display
PURPOSE
Selects the physical display that an existing or new
virtual terminal uses and sets colors and fonts.
SYNOPSIS
display [ [ -c -d [ display ] ] [ -b -f [ color ] ] [ -p [ file ] ]
[ -t [ font ] ] ] ...
DESCRIPTION
The display command changes the physical display assigned
to the current virtual terminal or assigns a default
display to be used when you open a virtual terminal. It
also sets the foreground and background colors, the
active color palette, and the active and alternate fonts
on the current display. The display parameter can be one
of the following names:
pcmono PC Monochrome Adapter and Display
egamono Enhanced Graphics Adapter and PC Monochrome
Display
egacol Enhanced Graphics Adapter and Display
advmono Advanced Monochrome Graphics Adapter and
Display
advcol Advanced Color Graphics Adapter and Display
extmono Extended Monochrome Graphics Adapter and
Display
megapel IBM Megapel Display Adapter and IBM 5081
Display Models 16 and 19.
You can request only those displays that are actually
installed on the system. If you have more than four,
only four will be displayed on the -c and -d menus.
Before display makes any changes, it checks all arguments
for errors and, if it encounters one, displays a list of
valid arguments and exits.
Note: You must insure that the TERM shell variable con-
tains the proper value for whatever the current display
is. See "termdef" and the terminfo file in AIX Operating
System Technical Reference for a list of these values.
FLAGS
-b [color] Selects the background color.
The color parameter is an
integer from 1 to 8 for the
Enhanced Graphics Display and
from 1 to 16 for other color
graphics displays. These values
correspond to the first eight or
sixteen entries in the active
color palette (see the -p flag).
For example, "-b 5" selects the
fifth entry. If you do not
specify a number, display lists
the palette of active background
colors and prompts you to select
a number for the new background
color.
-c [display] Changes the display used by the
current virtual terminal.
If you do not specify a display,
you are given a menu of avail-
able options. This menu con-
sists of a numbered list of
display names and descriptions.
The display number reflects the
number of physical displays
installed and their relative
positions in the Real Screen
Table. The current default is
always display number 1 in this
list. Changing the default
alters the display number asso-
ciated with each physical
display. If the virtual ter-
minal does not know the
display/adapter combination, the
Name column will contain the
words "Unknown Display" or
"?????". A prompt at the bottom
of the display list asks you to
enter the new display number for
the current or default display
setting. Whenever you change
the current display, the screen
of that display clears.
-d [display] Changes the default display used
when a virtual terminal is
opened. If you do not specify a
display, you are given a menu of
available options (see the -c
flag).
-f [color] Selects the foreground color.
The color parameter is an
integer from 1 to 16. These
values correspond to the first
sixteen entries in the active
color palette (see the -p flag).
If you do not specify a color
number, display lists the
palette of active foreground
colors and prompts you to select
a number for the new foreground
color.
-m [addr size] Changes the DMA pinned page at
the specified starting address
to size 256K blocks. If you do
not specify an address and a
size, the current starting
address and size is displayed.
-p [file] Changes the active color
palette. The optional file
parameter is the full path name
to a file that contains a list
of colors for the current
display, one color per line,
where each color is the decimal
representation of the 32 bit
color value. The color palette
file can also contain blank
lines and comment lines (a
comment line must begin with a
"*" character in column one).
Each supported display has a
corresponding color file which
contains its default active
color palette. The name of this
file is /etc/vtm/pal.name where
name is the display name
described on page . This is the
default value for the file
parameter.
-t [font[,font] . . . ] Selects the primary and active
alternate fonts for the current
virtual terminal on the current
display. The first font named
in the optional list following
-t will be the primary font.
The remaining fonts will be
alternates, in the order listed,
for the active font table. If
you do not specify eight font
IDs, the first font will be used
to fill out in the remaining
entries in the active font
table.
Notes:
1. All of the fonts in the list
must be of the same size.
2. Some applications that use
the terminfo file expect the
italic font to be the first
alternate and the bold font
to be the second alternate
fonts (see the terminfo file
in AIX Operating System
Technical Reference for more
information).
If you do not specify any fonts,
all of the fonts available for
the current display will be
listed, and you will be prompted
first for the desired primary
font ID and then for alternate
font IDs until you enter "F".
As you enter alternate fonts,
the display command checks that
they are the same size as the
new primary font. If you enter
fewer than eight fonts, the
primary font will be repeated in
the remaining entries of the
active font table.
You can specify combinations of the same flags on a
single command line. display processes -c and -d flags
first. If you specify -c, you will see the message
"Changing to current display...", and the current display
will be changed. Any menu interface for the color or
font parameters will be displayed there. A -p flag will
be processed next. The screen will be immediately
redrawn with the colors from the new color palette. Then
any foreground, background, or font flags will be proc-
essed.
EXAMPLES
1. To change the current virtual terminal display:
display -c egamono
This changes the display to the Enhanced Graphics
Adapter and PC Monochrome Display.
2. To make the Advanced Color Graphics Display the
default virtual terminal display:
display -d advcol
3. To change both the current and the default displays:
display -c pcmono -d egacol
This makes the PC Monochrome Adapter and Display the
current display and makes the Enhanced Graphics
Adapter and Display the default display.
4. To change the active color palette for the current
display:
display -p /u/new/palette
RELATED INFORMATION
The following commands: "open" and "termdef."
The terminfo file in AIX Operating System Technical Ref-
erence.
"Using Display Station Features" in IBM RT PC Using the
AIX Operating System and "Managing Display Station Fea-
tures" in IBM RT PC Managing the AIX Operating System.
The default color palettes in Virtual Resource Manager
Technical Reference.