Man Consolechars en anglais
CONSOLECHARS(8)               Linux User's Manual              CONSOLECHARS(8)



 

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 gener-
       ator,  and  optionally outputs the previous font. This command reads an
       8xH font from the file and loads it into the character  generator  mem-
       ory. 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 <= 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  Uni-
              code  (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  mean-
              ing  as  above,  and the second one is the position in the font;
              unspecified mappings default to straight-to-font  identity  map-
              ping.
              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 differ-
              ences of defaults regarding unspecified mappings, just  convert-
              ing  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 correspondence between Unicode values and the glyphs in  the
              current 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 inter-
              ested 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 result-
              ing SFM is loaded.


       -F --old-font=file
              Save old font in the preferred 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 ver-
       sion  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), setkeycodes(8).



Console tools                     31 Oct 1997                  CONSOLECHARS(8)