Zhcon is a fast virtual console Chinese environment running on modern unix systems like Linux and FreeBSD. It can display Chinese, Japanese or Korean double byte characters via VGA, framebuffer or libGGI. Supported language encodings include: GB2312, GBK, BIG5, JIS, KSC and UTF-8. It can also use input methods(table based) from M$ pwin98 and UCDOS for M$-DOG. More information can be found on http://zhcon.sourceforge.net
All the source codes are published under GPL!(see COPYING) The input methods used in zhcon are originally written by ejoy<ejoy@users.sf.net> and are published under GPL too! However currently the words of the ime are converted from M$ windows & UCDOS. Future version of zhcon will use its own input table to purify its free spirit. The bpsf font format used in zhcon is proposed by one of its core developers Hu Yong<ccpaging@etang.com> based on psf format.See doc/ bpsf.txt for more detail.
The release source tar ball can be found on zhcon's project page onsourceforget:http://sourceforge.net/projects/zhcon. Many distributions, such as Debian and FreeBSD, also provide pre-compiled binary package for quick install.
See file INSTALL for install information.
Full user manual (slightly out-dated) is located in doc/
Set console as fb device Add line to /etc/lilo.conf as below:
vga=0x303 image=/boot/vmlinuz label=FrameBuf
#lilo -v #reboot
The following table shows the mode numbers you can input at the VGA prompt or for use with the LILO program. (actually these numbers are plus 0x200 to make it easier to refer to the table)
| Resolotion | 640x400 | 640x480 | 800x600 | 1024x768 | 1280x1024 | 1600x1200 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 bits | ? | ? | 0x302 | ? | ? | ? |
| 8 bits | 0x300 | 0x301 | 0x303 | 0x305 | 0x307 | 0x31C |
| 15 bits | ? | 0x310 | 0x313 | 0x316 | 0x319 | 0x31D |
| 16 bits | ? | 0x311 | 0x314 | 0x317 | 0x31A | 0x31E |
| 24 bits | ? | 0x312 | 0x315 | 0x318 | 0x31B | 0x31F |
| 32 bits | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Key: 8 bits = 256 colours, 15 bits = 32, 768 colours, 16 bits = 65, 536 colours, 24 bits = 16.8 million colours, 32 bits - same as 24 bits, but the extra 8 bits can be used for other things, and fits perfectly with a 32 bit PCI/VLB /EISA bus.
Additional modes are at the discretion of the manufacturer, as the VESA 2.0 document only defines modes up to 0x31F. You may need to do some fiddling around to find these extra modes.
Normal Mode
| CTRL-ALT_H | pop up online help |
| CTRL-SPACE | open/close input method |
| ALT_SPACE | show/hide input bar(open/close CJK mode) |
| CTRL-comma | toggle Full/Half char mode |
| CTRL-period | toggle Chinese symbol |
| CTRL-F1 | set encode to GB2312 |
| CTRL-F2 | set encode to GBK |
| CTRL-F3 | set encode to BIG5 |
| CTRL-F4 | set encode to JIS |
| CTRL-F5 | set encode to KSC |
| CTRL-F7 | toggle input style |
| CTRL-F9 | toggle GB2312/BIG5 auto-detect mode |
| CTRL-F10 | menu mode |
| CTRL-ALT-1-9 | switch to input method 1 to 9 |
| CTRL-ALT-0 | English mode |
History Mode
| SHIFT_PAGEUP | scroll up half screen in history |
| SHIFT_PAGEDOWN | scroll down half screen in history |
| SHIFT_ARROWUP | scroll up one line in history |
| SHIFT_ARROWDOWN | scroll down one in history |
When I wrote the original version of zhcon the following sources help me a lot.
| Source | Help |
|---|---|
| chdrv, jmce | they show me how a Chinese console works. |
| unicon | language encoding and font support, great! |
| /usr/src/linux/video/fbcon-*.c | low level framebuffer routine. |
| /usr/src/linux/drivers/char/console.c | VT102 implementation. |
| MINIX source code | VT102 implementation. |
| autoconvert | GB2312/BIG5 auto-detect&convert |