=font.orig''__]
33 [[__''--old-font-raw=font.orig''__]
34 [[__''--old-font-psf-with-sfm=font.orig.psf''__]
35 [[__''--old-font-psf=font.orig.psf''__]
36 [[__''-u''__|__''--sfm=''__|__''--screen-font-map=sfm''__]
37 [[__''-U''__|__''--old-sfm=sfm.orig''__]
38 [[__''-k''__|__''--sfm-fallback''__]__
39 !!DESCRIPTION
40
41
42 The __consolechars__ command loads a font into the
43 EGA/VGA character generator, and optionally outputs the
44 previous font. This command reads an 8x''H'' font from
45 the file and loads it into the character generator memory.
46 Usually the font size ''H'' will be read from the file,
47 but some file-formats do not contain enough information for
48 this, especially the ''raw'' file format, which only
49 contains the font bitmaps. In this case, H will be computed
50 from the file size, which implies these files cannot be
51 compressed. If the input file has codepage format,
52 containing the three fonts 8x8, 8x14 and 8x16, one of the
53 options ''-H 8'', ''-H 14'' or ''-H 16'' must be
54 used to select one. Codepage format is also recognized by
55 size, and cannot be compressed.
56
57
58 As currently there is no mode switching support in the Linux
59 kernel, __consolechars__ has nothing to do with the
60 current EGA/VGA mode. It's totally user's responsibility to
61 choose a font matching the current video mode.
62 !!OPTIONS
63
64
65 ''-h --help''
66
67
68 Display a short help message and exit.
69
70
71 ''-V --version''
72
73
74 Display version-number and exit.
75
76
77 ''-v --verbose''
78
79
80 Display on ''stderr'' informations on what's going
81 on.
82
83
84 ''-n --no_act''
85
86
87 Do not change the console state; do not write anything to
88 any file. Implies ''--verbose''.
89
90
91 ''-1 --g1''
92
93
94 Activate the G1 charset instead of G0 (see
95 ''--acm'').
96
97
98 ''--tty=device''
99
100
101 Use ''device'' as console device for ioctls, instead of
102 guessing which one to use, which usually chooses the current
103 tty. This can be useful for testing when under X, in
104 conjunction with ''--no-act'' - actual ioctls are refused
105 for some reason then.
106 !!COMMANDS
107
108
109 ''-f --font=file''
110
111
112 The ''font file'' is a file containing the
113 bitmap-description (glyph) of characters. Since fonts may
114 contain the glyphs for arbitrary character-sets, knowledge
115 about these characters may come either in the font-file (eg.
116 in PSF files), or in separate screen-font-map files (see
117 ''--sfm'' option).
118
119
120 Font-files can be compressed with gzip(1) or
121 compress(1), with the exception of ''raw'' and
122 ''codepage'' file-formats.
123
124
125 Raw font files are binary files of size 256*''H'' bytes,
126 containing bit images for each of 256 characters, one byte
127 per scan line, and ''H'' bytes per character (0
128 ''H'' ''H'' is computed from the file-size,
129 thus raw font files cannot be compressed. The other
130 font-formats are described elsewhere.
131
132
133 ''-d --default-font''
134
135
136 Load a default font. The ''-H'' option can be given to
137 force a given char-height.
138
139
140 ''-m --acm --app-charset-map=file''
141
142
143 Load a user-defined ''Application-Charset Map (ACM)'' -
144 save current ACM.
145 The mapping from 8-bit characters sent to the screen into
146 Unicode (UCS2) characters by the running application is
147 described by an ACM (formerly called ''screen map'').
148 This map characterizes the 8-bit encoding used by the
149 application, hence its new name. If no ACM is provided using
150 the ''--acm'' option, the ''trivial'' map is assumed.
151 Unless the ''--g1'' option in specified, the __G0__
152 charset is then selected, and set to use the ACM just
153 loaded. If ''--g1'' is specified, the __G1__ charset
154 is used instead of G0.
155
156
157 There are 2 types of ACM's recognized by the ''--acm''
158 option, which can be fed in binary or ASCII form. Binary
159 maps are checked by size, and contain an array of 256 bytes
160 (old style 8-bit to font-position maps) or 256 unicodes
161 (8-bit to UCS2 maps). Because of this check, you should not
162 compress or pipe them.
