Re: Are textmode consoles/terminals still supported?

Am Mon, 20 Mar 2017 16:06:43 -0700
"Chris H" <bsd-lists_at_bsdforge.com> schrieb:

> On Mon, 20 Mar 2017 22:02:06 +0000 Steven Hartland <killing_at_multiplay.co.uk>
> wrote
> 
> > Add the following to /boot/loader.conf
> > 
> > Its a tunable but not a sysctl so you can't query it, you just need to 
> > set it by adding it to /boot/loader.conf:
> > hw.vga.textmode="1"
> >   
> WOW. Thanks for the fast reply!
> 
> I gave your suggestion a try. But it was ignored. :-(
> All my other boxes run the nvidia blob, and provide textmode,
> and support sc/syscons(4). But I'm not using (u)efi on them.
> Maybe that's the trouble?
> 
> Thanks again, Steven!
> 
> --Chris
> 
> > On 20/03/2017 21:58, Chris H wrote:  
> > > I'm attempting to get a video card that DTRT on FreeBSD.
> > > I started with the graphics provided by an AMD A6-7470K,
> > > only to discover it's not yet supported. So I forked out
> > > for a recent nvidia card, and build/installed a new
> > > world/kernel.
> > > Everything seemed to be as one would expect, except there
> > > was an issue with loader.efi. So I had to move mine aside,
> > > and use the one off the install media (tho I understand
> > > the (u)efi has since been fixed). Now, I'm attempting to
> > > obtain textmode. The text stripped from a tty, and pasted
> > > to a new file in a textmode editor -- ee(1) for example;
> > > pads the line with spaces to EOL, and prefaces each line
> > > following the first line with rubbish (about 1 to 2
> > > characters worth).
> > > So "graphics mode" or vt(4) isn't going to get it, for me.
> > > Textmode, and syscons(4) has always worked as expected, and
> > > I thought I'd try to re-enable it, or get textmode via vt(4).
> > > But all attempts fail.
> > > excerpt from my KERNCONF
> > >
> > > device        vga
> > > options     VESA
> > >
> > > device        sc
> > > options     SC_PIXEL_MODE
> > >
> > > device        vt
> > > device        vt_vga
> > > device        vt_efifb
> > >
> > > However, following the advice on the freebsd wiki, querying
> > > the value in sysctl(8) returns:
> > > # sysctl hw.vga.textmode
> > > sysctl: unknown oid 'hw.vga.textmode'
> > >
> > > OK how bout vidcontrol(1)
> > > # vidcontrol -i adapter
> > > vidcontrol: obtaining adapter information: Inappropriate ioctl for device
> > >
> > > So, it appears from my standpoint that textmode is no longer
> > > supported?
> > >
> > > FWIW:
> > > FreeBSD trump.whitehouse.gov.test 12.0-CURRENT FreeBSD 12.0-CURRENT #0
> > > r314700: Sun Mar 5 09:01:30 PST 2017
> > > root_at_trump.whitehouse.gov.test:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/TESTKERN amd6
> > >
> > > Thank you for anything that might help me obtain textmode again.
> > >
> > > --Chris
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > > https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-current
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> > 
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> 
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I use non-UEFI booting machines with vt()-only and the nVidia BLOB (regular one from
ports and even the latest 378.13). The console is not working anymore and provides
garbage as long as vt() is in charge. On UEFI only systems, vt() is required, sc/syscons
doesn't work anymore (I don't care, I'd like to move on). So, with nVidia, you are
lost.

The problem with vt() and nVidia is well known and it is well known more than a year by
now if I recall correctly. Nothing has been done by nVidia so far and as far as I know,
the maintainer hasn't solved the problem. I do not know whether nVidia is willing to
solve the issue. I left an question in their forum, but it seems FreeBSD is more
handled like a "unpleasant necessity". On the other hand, GPU and such related stuff
(GPGPU for instance) is a wasteland in FreeBSD and it seems their world is still made up
from blocky ASCII terminals. Not that I dislike serial terminals, they save your ass
sometimes and for server management, one doesn't really need the additional,
non-fault-free complexity graphical UI introduce, but with the capabilities of handling
graphics the proper way much more is usually related to.

nVidia is, at the moment, the only GPU provider which supports FreeBSD. If you'd like to
have a workstation with high performance graphical capabilities on FreeBSD, there is no
way around nVidia. With most recent modern hardware, UEFI is standard and there the
console is gone as long the nVidia kernel module is loaded - you have no chance to get
to the console anymore, except you're capable of unloading (remotely?) the kernel
module. As a matter of fact, the system is broken! 

Regards,

Oliver 

-- 
O. Hartmann

Ich widerspreche der Nutzung oder Übermittlung meiner Daten für
Werbezwecke oder für die Markt- oder Meinungsforschung (§ 28 Abs. 4 BDSG).