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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN"
"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd" [
<!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../general.ent">
%general-entities;
]>
<sect1 id="ch-scripts-console">
<?dbhtml filename="console.html"?>
<title>Configuring the Linux Console</title>
<indexterm zone="ch-scripts-console">
<primary sortas="d-console">console</primary>
<secondary>configuring</secondary>
</indexterm>
<para>This section discusses how to configure the <command>console</command>
bootscript that sets up the keyboard map and the console font. If non-ASCII
characters (e.g., the copyright sign, the British pound sign and Euro symbol)
will not be used and the keyboard is a U.S. one, skip this section. Without
the configuration file, the <command>console</command> bootscript will do
nothing.</para>
<para>The <command>console</command> script reads the
<filename>/etc/sysconfig/console</filename> file for configuration information.
Decide which keymap and screen font will be used. Various language-specific
HOWTOs can also help with this, see <ulink
url="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/other-lang.html"/>. If still in
doubt, look in the <filename class="directory">/usr/share/kbd</filename>
directory for valid keymaps and screen fonts. Read
<filename>loadkeys(1)</filename> and <filename>setfont(8)</filename> manual
pages to determine the correct arguments for these programs.</para>
<para>The <filename>/etc/sysconfig/console</filename> file should contain lines
of the form: VARIABLE="value". The following variables are recognized:</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>KEYMAP</term>
<listitem>
<para>This variable specifies the arguments for the
<command>loadkeys</command> program, typically, the name of keymap
to load, e.g., <quote>es</quote>. If this variable is not set, the
bootscript will not run the <command>loadkeys</command> program,
and the default kernel keymap will be used.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>KEYMAP_CORRECTIONS</term>
<listitem>
<para>This (rarely used) variable
specifies the arguments for the second call to the
<command>loadkeys</command> program. This is useful if the stock keymap
is not completely satisfactory and a small adjustment has to be made. E.g.,
to include the Euro sign into a keymap that normally doesn't have it,
set this variable to <quote>euro2</quote>.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>FONT</term>
<listitem>
<para>This variable specifies the arguments for the
<command>setfont</command> program. Typically, this includes the font
name, <quote>-m</quote>, and the name of the application character
map to load. E.g., in order to load the <quote>lat1-16</quote> font
together with the <quote>8859-1</quote> application character map
(as it is appropriate in the USA), <!-- because of the copyright sign -->
set this variable to <quote>lat1-16 -m 8859-1</quote>.
If this variable is not set, the bootscript will not run the
<command>setfont</command> program, and the default VGA font will be
used together with the default application character map.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>UNICODE</term>
<listitem>
<para>Set this variable to <quote>1</quote>, <quote>yes</quote> or
<quote>true</quote> in order to put the
console into UTF-8 mode. This is useful in UTF-8 based locales and
harmful otherwise.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>LEGACY_CHARSET</term>
<listitem>
<para>For many keyboard layouts, there is no stock Unicode keymap in
the Kbd package. The <command>console</command> bootscript will
convert an available keymap to UTF-8 on the fly if this variable is
set to the encoding of the available non-UTF-8 keymap. Note, however,
that dead keys (i.e., keys that don't produce a character by
themselves, but put an accent onto a character procuced by the next
key; there are no dead keys on the standard US keyboard) and composing
(i.e., pressing Ctrl+. A E in order to produce the Æ character)
will not work in UTF-8 mode without the special kernel patch.
This variable is useful only in UTF-8 mode.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>BROKEN_COMPOSE</term>
<listitem>
<para>Set this to <quote>0</quote> if you are going to apply the kernel patch in
Chapter 8. Note that you also have to add the character set expected
by composition rules in your keymap to the FONT variable after the
<quote>-m</quote> switch. This variable is useful only in UTF-8 mode.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<para>Support for compiling the keymap directly into the kernel has been
removed because there were reports that it leads to incorrect results.</para>
<para>Some examples:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>For a non-Unicode setup, only the KEYMAP and FONT variables are
generally needed. E.g., for a Polish setup, one would use:</para>
<screen role="nodump"><userinput>cat > /etc/sysconfig/console << "EOF"
<literal># Begin /etc/sysconfig/console
KEYMAP="pl2"
FONT="lat2a-16 -m 8859-2"
# End /etc/sysconfig/console</literal>
EOF</userinput></screen>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>As mentioned above, it is sometimes necessary to adjust a
stock keymap slightly. The following example adds the Euro symbol to the
German keymap:</para>
<screen role="nodump"><userinput>cat > /etc/sysconfig/console << "EOF"
<literal># Begin /etc/sysconfig/console
KEYMAP="de-latin1"
KEYMAP_CORRECTIONS="euro2"
FONT="lat0-16 -m 8859-15"
# End /etc/sysconfig/console</literal>
EOF</userinput></screen>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>The following is a Unicode-enabled example for Bulgarian, where a stock
UTF-8 keymap exists and defines no dead keys or composition rules:</para>
<screen role="nodump"><userinput>cat > /etc/sysconfig/console << "EOF"
<literal># Begin /etc/sysconfig/console
UNICODE="1"
KEYMAP="bg_bds-utf8"
FONT="LatArCyrHeb-16"
# End /etc/sysconfig/console</literal>
EOF</userinput></screen>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Due to the use of a 512-glyph LatArCyrHeb-16 font in the previous
example, bright colors are no longer available on the Linux console unless
a framebuffer is used. If one wants to have bright colors without
framebuffer and can live without characters not belonging to his language,
it is still possible to use a language-specific 256-glyph font, as
illustrated below.</para>
<screen role="nodump"><userinput>cat > /etc/sysconfig/console << "EOF"
<literal># Begin /etc/sysconfig/console
UNICODE="1"
KEYMAP="bg_bds-utf8"
FONT="cyr-sun16"
# End /etc/sysconfig/console</literal>
EOF</userinput></screen>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>The following example illustrates keymap autoconversion from
ISO-8859-15 to UTF-8 and enabling dead keys in Unicode mode:</para>
<screen role="nodump"><userinput>cat > /etc/sysconfig/console << "EOF"
<literal># Begin /etc/sysconfig/console
UNICODE="1"
KEYMAP="de-latin1"
KEYMAP_CORRECTIONS="euro2"
LEGACY_CHARSET="iso-8859-15"
BROKEN_COMPOSE="0"
FONT="LatArCyrHeb-16 -m 8859-15"
# End /etc/sysconfig/console</literal>
EOF</userinput></screen>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>For Chinese, Japanese, Korean and some other languages, the Linux
console cannot be configured to display the needed characters. Users
who need such languages should install the X Window System, fonts that
cover the necessary character ranges, and the proper input method (e.g.,
SCIM, it supports a wide variety of languages).</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<!-- Added because folks keep posting their console file with X questions
to blfs-support list -->
<note>
<para>The <filename>/etc/sysconfig/console</filename> file only controls the
Linux text console localization. It has nothing to do with setting the proper
keyboard layout and terminal fonts in the X Window System, with ssh sessions
or with a serial console.</para>
</note>
</sect1>
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