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vidi(1)


vidi -- set font and video mode for console

Synopsis

vidi [-d] [-f fontfile] font

vidi mode

Description

The vidi command loads or extracts a font or sets the video mode for the console. When vidi is used without arguments, it lists all valid video mode and font commands.

Font options

Some video cards support changeable character fonts. Available fonts are ``font8x8'', ``font8x14'', and ``font8x16''. The font options are used as follows:

vidi font
Load font from /usr/lib/vidi/font.

vidi -d font
Write font to the standard output.

vidi -f fontfile font
Load font from fontfile instead of default directory.

Mode options

vidi also sets the mode of the video adapter connected to the standard input. The modes are:

mono
Move current screen to the monochrome adapter.

cga
Move current screen to the Color Graphics adapter.

ega
Move current screen to the Enhanced Graphics adapter.

vga
Move current screen to the Video Graphics adapter.

Text and graphics modes

The following tables list the available modes.

Text Modes
Mode Cols Rows Font Adapter
c40x25 40 25 8x8 CGA (EGA VGA)
e40x25 40 25 8x14 EGA (VGA)
v40x25 40 25 8x16 VGA
m80x25 80 25 8x14 MONO (EGA_MONO VGA_MONO)
c80x25 80 25 8x8 CGA (EGA VGA)
em80x25 80 25 8x14 EGA_MONO (VGA_MONO)
e80x25 80 25 8x14 EGA (VGA)
vm80x25 80 25 8x16 VGA_MONO
v80x25 80 25 8x16 VGA
e80x43 80 43 8x14 EGA (VGA)

 Text Modes
 Mode      Cols   Rows   Font   Adapter
 c40x25      40     25   8x8    CGA (EGA VGA)
 e40x25      40     25   8x14   EGA (VGA)
 v40x25      40     25   8x16   VGA
 m80x25      80     25   8x14   MONO (EGA_MONO VGA_MONO)
 c80x25      80     25   8x8    CGA (EGA VGA)
 em80x25     80     25   8x14   EGA_MONO (VGA_MONO)
 e80x25      80     25   8x14   EGA (VGA)
 vm80x25     80     25   8x16   VGA_MONO
 v80x25      80     25   8x16   VGA
 e80x43      80     43   8x14   EGA (VGA)

Graphics Modes
Mode Pixel Resolution Colors
mode5 320x200 4
mode6 640x200 2
modeD 320x200 16
modeE 640x200 16
modeF 640x350 2 (mono)
mode10 640x350 16
mode11 640x480 2
mode12 640x480 16
mode13 320x200 256
att640 640x400 16
att800x600 800x600 16
att640x400 640x400 256

 Graphics Modes
 Mode         Pixel Resolution   Colors
 mode5        320x200                   4
 mode6        640x200                   2
 modeD        320x200                  16
 modeE        640x200                  16
 modeF        640x350            2 (mono)
 mode10       640x350                  16
 mode11       640x480                   2
 mode12       640x480                  16
 mode13       320x200                 256
 att640       640x400                  16
 att800x600   800x600                  16
 att640x400   640x400                 256

When using the vidi command to set modes, if the error message Invalid argument or No such device or address is displayed, either the user doesn't have permission to change the mode or the video hardware doesn't support the mode specified. For example, the mode value ``vm80x25'' is not valid for a system configured with an EGA video adapter.

The format of a data file for a font is an array of bytes where each byte represents one line of the pixel image for the character. The bits within the byte are ``1'' if the pixel should be drawn and ``0'' if it shouldn't be. For example, for an 8x14 font, 14 consecutive bytes are needed to represent the pixel image for the character. The bytes are ordered top to bottom.

For every font file, 256 pixel images are provided with the images ordered from 0 to 255. For example, the 8x14 font contains 14*256 bytes. The first 14 bytes are displayed for ASCII value ``\0'', the next 14 bytes are for ASCII value ``\001'', and so on.

References

stty(1)
© 2004 The SCO Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
UnixWare 7 Release 7.1.4 - 25 April 2004