Messages in this thread | | | Date | Thu, 24 Feb 2000 22:43:37 +0100 | From | Guest section DW <> | Subject | Re: Linux console driver maintainer? |
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On Thu, Feb 24, 2000 at 12:18:18PM -0500, Mike A. Harris wrote:
> I've looked at the code and vc_resize() in console.c appears to > resize every single VC simultaneously. I'd like to make it not > do that, but I assume it does for a good reason. Anyone care to > explain why? If no great reason exists, I'd like to hack it up > to work just for me... I don't want to shoot myself in the foot > though in the mean time.
When I wrote this code many years ago (I mean: dynamic allocation of consoles and resizing) my first version allowed for VCs all of a different size. However, that didnt work well for me, so I threw out all complications and only put the current code in the kernel. (Well, I don't know whether it still is the current code, haven't looked at it for five years.)
What was wrong about different sizes? One thing was that the kernel does not have detailed information about all video cards and video modes, so cannot easily change video modes, so an external program was needed. The present system, where Alt-RightArrow cycles through all consoles is easy and convenient, and needs no userspace support. Another thing was that my monitor/videocard at that time required several seconds to stabilize after a mode change. So even with userspace support working with more than a single text mode was unpleasant.
But if you have hardware that handles mode changes well, and you have the user space support then it is quite possible to do what you want. Probably I would not change the kernel, but make a program listen to KeyboardSignal generated by Alt-UpArrow and let this program do a chvt LogVT followed by a mode change, and make the next KeyboardSignal change back to the original VT. In that way looking at the log and going back is pressing Alt-UpArrow twice, even better than Alt-Fn followed by Alt-Fm. It would be a 20-line program.
Andries
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