NAME

       savetextmode, textmode - save or restore the complete SVGA status for textmode.

SYNOPSIS

       savetextmode
       textmode

DESCRIPTION

       These  are  simple  scripts  to save the SVGA register state when in textmode to the files
       /etc/vga/fontdata and /etc/vga/textregs ($HOME/.vga/fontdata  and  $HOME/.vga/textregs  if
       directory /etc/vga is not writeable) or to restore it from these files.

       The actual utilities used are restorefont(1), restoretextmode(1), and restorepalette(1).

       The  purpose  of these scripts program is usually to recover from a crashed console due to
       an svgalib, Xfree or other program bug.

       You do this by being a smart guy and running savetextmode  right  after  booting  of  your
       machine, prior to any problems. Then, in case the SVGA state is hosed and you sit in front
       of a blank or useless console, change VC (maybe login) to get to a  shell.  Or  exist  the
       currently  running  program  with <Ctrl>-C, <Ctrl>-<Alt>-<Backspace>, or whatever applies.
       Once you got a shell, run textmode and it  will  hopefully  render  your  console  useable
       again.

       To  make  it  clear: You do all this while not seeing anything on your console screen, you
       enter this information blindly or after logging in from a network. Also, if  the  keyboard
       is  left  in  raw  mode,  nothing can really help you as you cannot enter anything which a
       shell will understand.

FILES

       /etc/vga/fontdata or $HOME/.vga/fontdata
       /etc/vga/textregs or $HOME/.vga/textregs

SEE ALSO

       svgalib(7),   vgagl(7),   libvga.config(5),   dumpreg(1),    convfont(1),    fix132x43(1),
       restorefont(1), restoretextmode(1), restorepalette(1), runx(1), setmclk(1),

AUTHOR

       This  manual  page  was edited by Michael Weller <eowmob@exp-math.uni-essen.de>. The exact
       source of the referenced utility as well as of the original documentation is unknown.

       It is very likely that both are at least  to  some  extent  are  due  to  Harm  Hanemaayer
       <H.Hanemaayer@inter.nl.net>.

       Occasionally  this might be wrong. I hereby asked to be excused by the original author and
       will happily accept any additions or corrections to this  first  version  of  the  svgalib
       manual.