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whoops

Member

Registered: 2009-03-19

Posts: 891

Quicker tty switching: dual screen / highres tty / custom dpi?

Hi!

Is there a good solution to get the tty console (I don't even know how to call it right - the "str+alt F1 - F4 terminal without xorg thing/stuff!) to use two monitors (one "on top of the other" or something like that) and the same resolution as xorg uses (without having a font I need a magnifier to read afterwards)?

My main concern is, that when switching from X to the tty, my "huge old legacy left TFT" needs about 2-4 seconds to get the new resolution ready, making a magnetic noise you can hear two floors down while my "huge old legacy right TFT" starts to calibrate colours and then shuts down, being usually about half done and 5-10 seconds away from working again when I already switched back to F7.

Plus it would be nice to have twice the lines of output, if it was possible to make both monitors a big vertical tty. But other ideas to get terminal switching faster are welcome, too!

Thanks.

Ashren

Member

From: Denmark

Registered: 2007-06-13

Posts: 1,229

Website

Re: Quicker tty switching: dual screen / highres tty / custom dpi?

What kind of graphics card do you have? Instant switch to tty is only available with KMS, which again is only available for Intel cards atm.

Concerning console font size you could always change the type of font you use in console. To see a list of console font type "ls /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts" pick one and enter the name of the font into "CONSOLEFONT" in rc.conf. You can change fonts while it console with the setfont command i.e. "setfont Lat2-Terminus16.psf.gz".

I don't think it is possible to use two monitors for one tty.

Last edited by Ashren (2009-04-26 13:41:58)

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whoops

Member

Registered: 2009-03-19

Posts: 891

Re: Quicker tty switching: dual screen / highres tty / custom dpi?

Thx, then I won't be having that "super fast" feature with my Nvidia Card I guess...:

I don't know what "Instant switch to tty" looks like, but I'd already be quite happy if some if the delay was gone. Maybe just set the same resolution for tty or something like that and if that's possible stop the second monitor from switching off...?

I've got no idea, but perhaps there's sort of an "event" that happens when X "returns the screen to the tty" where I can tell it to hold on to the second monitor (no functionality required, just so it doesn't switch off)?

If I'd just get the nvidia card to mirror the first to the second screen or something like that, while in tty, that would already make a lot of a difference...

Procyon

Member

Registered: 2008-05-07

Posts: 1,819

Re: Quicker tty switching: dual screen / highres tty / custom dpi?

Why do you prefer the VC over an X terminal?

whoops

Member

Registered: 2009-03-19

Posts: 891

Re: Quicker tty switching: dual screen / highres tty / custom dpi?

Because...
a) I need X to work to use an X Terminal (trying out all kinds of stuff I've got to kill from VC for X to unfreeze ATM)
b) I might want to restart X without whatever I'm doing in the Terminal being stopped
c) It somehow just feels "safer" for some things (I don't say it IS or is not, just feels like it).
d) I don't get confused as fast (or wreck something because I'm in the wrong terminal) if I leave a tty logged into something (p.E. ssh/server) instead of an xterm that "floats around" my desktop the whole time.

edit: of course I use x terminals in most cases, but still I use the tty a lot.

Last edited by whoops (2009-04-29 12:01:44)