[Trac #1185] Framebuffer font is now tiny

[Zarro Boogs per Child]

#1185: Framebuffer font is now tiny
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 Reporter:  cjb     |        Owner:  J5     
     Type:  defect  |       Status:  new    
 Priority:  high    |    Milestone:  Trial-1
Component:  distro  |   Resolution:         
 Keywords:          |  
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Comment (by AlbertCahalan):

 Replying to [comment:4 cjb]:

 > Any suggestions on fixing it?  UTF8 terminals seem like a good idea, so
 keeping Unicode and changing the font size might be ideal.

 The broken unicode_start program insists on loading a font, and the broken
 kernel insists that all loaded fonts are 8 pixels wide. See do_fontx_ioctl
 in drivers/char/vt_ioctl.c for the depressing details. Now I know why the
 userspace tools only ship 8 pixel wide fonts. :-(

 Short term: hack unicode_start to not load a font by default

 Long term:

 A decent font is needed. I suggest that both width and height be multiples
 of 3, to eliminate the noticable color artifacts. (make a column of "x" or
 "/" to see) The characters common to VT100 and VGA is critical. Beyond
 that, anything that can be typed is good. Despite not being VGA, the
 framebuffer may be affected by the 256/512 character limits. If so, you
 lose the brightness attribute bit when you choose to have 512 characters.

 Once the font exists, it needs to be loaded. Patching the kernel is the
 nicest option, allowing use in early boot. Patching unicode_start still
 requires patching the kernel to have a new ioctl with a new data format.

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Ticket URL: <http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/1185#comment:5>
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