09-29-2009
The main distinction between "console" and "terminal" in Linux or most other Unix-like systems is that a "console" uses the whole screen to enter line-oriented commands in text mode, whereas a "terminal" emulates a console within a window (under the X-window environment in most cases). If you're familiar with the old-fashioned Dos OS, it's like the difference between the Dos command line and a "Dos box" under windows.
Here is an explanation of how to use console screens, from about.com:
Ubuntu Desktop Guide - Switch to Console mode
"The usual method of command-line access in Ubuntu is to start a terminal (see the section called "Starting the Terminal" above) , however sometimes it is useful to switch to the real console:
Use the Ctrl-Alt-F1 shortcut keys to switch to the first console.
To switch back to Desktop mode, use the Ctrl-Alt-F7 shortcut keys.
Note: There are six consoles available. Each one is accessible with the shortcut keys Ctrl-Alt-F1 to Ctrl-Alt-F6."
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LEARN ABOUT CENTOS
setupcon
SETUPCON(1) Console-setup User's Manual SETUPCON(1)
NAME
setupcon - sets up the font and the keyboard on the console
SYNOPSIS
setupcon [OPTION]... [VARIANT]
DESCRIPTION
setupcon is a program for fast and easy setup of the font and the keyboard on the console. Most of the time you invoke setupcon without
arguments. The keyboard configuration is specified in ~/.keyboard or /etc/default/keyboard. The font configuration is specified in
~/.console-setup or /etc/default/console-setup. Consult keyboard(5) and console-setup(5) for instructions how to configure these two
files.
If you have to switch often between different encodings, keyboards or languages, you can prepare several alternative configuration files
for setupcon. Suppose that most of the time you will use Greek language with Greek keyboard layout, but sometimes you need to type in Ger-
man with German keyboard layout. In this situation you should customize the main configuration files (keyboard and console-setup) for
Greek. Also, create alternative configuration files for German named keyboard.german and console-setup.german. Then in order to configure
the console for Greek you will simply run the command with no arguments: setupcon and in order to configure the console for German you will
use setupcon german.
OPTIONS
VARIANT
Specifies which configuration file to use. With no variant, the configuration files of setupcon are named console-setup and key-
board. On the other hand, if you use e.g. chukchi as VARIANT then the configuration files are console-setup.chukchi and key-
board.chukchi. In this way you can have easy access to several different configurations - for example one for the Chukchi language
and another for the default configuration.
-v, --verbose
Be more verbose. Use this option if something goes wrong or while experimenting with the configuration files.
-k, --keyboard-only
Setup the keyboard only, do not setup the font or the terminal. On Linux it is enough to do this configuration only once.
-f, --font-only
Setup the font only, do not setup the keyboard or the terminal. On Linux this configuration should be repeated each time a new con-
sole driver is activated (for example when the frame buffer becomes active).
-t, --terminal-only
Setup the terminal only, do not setup the keyboard or the font.
--current-tty
Setup the only the current virtual terminal.
--force
Do not check whether we are on the console. Notice that you can be forced to hard-reboot your computer if you run setupcon with
this option and the screen is controlled by a X server.
--save This option can be useful if you want to use setupcon early in the boot process while /usr is not yet mounted and the required data
are not available. This option will make setupcon copy the required files in /etc/console-setup/ in order to make them available
before /usr is mounted. If you use setupcon early in the boot process, then you should run it with this option after every change
of the console configuration.
--save-only
The same as --save, but does not setup anything. This option can be useful if you want to save the required files while the screen
is controlled by a X server.
--save-keyboard FILE
For use by initrd builders. Do not configure anything. Save an usable keyboard layout in FILE.
--setup-dir DIR
For use by initrd builders. Do not configure anything. Arrange in the directory DIR everything necessary in order to configure the
console. The file DIR/morefiles lists all binaries the initrd builder has to install in the initrd image. All other files in DIR
have to be copied unchanged in the initrd. In order to configure the console one has to run the script DIR/bin/setupcon.
-h, --help
Display usage information.
FILES
~/.console-setup
~/.keyboard
/etc/default/console-setup
/etc/default/keyboard
/etc/default/console-setup.VARIANT
/etc/default/keyboard.VARIANT
/etc/console-setup/
SEE ALSO
keyboard(5), console-setup(5)
console-setup 2011-03-17 SETUPCON(1)