SCON(1)                 OpenBSD Reference Manual (i386)                SCON(1)

NAME
     scon - controls screen modes for pcvt video driver

SYNOPSIS
     scon [-a] [-b num] [-c screenno] [-d device] [-f on|off] [-h] [-l] [-m]
          [-o] [-v] [-s lines]
     scon [-v] [-d device] -p entry,red,green,blue
     scon [-v] [-d device] -p default
     scon [-v] [-d device] -p list
     scon [-v] -t timeout
     scon [-v] -1 | -8

DESCRIPTION
     The scon utility controls several aspects of the runtime behaviour of the
     pcvt vt220 driver.

     The options are as follows:

     -a      Returns a string describing the video adaptor found by pcvt, the
             string returned could be MDA, HGC, CGA, EGA, VGA or UNKNOWN.

     -b      Set the number of scrollback buffer pages to num. The minimum
             value is 2, maximum 100.

     -c      Specify the screen number the current (displayed) screen should
             be switched to.

     -d      Specify the device filename (i.e. /dev/ttyC2) further operations
             specified on the command line should be applied to.

     -f      Some programs which silently assume 24 lines when they run on a
             VT220 show incorrect behaviour when the terminal has really 25
             lines. To support full VT220 behaviour, it is possible to force
             pcvt to select only 24 lines when it is running in 25-lines pure
             VT mode. The -f option requires one additional parameter, the
             string 'on' or 'off' to switch this mode for a virtual screen on
             or off respectively. This mode has no effect if any other verti-
             cal resolutions are selected than the two above mentioned.

     -h      Prints a usage/help text.

     -l      Lists the current configuration of runtime changeable options and
             fixed parameters (such as the type of the adaptor, and in case of
             a VGA adaptor, the Manufacturer, Chipset and 132 column support)
             of the output portion of the pcvt driver.

     -m      Returns a string describing the connected display monitor type
             found by pcvt, the string returned can be MONO, COLOR or UNKNOWN.

     -v      Specify verbose operation of the program.

     -o      Toggle ``legacy'' pcvt mode with traditional PC display mode.  As
             of OpenBSD 2.6, character mapping is turned off by default in
             favour of a traditional PC display with 16 colors and the stan-
             dard IBM font.  This option has no effect in line modes other
             than 25.

     -s      Specify the number of character lines on the screen. Possible pa-
             rameters are 25, 28, 35, 40, 43 or 50. To use all this screen
             sizes, the fonts required for proper operation of a desired size
             have to be downloaded to the EGA/VGA font ram. This option is


             available only for EGA and VGA boards.

     -p      Modify VGA palette (DAC). The -p option is mutually exclusive
             with -s. Naturally, option -p is available only for VGA boards.
             Three flavors are available.

             If used with argument ``default'', this flag will restore the de-
             fault palette (as installed by VGA ROM BIOS after hardware
             reset).

             If used with argument ``list'', the current VGA DAC palette en-
             tries are listed. Each entry contains the table index, values for
             red, green, and blue, and if there's a known name for this entry,
             the color name. Trailing empty table slots (RGB values all zero)
             are omitted.

             Otherwise, four comma-separated arguments are expected. The first
             denotes the number of palette entry to be modified. This may be
             either a number between 0 and 255, or the usual name of an asso-
             ciated color (case-insensitive). The following values for red,
             green and blue are restricted to 0 through 63 due to VGA DAC con-
             ventions.  Note that the first delimiter within such an argument
             may be a colon ``:'' instead of a comma ``,'' for better read-
             ability, but this violates common command argument conventions.
             Multiple -p options may be specified if unambiguous.

     -t      Specifying -t will activate the screen saver. The behaviour de-
             pends on timeout: if timeout is given as 0, the screen saver is
             turned off. Otherwise, timeout is taken as a number of seconds to
             wait until activating the screen saver.  NOTE: the -t option is
             only available if screen saver support has been compiled into the
             driver !

     -1      Sets 132 columns mode (only available on VGA adaptors).

     -8      Sets 80 columns mode.

     When switching the force 24 lines mode on and off, or when switching be-
     tween 80 and 132 columns operation, the screen is cleared, the scrolling
     region is reset and the cursor is placed in the home position.

EXAMPLES
     Invoking ``scon -p lightgray,0,15,0 -p 0:45,45,45'' will result in green
     on gray output for normal text.  Note that normal text color is light
     gray, and not white as one might expect.

BUGS
     The -c and -d options collide somehow, this will change in a future re-
     lease.

SEE ALSO
     cursor(1), loadfont(1), pcvt(4)

OpenBSD 2.8                    December 31, 1993                             2
