Anton Zinoviev <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> On Thu, Feb 16, 2006 at 08:56:21PM +0100, Hans Ulrich Niedermann wrote:
>>
>> I ran this command line
>>
>> consolechars -v --tty=/dev/tty4 -f $FONTFILE
>
> Ah, I forgot about consolechars... It can work only with 8-pixel wide
> fonts (so I have to do another update in the Debconf templates).
I have read about the 8-pixel limitation in the consolechars(8) man
page, but between
a) the /bin/setupcon script first trying consolechars(8) if
present and only then falling back to setfont(8) and
b) the description of the kbd-compat package
Description: Wrappers around console-tools for backward
compatibility with `kbd'
This package provides the following wrapper scripts, for
compatibility with old `kbd' package, for programs which depends
on the former's command-line interfaces:
setfont, loadunimap, saveunimap, mapscrn, setlogcons.
I got the impression that setfont(8) from the kbd package was obsolete
and console-tools were the more modern tools, and the consolechars(8)
man page was probably outdated. :-)
> Install kbd instead of console-tools and try again. Setfont should
> work.
Yes, setfont works.
Using TerminusBold 24x12, setfont(8) now turns the laptop's 1400x1050
15" TFT into a very nice 116x43 text console.
>> OK, what now? More tests? Reassign this bug to the console-tools
>> package?
>
> I reassigned a clone of the bug to console-tools. I hope with kbd
> instead of console-tools the situation will be much different.
It is.
Thank you very much for your help, Anton.
Suggestions for console-setup on how to deal with this situation:
* Document somewhere that consolechars(8) as of
console-tools=0.2.3dbs-60 only handles fonts 8 pixels wide and
setfont(8) as of kbd=1.12-13 does not have that limitation.
Place references to that explanations everywhere the user sets the
font size.
* Have /bin/setupcon detect when it is supposed to set fonts not
8 pixels wide via consolechars(8) and issue a specific warning if
consolechars(8) fails.
Suggestions for console-tools on how to deal with this situation:
* Print a clear error message. This
Cannot (yet) load a non-seekable RAW file
read_simple_font(): Invalid argument
is no way to say "consolechars only understands fonts exactly
8 pixels wide, and this font has a different width."
* Implement loading fonts with arbitrary width.
Gruß,
Uli
