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CONSOLECHARS(8)

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NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

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

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

       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    [Toc]    [Back]

       The consolechars command loads a font into the EGA/VGA character generator,
  and  optionally outputs the previous font. This command reads an
       8xH 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 fileformats
 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    [Toc]    [Back]

       -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    [Toc]    [Back]

       -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 <= 32); 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    [Toc]    [Back]

       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    [Toc]    [Back]

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

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

BUGS    [Toc]    [Back]

       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    [Toc]    [Back]

       Eugene G. Crosser <crosser@pccross.msk.su>
       Andries E. Brouwer <aeb@cwi.nl>
       Extended by Yann Dirson <dirson@debian.org>

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

      
      
       psfaddtable(1), psfstriptable(1).



Console tools			  31 Oct 1997		       CONSOLECHARS(8)
[ Back ]
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