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git-svn-id: http://svn.linuxfromscratch.org/LFS/trunk/BOOK@9472 4aa44e1e-78dd-0310-a6d2-fbcd4c07a689
242 lines
9.1 KiB
XML
242 lines
9.1 KiB
XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
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<!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
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"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
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<!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../general.ent">
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%general-entities;
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]>
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<sect1 id="ch-scripts-console">
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<?dbhtml filename="console.html"?>
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<title>Configuring the Linux Console</title>
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<indexterm zone="ch-scripts-console">
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<primary sortas="d-console">console</primary>
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<secondary>configuring</secondary>
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</indexterm>
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<indexterm zone="ch-scripts-console">
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<primary sortas="d-consolelog">consolelog</primary>
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<secondary>configuring</secondary>
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</indexterm>
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<para>This section discusses how to configure the <command>console</command>
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and <command>consolelog</command> bootscripts that set up the keyboard map,
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console font and console kernel log level. If non-ASCII characters (e.g.,
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the copyright sign, the British pound sign and Euro symbol) will not be used
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and the keyboard is a U.S. one, much of this section can be skipped. Without
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the configuration file, the <command>console</command> bootscript will do
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nothing.</para>
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<para>The <command>console</command> and <command>consolelog</command>
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scripts read the <filename>/etc/sysconfig/console</filename> file for
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configuration information.
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Decide which keymap and screen font will be used. Various language-specific
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HOWTOs can also help with this, see <ulink
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url="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/other-lang.html"/>. If still in
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doubt, look in the <filename class="directory">/lib/kbd</filename>
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directory for valid keymaps and screen fonts. Read
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<filename>loadkeys(1)</filename> and <filename>setfont(8)</filename> manual
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pages to determine the correct arguments for these programs.</para>
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<para>The <filename>/etc/sysconfig/console</filename> file should contain lines
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of the form: VARIABLE="value". The following variables are recognized:</para>
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<variablelist>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>LOGLEVEL</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>This variable specifies the log level for kernel messages sent
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to the console as set by <command>dmesg</command>. Valid levels are
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from "1" (no messages) to "8". The default level is "7".</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>KEYMAP</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>This variable specifies the arguments for the
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<command>loadkeys</command> program, typically, the name of keymap
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to load, e.g., <quote>es</quote>. If this variable is not set, the
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bootscript will not run the <command>loadkeys</command> program,
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and the default kernel keymap will be used.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>KEYMAP_CORRECTIONS</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>This (rarely used) variable
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specifies the arguments for the second call to the
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<command>loadkeys</command> program. This is useful if the stock keymap
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is not completely satisfactory and a small adjustment has to be made. E.g.,
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to include the Euro sign into a keymap that normally doesn't have it,
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set this variable to <quote>euro2</quote>.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>FONT</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>This variable specifies the arguments for the
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<command>setfont</command> program. Typically, this includes the font
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name, <quote>-m</quote>, and the name of the application character
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map to load. E.g., in order to load the <quote>lat1-16</quote> font
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together with the <quote>8859-1</quote> application character map
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(as it is appropriate in the USA),
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<!-- because of the copyright sign -->
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set this variable to <quote>lat1-16 -m 8859-1</quote>.
