Hitchhiker's Guide to Openbsd

7.5 - How do I use a console resolution of 80x50? (amd64, i386, 
some Alpha)
amd64, i386, and VGA Alpha users normally get a console screen of 25 lines of 80 characters. However, 
many VGA video cards are capable of displaying a higher text resolution of 50 lines of 80 characters. 
First, a font that supports the desired resolution must be loaded using the 
wsfontload(8)
 command. The 
standard 80x25 text screen uses 8x16 pixel fonts; to double the number of lines we will have to use 8x8 
pixel fonts. 
After that, we will have to delete and recreate a 
virtual console
at the desired screen resolution, using the 
wsconscfg(8)
command. 
This can be done automatically at boot by adding the following lines to the end of your 
rc.local(8)
file: 
wsfontload -h 8 -e ibm /usr/share/misc/pcvtfonts/vt220l.808
wsconscfg -dF 5
wsconscfg -t 80x50 5
As with any modification to your system configuration, it is recommended you spend some time with 
the man pages to understand what these commands do. 
The first line above loads the 8x8 font. The second line deletes screen 5 (which would be accessed by 
[CTRL]+[ALT]+[F6]
). The third line creates a new screen 5 with 50 lines of 80 characters each. If 
you do this, you will see your primary screen, and the other three default virtual consoles, come up in 
the standard 80x25 mode, but a new screen 5 at 80x50 accessible through 
[CTRL]+[ALT]+[F6]
. 
Remember that 
[CTRL]+[ALT]+[F1]
is screen 0 (ttyC0). If you wish to alter other screens, simply 
repeat the delete and add screen steps for whichever screens you want running at the 80x50 resolution. 
You should avoid changing screen 4 (ttyC4, 
[CTRL]+[ALT]+[F5]
), which is used by X as a 
graphical screen. It is also not possible to change the resolution of the primary console device (i.e., 
ttyC0). 
http://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq7.html (3 of 14)9/4/2011 10:02:08 AM

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7 - Keyboard and Display Controls
As one might expect, all these commands can also be entered at the command prompt, as root, or (better) 
using 
sudo(8)
.