Kmscon

Kmscon is a userspace virtual console for Linux, using kernel mode-setting (KMS) for output. It is intended to replace the Linux kernel built-in terminal. It is multi-seat capable, supports internationalized keyboard input and UTF-8 terminal output. The input support is done via XKB (xkbcommon), thus making all keyboard layouts for the X.org graphical environment available for input.

Features

Kmscon supports printing full set of Unicode glyphs and thus is not limited by console encoding as the linux console.^[2] The use of X keyboard extension (XKB) functionality allows it to use the full range of keyboard layouts supported in X keyboard, thus making possible to use the same layout both in graphical environment and in terminal.^[3]

Development

In 2011, Jesse Barnes wrote in his blog about the possible userspace DRM-based implementation of the virtual terminal, that would dissolve the need for the Linux framebuffer and Virtual terminal (VT) subsystems in the Linux kernel.^[4] Motivated by this blog post, David Herrmann implemented the basic functionality of virtual terminal.

References