# No Console or Virtual Screens



## haricot (Oct 10, 2020)

I am looking for help to find a solution to why I receive the following error codes when using ‘kldload vesa’ (see 3.2.3 hndbk):
module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (vesa, 0xffffffff8282500 error 19)
sysctl_unregister_oid: failed (22) to unregister sysctl (vesa)
There are no screen parameters in vidcntl


----------



## SirDice (Oct 12, 2020)

VESA is already built-in on GENERIC. Besides that, it's incompatible with vt(4), it used to be for sc(4). 



			Newcons - FreeBSD Wiki


----------



## haricot (Oct 13, 2020)

what you are telling me is that because of the new console driver vt kldload cannot do what is recommended in the handbook under 3.2.3. 
Does that also imply difficulties with using vesa as a screen driver under xorg? And would it be the reason why, making the choice of keyboard, always defaults to US ascii?
Perhaps you would be so kind as to advise me because i have experienced no screens every time I invoke xorg configure.


----------



## SirDice (Oct 16, 2020)

haricot said:


> what you are telling me is that because of the new console driver vt kldload cannot do what is recommended in the handbook under 3.2.3.


That section assumes the old sc(4) console driver. The handbook hasn't been updated for the new vt(4) driver.


haricot said:


> Does that also imply difficulties with using vesa as a screen driver under xorg?


No, they're not related. 


haricot said:


> And would it be the reason why, making the choice of keyboard, always defaults to US ascii?


Where? On the console or with X?


haricot said:


> Perhaps you would be so kind as to advise me because i have experienced no screens every time I invoke xorg configure.


Don't use `xorg -configure`. Xorg does a reasonably good job of auto-detecting devices nowadays. Just don't create a xorg.conf at all. 









						Chapter 5. The X Window System
					

This chapter describes how to install and configure Xorg on FreeBSD, which provides the open source X Window System used to provide a graphical environment




					www.freebsd.org


----------



## haricot (Oct 17, 2020)

SirDice said:


> That section assumes the old sc(4) console driver. The handbook hasn't been updated for the new vt(4) driver.



I have to admit that  this update to the handbook makes me look foolish playing around with keymap and a desire to have a uk keyboard! thank you.


> No, they're not related.


I take your point that they are not related such that vesa.ko is available in the kernel but when i have installed xorg i dont get a screen and xrandr cannot find any resolutions. 


> Where? On the console or with X?


I apologise for any confusion i caused


> Don't use `xorg -configure`. Xorg does a reasonably good job of auto-detecting devices nowadays. Just don't create a xorg.conf at all.


The problem with your comment is that the Asus A68HM PLUS has no video driver apart from vesa. So with great respect I have to say xorg when i have tried it doesnt use vesa it seems to favour modesetting. And that driver does not perform on my system. So I use xorg configure to insist on a vesa driver.. It’s not certain that vesa will satisfy the radeon  7000/8000 video unit but I think it to be the only possibility.


----------



## matt_k (Oct 19, 2020)

SirDice said:


> Just don't create a xorg.conf at all.



Not even for fonts? As per handbook sections  5.5.1 and/or 5.5.2?
5.5. Using fonts in Xorg


----------



## SirDice (Oct 19, 2020)

matt_k said:


> Not even for fonts?


Create a /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/fonts.conf with only the font definitions if you have to. 



> Manual configuration is usually not necessary. *Please do not manually create configuration files unless autoconfiguration does not work.*





> It is easier to use multiple files that each configure a specific setting than the traditional single xorg.conf. These files are stored in the xorg.conf.d/ subdirectory of the main configuration file directory. The full path is typically /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/.


----------



## haricot (Oct 20, 2020)

i dont know why this problem of mine got diverted to xorg. i dont have xorg available at this time because i would like to create a uk keyboard instead of the default us type hardwired it seems in the kernel.
thanks for the alert regarding sc and the new vt. But the keymaps are still available; or are they scheduled for departure?


----------



## SirDice (Oct 20, 2020)

haricot said:


> i dont know why this problem of mine got diverted to xorg.


Because of this:


> I take your point that they are not related such that vesa.ko is available in the kernel but when i have installed xorg i dont get a screen and xrandr cannot find any resolutions.


And this:


> The problem with your comment is that the Asus A68HM PLUS has no video driver apart from vesa. So with great respect I have to say xorg when i have tried it doesnt use vesa it seems to favour modesetting. And that driver does not perform on my system. So I use xorg configure to insist on a vesa driver.. It’s not certain that vesa will satisfy the radeon 7000/8000 video unit but I think it to be the only possibility.



Both lead me to believe you were configuring Xorg. 



haricot said:


> i would like to create a uk keyboard instead of the default us type hardwired it seems in the kernel.


If not configured it will default to a US keyboard, yes. Setting `keymap` in /etc/rc.conf should do the trick.

```
keymap="uk"
```
There are a few other variants too, have a look in /usr/share/vt/keymaps:

```
-r--r--r--  1 root  wheel   7659 Oct 10 22:00 uk.capsctrl.kbd
-r--r--r--  1 root  wheel   7725 Oct 10 22:00 uk.dvorak.kbd
-r--r--r--  1 root  wheel   7650 Oct 10 22:00 uk.kbd
-r--r--r--  1 root  wheel   7709 Oct 10 22:00 uk.macbook.kbd
```


----------



## haricot (Nov 5, 2020)

Thank you for your very kind advice, however I am still unable to print the £ using keymap= uk.
It doesn,t make any difference if I choose a specific keymap under vt. It will only move the cursor back to where it started eg type 123 and then £ and the cursor will be on 1.
The keymaps for the uk show codes instead of the characters or numbers. But these codes ascii/iso do not appear to work using the number keypad. So I am unable to type £ whatever I do.
I have no more ideas as to how to get a fully functional uk keypad working on tty.


----------



## T-Daemon (Nov 5, 2020)

haricot said:


> I am still unable to print the £ using keymap= uk.


Set in /etc/login.conf, before the last line:


```
default:\   
      ....
      :lang=en_GB.UTF-8:\
      ...
```
Run `cap_mkdb /etc/login.conf`, log out, log in. If you like the US localization more, set `en_US.UTF-8`.


----------



## haricot (Nov 9, 2020)

T-Daemon said:


> Set in /etc/login.conf, before the last line:
> 
> 
> ```
> ...


thank you for your excellent piece of coding. I was so delighted that I continued to install Xorg via the  ports system. It took quite a while. After, following hndbk enabling hald and dbus, service didn,t find hal or dbus. Managed to reinstall pkg-mgmt and that installed hal and dbus but unfortunatly no working screen driver. 
Still exploring why but wanted to thank you and end this topic since it was never about Xorg it was about the impossibility of using a uk keyboard on tty. And that you have given a workaround. 
Thank you again


----------

