Configuring Your Console with wscons

The wscons(4) hardware-independent console driver lets you configure your boring, black-and-white, nongraphical console in many ways.

Start by viewing the current console settings using wsconsctl(8). Run the following on a text console, not in an X session (changes made in wscons can carry over to an X session, but once you start X, you’re mostly stuck with X’s configuration system).

$ wsconsctl
keyboard.type=pc-xt
keyboard.bell.pitch=400
keyboard.bell.period=100
keyboard.bell.volume=50
…

Each line contains a system variable and a setting, many of which you can change. The keyboard.type variable represents the type of keyboard on the system. Because this is an amd64 system, it uses the pc-xt keyboard common to consumer computers, but you’ll see different keyboard types with different hardware.

You can also change these settings with wsconsctl. For example, in the previous listing, the variable keyboard.bell.volume sets the volume of the computer’s beep. Now, I’m a tcsh user, and I frequently use tab completion (type a character or two, press TAB, and the shell fills in the name of the command or file you’re about to type). Unfortunately, when tab completion hits an ambiguous spot, it stops. That’s not a problem when I’m logged in over SSH, because I can just type a character or two and press TAB again. But when I’m on the local console, each ambiguity is accompanied by a beep (or bell) from the computer. When I’m trying to fix a problem, and the bell rings, shouting “beep WRONG! beep WRONG! beep WRONG!” I have only one thought:

The beep must die.

$ wsconsctl keyboard.bell.volume=0
keyboard.bell.volume=0

Now silence reigns and I can resolve the problem without the computer nagging me. (You could choose to turn up the volume, if you’re a masochist. I won’t judge you—at least not in public.)

Here, we’ll look at a couple other things you can do with wscons.