# Unicode outside X11



## ch (Jan 2, 2013)

Right now, I'm trying to go "text only" with my computing environment - that means, "no X11." But, right from the start, I've had trouble seeing Unicode characters. I know that earlier versions of FreeBSD had no support for Unicode in the console, but I'm wondering about 9.0. 

Does Unicode work outside X11 in 9.0?

If not, how should I go about creating multiple input methods - one for Russian, one for English?

I would much appreciate your help. If there is any need for more information, you need only ask.

ch


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## kpedersen (Jan 2, 2013)

Perhaps not a valid solution for you, but could you consider uxterm fullscreen?

The default tty is a little bit awkward for desktop computing for a few reasons.

1) Less power management for your card (if you have a powerful radeon or nvidia I find it gets hot and the fans keep going).

2) Warped resolution on pretty much any modern laptop.

3) With all the hipster javascript around the internet these days, textmode browsers simply dont cut it, even ones with basic javascript.

But tbh, I am not sure about unicode. I think I remember hearing that either FreeBSD or OpenBSD did support it, but I am still not sure if you can do it in a terminal, isn't that dependent on what fonts / characters the hardware supports?


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## ch (Jan 4, 2013)

You are right saying a TTY is impractical. However, I have seen NetSurf in a framebuffer and Unicode in TTYs under Ubuntu, and thus I am confident that viewing the modern Web without a windowing system is ever approaching. I find that, with NetSurf, all programs would run in a terminal emulator and window managers would be redundant with terminal multiplexers.

I did some research. I found this concerning UTF-8 on POSIX, but I have yet to examine its instructions on implementing UTF-8. I have also found software for TTY Unicode support mentioned here. Further discussion encouraging the use of extra software (a "pseudo-TTY") instead of a vanilla TTY is mentioned here. 

While I have not processed all of this information, I think it is safe to conclude that using UTF-8 in a bare console is not possible under FreeBSD, and GNU/Linux is superior in this regard, which disappoints me.

Thank you for your help, kpedersen.


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## ch (Jan 4, 2013)

From the looks of this, I'm _really_ out of luck.


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## Davsjo (Jan 4, 2013)

ch said:
			
		

> From the looks of this, I'm _really_ out of luck.



Yes, it is unfortunately so. I can see why this for some people can be a problem even though it doesn't affect anything I use FreeBSD for. I am, however, curious as to why UTF-8 in console hasn't been a priority. Does anyone know the background? Is it just something that hasn't been considered important or was there an active decision to skip it (too much work?)?


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## ch (Jan 6, 2013)

I don't know, Davsjo, but the lack of UTF-8 in the console is a major turn-off for me, being a former Linux user regularly types in Russian. Wake up and smell the coffee, FreeBSD developers: Russia has moved to UTF-8, and you're holding your users to outdated technology.


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## kpa (Jan 7, 2013)

Nobody is holding you anywhere. Nobody forces you to use FreeBSD. If you find something else that works better for your purpose, use it. Right tools for the jobs, that's my motto always.

Besides, FreeBSD has full support for UTF-8 if you forget the ancient text console that nobody should be using in this modern era (other than doing maintainance in single user mode). Use the X windowing system or connect to the machine with ssh(1). Your problem is just a failure of imagination it seems.


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