View Source: consolechars(8) - Waikato Linux Users Group

Edit PageHistory Diff Info LikePages
CONSOLECHARS
!!!CONSOLECHARS
NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
OPTIONS
COMMANDS
HISTORY
FILES
BUGS
AUTHORS
SEE ALSO
----
!!NAME


consolechars - load EGA/VGA console screen font, screen-font map, and/or application-charset map.
!!SYNOPSIS


__consolechars [[__''-v''__|__''--verbose''__]
[[__''-V''__|__''--version''__]
[[__''-h''__|__''--help''__]
[[__''-1''__|__''--g1''__]
[[__''-n''__|__''--no-act''__]
[[__''--force-no-sfm''__]
[[__''-H''__|__''--char-height=N''__]
[[__''--tty=device''__]
[[__''-m''__|__''--acm=''__|__''--app-charset-map=acm''__]
[[__''-M''__|__''--old-acm=acm.orig''__]
[[__''-f''__|__''--font=font.new''__]
[[__''-F''__|__''--old-font=font.orig''__]
[[__''--old-font-raw=font.orig''__]
[[__''--old-font-psf-with-sfm=font.orig.psf''__]
[[__''--old-font-psf=font.orig.psf''__]
[[__''-u''__|__''--sfm=''__|__''--screen-font-map=sfm''__]
[[__''-U''__|__''--old-sfm=sfm.orig''__]
[[__''-k''__|__''--sfm-fallback''__]__
!!DESCRIPTION


The __consolechars__ command loads a font into the
EGA/VGA character generator, and optionally outputs the
previous font. This command reads an 8x''H'' font from
the file and loads it into the character generator memory.
Usually the font size ''H'' will be read from the file,
but some file-formats do not contain enough information for
this, especially the ''raw'' file format, which only
contains the font bitmaps. In this case, H will be computed
from the file size, which implies these files cannot be
compressed. If the input file has codepage format,
containing the three fonts 8x8, 8x14 and 8x16, one of the
options ''-H 8'', ''-H 14'' or ''-H 16'' must be
used to select one. Codepage format is also recognized by
size, and cannot be compressed.


As currently there is no mode switching support in the Linux
kernel, __consolechars__ has nothing to do with the
current EGA/VGA mode. It's totally user's responsibility to
choose a font matching the current video mode.
!!OPTIONS


''-h --help''


Display a short help message and exit.


''-V --version''


Display version-number and exit.


''-v --verbose''


Display on ''stderr'' informations on what's going
on.


''-n --no_act''


Do not change the console state; do not write anything to
any file. Implies ''--verbose''.


''-1 --g1''


Activate the G1 charset instead of G0 (see
''--acm'').


''--tty=device''


Use ''device'' as console device for ioctls, instead of
guessing which one to use, which usually chooses the current
tty. This can be useful for testing when under X, in
conjunction with ''--no-act'' - actual ioctls are refused
for some reason then.
!!COMMANDS


''-f --font=file''


The ''font file'' is a file containing the
bitmap-description (glyph) of characters. Since fonts may
contain the glyphs for arbitrary character-sets, knowledge
about these characters may come either in the font-file (eg.
in PSF files), or in separate screen-font-map files (see
''--sfm'' option).


Font-files can be compressed with gzip(1) or
compress(1), with the exception of ''raw'' and
''codepage'' file-formats.


Raw font files are binary files of size 256*''H'' bytes,
containing bit images for each of 256 characters, one byte
per scan line, and ''H'' bytes per character (0
''H'' ''H'' is computed from the file-size,
thus raw font files cannot be compressed. The other
font-formats are described elsewhere.


''-d --default-font''


Load a default font. The ''-H'' option can be given to
force a given char-height.


''-m --acm --app-charset-map=file''


Load a user-defined ''Application-Charset Map (ACM)'' -
save current ACM.
The mapping from 8-bit characters sent to the screen into
Unicode (UCS2) characters by the running application is
described by an ACM (formerly called ''screen map'').
This map characterizes the 8-bit encoding used by the
application, hence its new name. If no ACM is provided using
the ''--acm'' option, the ''trivial'' map is assumed.
Unless the ''--g1'' option in specified, the __G0__
charset is then selected, and set to use the ACM just
loaded. If ''--g1'' is specified, the __G1__ charset
is used instead of G0.


