phpman > man > resizecons(8)

RESIZECONS(8)                          System Manager's Manual                         RESIZECONS(8)



NAME
       resizecons - change kernel idea of the console size

SYNOPSIS
       resizecons COLSxROWS
       resizecons -lines ROWS

DESCRIPTION
       The  resizecons  command tries to change the videomode of the console.  There are several as‐
       pects to this: (a) the kernel must know about it, (b) the hardware must know  about  it,  (c)
       user programs must know about it, (d) the console font may have to be adapted.

       (a) The kernel is told about the change using the ioctl VT_RESIZE.  This causes the kernel to
       reallocate console screen memory for all virtual consoles, and might fail  if  there  is  not
       enough  memory.   (In  that  case,  try to disallocate some virtual consoles first.)  If this
       ioctl succeeds, but a later step fails (e.g., because you do not have root permissions),  you
       may be left with a very messy screen.

       The  most  difficult  part  of this is (b), since it requires detailed knowledge of the video
       card hardware, and the setting of numerous registers. Only changing the  number  of  rows  is
       slightly  easier,  and  resizecons  will try to do that itself, when given the -lines option.
       (Probably, root permission will be required.)  The command resizecons COLSxROWS will  execute
       restoretextmode  -r COLSxROWS (and hence requires that you have svgalib installed). Here COL‐
       SxROWS is a file that was created earlier by restoretextmode  -w  COLSxROWS.   Again,  either
       root permissions are required, or restoretextmode has to be suid root.

       In  order to deal with (c), resizecons does a `stty rows ROWS cols COLS' for each active con‐
       sole (in the range tty0..tty15), and sends a SIGWINCH signal to selection  if  it  finds  the
       file /tmp/selection.pid.

       Finally,  (d)  is  dealt  with by executing a setfont command. Most likely, the wrong font is
       loaded, and you may want to do another setfont yourself afterwards.


BUGS
       resizecons does not work on all hardware.  For example, it cannot be used on platforms  other
       than x86 and x86_64.  See the fbset(1) program if you are looking for an alternative.

       This command used to be called resize, but was renamed to avoid conflict with another command
       with the same name.


SEE ALSO
       setfont(8), stty(1), selection(1), restoretextmode(8), disalloc(8), fbset(1)




kbd                                          17 Jan 1995                               RESIZECONS(8)