vt(4) "newcons" and 80x25 vty? (tested: 10.1-BETA2)

[Ed Maste]

On 25 September 2014 11:31,  <beeessdee at ruggedinbox.com> wrote:
>
>         A. How to force 80x25 terminal, even if it does not use
>         whole screen?  This will be the quick workaround!

There are no tunables or configuration options at the moment to limit
the terminal size, but I agree this would be a sensible addition to
accomplish what you're looking for, especially in combination with a
larger font.

>         B. Where are sources for Gallant?  What program is used to
>         create it?  A brief web search did not reveal this.

We had a copy in FreeBSD, in sys/dev/fb/gallant12x22.c, which was
obtained from NetBSD.
http://cvsweb.netbsd.org/bsdweb.cgi/src/sys/dev/wsfont/gallant12x22.h?only_with_tag=MAIN
To me it doesn't seem like a that great of a console font, but is
notable for being (a) relatively large and (b) BSD licensed.

>         C. Any work in font besides Gallant?  (Sorry, it is matter
>         of taste!)  I would try make my own, but I am not font
>         talent.
>
>         D. Any suggestions from font guys of non-Xorg program to
>         rasterize OpenType fonts, make Metafont rasters into
>         the appropriate format, etc.?

As mentioned in my other recent email, vtfontcvt(8) can convert BDF
format bitmap fonts for use by vt(4), and there are many to choose
from. I'm happy to take a look at importing into the base system a
larger font with a suitable license, if one is found.

>         E. Side question:  Is vgl(3) being supported or replaced with
>         vt(4) newcons?  (Have not tested; but at the brief look, it
>         all ioctls changed around.)

Not yet.

>         F. How to set screen resolution, with not working vidcontrol(1)?

Right now the resolution is set by the driver to match the attached
display, or a fixed 640x480 for VGA, and there's no knob to change it.