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<TITLE>The Linux keyboard and console HOWTO: Console switching</TITLE>
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Contents
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console!switching
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-->
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By default, console switching is done using Alt-Fn or Ctrl-Alt-Fn.
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Under X (or recent versions of dosemu), only Ctrl-Alt-Fn works.
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Many keymaps will allow cyclic walks through all allocated consoles
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using Alt-RightArrow and Alt-LeftArrow.
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XFree86 1.3 does not know that Alt is down when you switch to the X
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window. Thus, you cannot switch immediately to some other VT again
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but have to release Alt first.
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In the other direction this should work: the kernel always keeps
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track of the up/down status of all keys. (As far as possible: on some
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keyboards some keys do not emit a scancode when pressed (e.g.: the PFn
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keys of a FOCUS 9000) or released (e.g.: the Pause key of many keyboards).)
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XFree86 1.3 saves the fonts loaded in the character ROMs when started,
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and restores it on a console switch. Thus, the result of setfont on
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a VT is wiped out when you go to X and back.
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Using setfont under X will lead to funny results.
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One can change VT under program control using the chvt command.
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console!changing number of
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This question still comes up from time to time, but the answer is:
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you already have enough of them.
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Since kernel version 1.1.54, there are between 1 and 63 virtual
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consoles. A new one is created as soon as it is opened. It is
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removed by the utility deallocvt (but it can be removed only when
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no processes are associated to it anymore, and no text on it has been
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selected by programs like selection or gpm).
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For older kernels, change the line
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#define NR_CONSOLES 8
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in include/linux/tty.h (don't increase this number beyond 63),
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and recompile the kernel.
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If they do not exist yet, create the tty devices with MAKEDEV
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or mknod ttyN c 4 N where N denotes the tty number. For example,
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for i in 9 10 11 12; do mknod /dev/tty$i c 4 $i; done
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or, better (since it also takes care of owner and permissions),
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for i in 9 10 11 12; do /dev/MAKEDEV tty$i; done
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If you want the new VCs to run getty, add lines in /etc/inittab.
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(But it is much better to have only two getty's running,
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and to create more consoles dynamically as the need arises.
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That way you'll have more memory when you don't use all these consoles,
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and also more consoles, in case you really need them.
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Edit /etc/inittab and comment out all getty's except
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for the first two.)
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When the consoles are allocated dynamically, it is usually easiest
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to have only one or two running getty. More are opened by
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open -l -s bash. Unused consoles (without associated processes)
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are deallocated using deallocvt (formerly disalloc).
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But, you say, I am involved in activities when I suddenly need more
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consoles, and do not have a bash prompt available to give the open
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command.
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Fortunately it is possible to create a new console upon a single
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keystroke, regardless of what is happening at the current console.
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If you have spawn_login from kbd-1.04.tar.gz and you put
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loadkeys << EOF
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alt keycode 103 = Spawn_Console
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EOF
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spawn_login &
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in /etc/rc.local, then typing Alt-UpArrow will create a fresh VC
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running login (and switch to it). With spawn_console & instead of
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spawn_login & you'll have bash running there.
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See also open-1.4.tgz and dynamic-vc-1.1.tar.gz.
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What action should be taken upon this Spawn_Console keypress
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can also be set in /etc/inittab under kbrequest,
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if you have a recent init. See inittab(5).
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(This action can be something entirely different - I just called
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the key Spawn_Console because that is what I used it for.
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When used for other purposes it is less confusing to use
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its synonym KeyboardSignal.
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For example, some people like to put the lines
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kb::kbrequest:/sbin/shutdown -h now
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in /etc/inittab, and
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control alt keycode 79 = KeyboardSignal
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control alt keycode 107 = KeyboardSignal
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in their keymap. Now Ctrl-Alt-End will do a system shutdown.)
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You can only login as "root" on terminals listed in /etc/securetty.
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There exist programs that read terminal settings from files
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/etc/ttys and /etc/ttytype. If you have such
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files, and create additional consoles, then it might be a good idea
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to also add entries for them in these files.
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