There are 2 types of ACM's recognized by the ''--acm''
option, which can be fed in binary or ASCII form. Binary
maps are checked by size, and contain an array of 256 bytes
(old style 8-bit to font-position maps) or 256 unicodes
(8-bit to UCS2 maps). Because of this check, you should not
compress or pipe them.
In the ASCII format, new style (UCS2) ACM's are composed of
lines of the form ''`byte unicode''' where each first
byte is the one to map (from the Application-Charset), in
either of the C decimal, octal, hex, or character syntaxes
for integers, and the unicode is formed either with the `U+'
prefix and 4 hex digits, or with an ''UTF8-encoded
character'' enclosed between single quotes; unspecified
mappings default to ASCII (identity) for characters in the
range 0-127, and to 0xFFFD (the replacement character) for
those in the range 128-255.
Old style (8-bit) maps in the ASCII format are composed of
lines of the form ''`byte byte''' where the first byte
has the same meaning as above, and the second one is the
position in the font; unspecified mappings default to
straight-to-font identity mapping.
An old-style mapping is equivalent to a new-style mapping
where the second byte ''b'' would be replaced by the
unicode __U+F000 |__ ''b'', ie. in the
''straight-to-font zone''. However, due to the
differences of defaults regarding unspecified mappings, just
converting each mapping individually will not be sufficient
to get an equivalent ACM.


''-M --old-acm=file''


Saves the previous ACM can be saved to a file.


''-u --sfm --screen-font-map=file''


Load a ''Screen Font Map (SFM)''
The correspondance between Unicode values and the glyphs in
the curent console-font is described by a ''Screen-Font
Map'' (formerly called ''Unicode mapping table''). Some
fonts have a SFM included in the font file, and an explicit
one can be indicated using the ''--sfm'' option.
__consolechars__ will load such a builtin SFM, unless a
''--force-no-sfm'' option is given. One may add a SFM to
a psf font using psfaddtable(1).


''--force-no-sfm''


Prevent the loading of a SFM when loading a font containing
one. You should use this option with care, as you probably
don't want to have a font without a SFM; it could cause
trouble.


''-U --old-sfm=file''


Save current SFM into a file.


''-k --sfm-fallback=file''


Use the given ''file'' as a SFM fallback table, to
supplement the SFM. Multiple ''-k'' options may be
given.


A fallback table tells, for some UCS2 characters you're
interested to display, which character's glyph it may use if
its own is not available according to the SFM in
use.


If a SFM was to be loaded, fallback mappings are added to
this map before it is loaded. If there was not (ie. no
''--sfm'' option was given, and a font without SFM was
loaded, or the ''--force-no-sfm'' option was given), then
the current SFM is requested from the kernel, the the
fallback mappings are added, and the resulting SFM is
loaded.


''-F --old-font=file''


Save old font in the prefered format. It is currently the
same as using --old-font-psf-with-sfm, but may change when a
better format is supported.


''--old-font-psf-with-sfm=file''


Save old font in PSF format, with corresponding SFM (PSF
mode 2 or 3).


''--old-font-psf=file''


Save old font in PSF format (PSF mode 0 or 1). Usually a bad
idea.


''--old-font-raw=file''


Save old font in RAW format. Usually an even worse
idea.


''-H --char-height=N''


When loading a font from a codepage file, or a default font,
specify which font-size to use. ''N'' should be a number
between 1 and 31.
!!HISTORY


__consolechars__ was originally called setfont(8),
but was renamed (in version 1997.10.28 of the Linux Console
Tools) to allow for changing the command-line options while
providing backward compatibility with the old `kbd'
package.
!!FILES


''/usr/share/consolefonts/'' is the default directory for
fonts.


''/usr/share/consoletrans/'' is the default directory for
both ACM's and SFM's.
!!BUGS


For implementation reasons, binary ACM's and ASCII 8-bit
ACM's cannot be compressed nor piped. This is not likely to
change (except if a good reason is given to the maintainer,
or a patch is submitted), because I consider these formats
to be obsolete.
!!AUTHORS


Eugene G. Crosser
Andries E. Brouwer
Extended by Yann Dirson
!!SEE ALSO


psfaddtable(1), psfstriptable(1).
----
13 pages link to consolechars(8):
This page is a man page (or other imported legacy content). We are unable to automatically determine the license status of this page.
Last edited on Tuesday, June 4, 2002 12:31:09 am by "perry"
Edit PageHistory Diff Info LikePages