Re: console in 11.0-ALPHA4

On Monday, June 20, 2016 11:36:09 AM Ernie Luzar wrote:
> I have installed 11.0-ALPHA4-i386-20160617-r301975.
> 
> The console looks very different from all previous releases.
> I find it to be harder to read. This manifests it self with the boot log
> messages and the normal behavior of the virtual consoles.
> 
> But the real problem is in the notable hesitation when switching between
> virtual consoles.
> 
>  From the boot log (ie: dmesg) I see this
> VT(vga): resolution 640x480
> 
> This must be what is making the console display so different from
> previous releases. Can VT be configured to default to present the same
> console behavior as previous releases before this version of 11.0 gets
> published as RELEASE?

The difference is that vt(4) (the default console driver) only does software
rendering of fonts.  The older console driver syscons (sc(4)), used VGA text
mode which uses a font in your adapter's BIOS ROM.  The two fonts aren't
quite the same.  There is a 'vgarom' font you can try to use that should more
closely match the previous console.

> About the "hesitation when switching between virtual consoles" I am
> thinking that this reduced performance may be caused by WITNESS being
> enabled in the ALPHA series of releases. Can anyone verify that this
> hesitation will not exist in the published RELEASE?

I suspect this is just due to vt(4) rather than WITNESS.

> In the boot log I get this message 16 times.
> "vicontrol: setting cursor type: Inappropriate ioctl for device"
> They don't seem to cause any problems that I have stumbled across.
> Is anyone else getting these "NOTICE" type messages?

vt(4) doesn't support several features that sc(4) supports.  However,
sc(4) doesn't support framebuffer systems very well, and does not support
UTF-8, etc.  Note that for comparisons you can enable vt(4) on stable/10
by setting 'kern.vty=vt' in loader.conf or at the loader prompt.

-- 
John Baldwin