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8 <sect1 id="ch-scripts-console" revision="systemd">
9 <?dbhtml filename="console.html"?>
11 <title>Configuring the Linux Console</title>
13 <indexterm zone="ch-scripts-console">
14 <primary sortas="d-console">console</primary>
15 <secondary>configuring</secondary>
18 <para>This section discusses how to configure the
19 <command>systemd-vconsole-setup</command> system service, which configures
20 the virtual console font and console keymap.</para>
22 <para>The <command>systemd-vconsole-setup</command> service reads the
23 <filename>/etc/vconsole.conf</filename> file for configuration
24 information. Decide which keymap and screen font will be used. Various
25 language-specific HOWTOs can also help with this, see <ulink
26 url="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/other-lang.html"/>.
27 Examine <command>localectl list-keymaps</command> output for a list of
28 valid console keymaps. Look in
29 <filename class="directory">/usr/share/consolefonts</filename>
30 directory for valid screen fonts.</para>
32 <para>The <filename>/etc/vconsole.conf</filename> file should contain lines
33 of the form: VARIABLE="value". The following variables are recognized:</para>
40 <para>This variable specifies the key mapping table for the keyboard. If
41 unset, it defaults to <literal>us</literal>.</para>
46 <term>KEYMAP_TOGGLE</term>
48 <para>This variable can be used to configure a second toggle keymap and
49 is unset by default.</para>
56 <para>This variable specifies the font used by the virtual
64 <para>This variable specifies the console map to be used.</para>
69 <term>FONT_UNIMAP</term>
71 <para>This variable specifies the Unicode font map.</para>
77 <para>An example for a German keyboard and console is given below:</para>
79 <screen role="nodump"><userinput>cat > /etc/vconsole.conf << "EOF"
80 <literal>KEYMAP=de-latin1
81 FONT=Lat2-Terminus16</literal>
82 EOF</userinput></screen>
84 <para>You can change KEYMAP value at runtime by using the
85 <command>localectl</command> utility:</para>
87 <screen role="nodump"><userinput>localectl set-keymap MAP</userinput></screen>
89 <note><para>Please note that the <command>localectl</command> command can
90 be used only on a system booted with systemd.</para></note>
92 <para>You can also use <command>localectl</command> utility with the
93 corresponding parameters to change X11 keyboard layout, model, variant
96 <screen role="nodump"><userinput>localectl set-x11-keymap LAYOUT [MODEL] [VARIANT] [OPTIONS]</userinput></screen>
98 <para>To list possible values for <command>localectl set-x11-keymap</command>
99 parameters, run <command>localectl</command> with parameters listed below:
105 <term>list-x11-keymap-models</term>
107 <para>Show known X11 keyboard mapping models.</para>
112 <term>list-x11-keymap-layouts</term>
114 <para>Show known X11 keyboard mapping layouts.</para>
119 <term>list-x11-keymap-variants</term>
121 <para>Show known X11 keyboard mapping variants.</para>
126 <term>list-x11-keymap-options</term>
128 <para>Show known X11 keyboard mapping options.</para>
134 <note><para>Using any of the parameters listed above requires the
135 XKeyboard Config package from BLFS.</para></note>