163 In the ASCII format, new style (UCS2) ACM's are composed of
164 lines of the form ''`byte unicode''' where each first
165 byte is the one to map (from the Application-Charset), in
166 either of the C decimal, octal, hex, or character syntaxes
167 for integers, and the unicode is formed either with the `U+'
168 prefix and 4 hex digits, or with an ''UTF8-encoded
169 character'' enclosed between single quotes; unspecified
170 mappings default to ASCII (identity) for characters in the
171 range 0-127, and to 0xFFFD (the replacement character) for
172 those in the range 128-255.
173 Old style (8-bit) maps in the ASCII format are composed of
174 lines of the form ''`byte byte''' where the first byte
175 has the same meaning as above, and the second one is the
176 position in the font; unspecified mappings default to
177 straight-to-font identity mapping.
178 An old-style mapping is equivalent to a new-style mapping
179 where the second byte ''b'' would be replaced by the
180 unicode __U+F000 |__ ''b'', ie. in the
181 ''straight-to-font zone''. However, due to the
182 differences of defaults regarding unspecified mappings, just
183 converting each mapping individually will not be sufficient
184 to get an equivalent ACM.
185
186
187 ''-M --old-acm=file''
188
189
190 Saves the previous ACM can be saved to a file.
191
192
193 ''-u --sfm --screen-font-map=file''
194
195
196 Load a ''Screen Font Map (SFM)''
197 The correspondance between Unicode values and the glyphs in
198 the curent console-font is described by a ''Screen-Font
199 Map'' (formerly called ''Unicode mapping table''). Some
200 fonts have a SFM included in the font file, and an explicit
201 one can be indicated using the ''--sfm'' option.
202 __consolechars__ will load such a builtin SFM, unless a
203 ''--force-no-sfm'' option is given. One may add a SFM to
204 a psf font using psfaddtable(1).
205
206
207 ''--force-no-sfm''
208
209
210 Prevent the loading of a SFM when loading a font containing
211 one. You should use this option with care, as you probably
212 don't want to have a font without a SFM; it could cause
213 trouble.
214
215
216 ''-U --old-sfm=file''
217
218
219 Save current SFM into a file.
220
221
222 ''-k --sfm-fallback=file''
223
224
225 Use the given ''file'' as a SFM fallback table, to
226 supplement the SFM. Multiple ''-k'' options may be
227 given.
228
229
230 A fallback table tells, for some UCS2 characters you're
231 interested to display, which character's glyph it may use if
232 its own is not available according to the SFM in
233 use.
234
235
236 If a SFM was to be loaded, fallback mappings are added to
237 this map before it is loaded. If there was not (ie. no
238 ''--sfm'' option was given, and a font without SFM was
239 loaded, or the ''--force-no-sfm'' option was given), then
240 the current SFM is requested from the kernel, the the
241 fallback mappings are added, and the resulting SFM is
242 loaded.
243
244
245 ''-F --old-font=file''
246
247
248 Save old font in the prefered format. It is currently the
249 same as using --old-font-psf-with-sfm, but may change when a
250 better format is supported.
251
252
253 ''--old-font-psf-with-sfm=file''
254
255
256 Save old font in PSF format, with corresponding SFM (PSF
257 mode 2 or 3).
258
259
260 ''--old-font-psf=file''
261
262
263 Save old font in PSF format (PSF mode 0 or 1). Usually a bad
264 idea.
265
266
267 ''--old-font-raw=file''
268
269
270 Save old font in RAW format. Usually an even worse
271 idea.
272
273
274 ''-H --char-height=N''
275
276
277 When loading a font from a codepage file, or a default font,
278 specify which font-size to use. ''N'' should be a number
279 between 1 and 31.
280 !!HISTORY
281
282
283 __consolechars__ was originally called setfont(8),
284 but was renamed (in version 1997.10.28 of the Linux Console
285 Tools) to allow for changing the command-line options while
286 providing backward compatibility with the old `kbd'
287 package.
288 !!FILES
289
290
291 ''/usr/share/consolefonts/'' is the default directory for
292 fonts.
293
294
295 ''/usr/share/consoletrans/'' is the default directory for
296 both ACM's and SFM's.
297 !!BUGS
298
299
300 For implementation reasons, binary ACM's and ASCII 8-bit
301 ACM's cannot be compressed nor piped. This is not likely to
302 change (except if a good reason is given to the maintainer,
303 or a patch is submitted), because I consider these formats
304 to be obsolete.
305 !!AUTHORS
306
307
308 Eugene G. Crosser
309 Andries E. Brouwer
310 Extended by Yann Dirson
311 !!SEE ALSO
312
313
314 psfaddtable(1), psfstriptable(1).
315 ----
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