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In UTF-8 mode, the kernel uses the application character map for
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conversion of composed 8-bit key codes in the keymap to UTF-8, and thus
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the argument of the "-m" parameter should be set to the encoding of the
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composed key codes in the keymap.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>UNICODE</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>Set this variable to <quote>1</quote>, <quote>yes</quote> or
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<quote>true</quote> in order to put the
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console into UTF-8 mode. This is useful in UTF-8 based locales and
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harmful otherwise.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>LEGACY_CHARSET</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>For many keyboard layouts, there is no stock Unicode keymap in
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the Kbd package. The <command>console</command> bootscript will
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convert an available keymap to UTF-8 on the fly if this variable is
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set to the encoding of the available non-UTF-8 keymap.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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</variablelist>
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<para>Some examples:</para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem>
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<para>For a non-Unicode setup, only the KEYMAP and FONT variables are
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generally needed. E.g., for a Polish setup, one would use:</para>
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<screen role="nodump"><userinput>cat > /etc/sysconfig/console << "EOF"
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<literal># Begin /etc/sysconfig/console
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KEYMAP="pl2"
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FONT="lat2a-16 -m 8859-2"
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# End /etc/sysconfig/console</literal>
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EOF</userinput></screen>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>As mentioned above, it is sometimes necessary to adjust a
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stock keymap slightly. The following example adds the Euro symbol to the
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German keymap:</para>
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<screen role="nodump"><userinput>cat > /etc/sysconfig/console << "EOF"
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<literal># Begin /etc/sysconfig/console
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KEYMAP="de-latin1"
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KEYMAP_CORRECTIONS="euro2"
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FONT="lat0-16 -m 8859-15"
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# End /etc/sysconfig/console</literal>
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EOF</userinput></screen>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>The following is a Unicode-enabled example for Bulgarian, where a
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stock UTF-8 keymap exists:</para>
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<screen role="nodump"><userinput>cat > /etc/sysconfig/console << "EOF"
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<literal># Begin /etc/sysconfig/console
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UNICODE="1"
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KEYMAP="bg_bds-utf8"
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FONT="LatArCyrHeb-16"
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# End /etc/sysconfig/console</literal>
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EOF</userinput></screen>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>Due to the use of a 512-glyph LatArCyrHeb-16 font in the previous
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example, bright colors are no longer available on the Linux console unless
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a framebuffer is used. If one wants to have bright colors without
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framebuffer and can live without characters not belonging to his language,
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it is still possible to use a language-specific 256-glyph font, as
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illustrated below:</para>
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<screen role="nodump"><userinput>cat > /etc/sysconfig/console << "EOF"
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<literal># Begin /etc/sysconfig/console
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UNICODE="1"
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KEYMAP="bg_bds-utf8"
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FONT="cyr-sun16"
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# End /etc/sysconfig/console</literal>
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EOF</userinput></screen>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>The following example illustrates keymap autoconversion from
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ISO-8859-15 to UTF-8 and enabling dead keys in Unicode mode:</para>
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<screen role="nodump"><userinput>cat > /etc/sysconfig/console << "EOF"
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<literal># Begin /etc/sysconfig/console
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UNICODE="1"
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KEYMAP="de-latin1"
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KEYMAP_CORRECTIONS="euro2"
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LEGACY_CHARSET="iso-8859-15"
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FONT="LatArCyrHeb-16 -m 8859-15"
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# End /etc/sysconfig/console</literal>
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EOF</userinput></screen>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>Some keymaps have dead keys (i.e., keys that don't produce a
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character by themselves, but put an accent on the character produced
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by the next key) or define composition rules (such as: <quote>press
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Ctrl+. A E to get Æ</quote> in the default keymap).
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Linux-&linux-version; interprets dead keys and composition rules in the
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keymap correctly only when the source characters to be composed together
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are not multibyte. This deficiency doesn't affect keymaps for European
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languages, because there accents are added to unaccented ASCII
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characters, or two ASCII characters are composed together. However, in
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UTF-8 mode it is a problem, e.g., for the Greek language, where one
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sometimes needs to put an accent on the letter <quote>alpha</quote>.
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The solution is either to avoid the use of UTF-8, or to install the
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X window system that doesn't have this limitation in its input
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handling.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>For Chinese, Japanese, Korean and some other languages, the Linux
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console cannot be configured to display the needed characters. Users
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who need such languages should install the X Window System, fonts that
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cover the necessary character ranges, and the proper input method (e.g.,
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SCIM, it supports a wide variety of languages).</para>
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</listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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<!-- Added because folks keep posting their console file with X questions
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to blfs-support list -->
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<note>
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<para>The <filename>/etc/sysconfig/console</filename> file only controls the Linux text console localization. It has nothing to do with setting the
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proper keyboard layout and terminal fonts in the X Window System, with ssh
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sessions or with a serial console. In such situations, limitations mentioned
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in the last two list items above do not apply.</para>
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</note>
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</sect1>
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