Hitchhiker's Guide to Openbsd

7.3 - Accessing the Console Scrollback Buffer (amd64, i386, 
some Alpha)
On some platforms, OpenBSD provides a console scrollback buffer. This allows you to see information 
that has already scrolled past your screen. To move up and down in the buffer, simply use the key 
combinations 
[SHIFT]+[PGUP]
and 
[SHIFT]+[PGDN]
. 
The default scrollback buffer, or the number of pages that you can move up and view, is 8. This is a 
feature of the 
vga(4)
driver, so it will not work without a VGA card on any platform (many Alpha 
systems have TGA video). 
Due to space limitations, the install kernels do not provide the scrollback function. 
Switching consoles
 
will clear the scrollback buffer. 
7.4 - How do I switch consoles? (amd64, i386, Zaurus, some 
Alpha)
On amd64, i386 and Alpha systems with 
vga(4)
cards, OpenBSD provides six virtual terminals by 
default, /dev/ttyC0 through /dev/ttyC5. ttyC4 is reserved for use by the X Window system, leaving five 
text consoles. You can switch between them using 
[CTRL]+[ALT]+[F1]
, 
[CTRL]+[ALT]+[F2]
, 
[CTRL]+[ALT]+[F3]
, 
[CTRL]+[ALT]+[F4]
and 
[CTRL]+[ALT]+[F6]
. 
The X environment uses ttyC4, 
[CTRL]+[ALT]+[F5]
. When using X, the 
[CTRL]+[ALT]+[F
n
]
keys will take you to the text screens; 
[CTRL]+[ALT]+[F5]
will take you back to the graphical 
environment. 
If you wish to have more than the default number of virtual consoles, use the 
wsconscfg(8)
command to 
create screens for ttyC6, ttyC7 and above. For example: 
wsconscfg -t 80x25 6
will create a virtual terminal for ttyC6, accessed by 
[CTRL]+[ALT]+[F7]
. Don't forget to add this 
command to your 
rc.local(8)
file if you want the extra screen the next time you boot the computer. 
Note that you will not get a "
login:
" prompt on the newly-created virtual console unless you set it to 
http://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq7.html (2 of 14)9/4/2011 10:02:08 AM

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7 - Keyboard and Display Controls
"on" in 
/etc/ttys(5)
, and either reboot or send 
init(8)
 a HUP signal using 
kill(1)
. 
On the Zaurus, two virtual terminals (/dev/ttyC0 and /dev/ttyC1) are available by default, accessible 
with 
[ALT]+[CALENDAR]
and 
[ALT]+[ADDRESS]
(The 
[ALT]
key is the one right of the left 
[CTRL]
key).