NAME

       unicode_start - put keyboard and console in unicode mode

SYNOPSIS

       unicode_start [font [umap]]

DESCRIPTION

       The unicode_start command will put the keyboard and console into Unicode (UTF-8) mode.

       For  the  keyboard  this  means  that one can attach 16-bit U+xxxx values to keyboard keys
       using loadkeys(1), and have these appear as UTF-8 input to user programs.  Also, that  one
       can type hexadecimal Alt-xxxx using the numeric keypad, and again produce UTF-8.

       For  the  console  this means that the kernel expects UTF-8 output from user programs, and
       displays the output accordingly.

       The parameter font is a font that is loaded. It should have a built-in Unicode map, or, if
       it  hasn't,  such  a  map  can  be given explicitly as second parameter.  When no font was
       specified, the current font is kept.

NOTE

       Unicode mode is a parameter with a value per virtual console.  However, usually  the  font
       and keymap is common to all consoles.

SEE ALSO

       dumpkeys(1), kbd_mode(1), loadkeys(1), unicode_stop(1), utf-8(7), setfont(8)

                                            3 Feb 2001                           UNICODE_START(1)