[Tfug] where are my terminals?

[Brian Masur]

I've been really disappointed with the lack of performance of the console 
lately.  Things like not being able to switch reliably back and forth 
between X and console, defaulting to 80x25, not retaining scrollback buffer 
when switching between TTYs, limited scrollback buffer, etc. etc.  I love 
the console, and the ability to switch between X and consoles on the few 
configurations that support it well.  I also like 132x60 text mode, but it 
seems like none of the newer video cards support it anymore.  I miss the 
SVGATextMode utility.


>From: Ammon Lauritzen <ammon at simud.org>
>Reply-To: Tucson Free Unix Group <tfug at tfug.org>
>To: Tucson Free Unix Group <tfug at tfug.org>
>Subject: Re: [Tfug] where are my terminals?
>Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2006 09:39:22 -0700
>
>Earl wrote:
> > Any ideas?
>
>Jumping out of X to text-mode is an iffy proposition to begin with.
>
>If you are using the vesa drivers, my experience is that they tend to do
>all sorts of unholy things to your text-mode consoles.
>
>If you are using a custom font setting on the console, it is possible
>that going into X destroys that setting and you wind up back in 80x25
>mode with things scrolled off the edge.
>
>In most cases, the only way I've found to recover from this sort of mess
>is to pick a pristine tty, log in blind, and reset your console font
>(usually something like 'consolechars -f default8x9' will work).
>
>Of course, the minute you go back into X, you are liable to lose these
>settings again. A bit of tricky .profile/.login scripting can save you
>the hassle of the final command, but it still doesn't do anything about
>the need for a blind login.
>
>Ammon
>
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