Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce
From: baruch@nynexst.com (Robert Baruch)
Subject: Console driver patch
Message-ID: <1993May10.151030.3583@klaava.Helsinki.FI>
Date: Mon, 10 May 1993 15:10:30 GMT
Approved: linux-announce@tc.cornell.edu (Lars Wirzenius)

I have submitted a patch to the console driver to add more functionality
to it.  It is now in sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/Incoming/consrest.tar.z.  It
will no doubt move, but I'm sure you can find it in the ls-lR.

Here is the README file from that tar file:

--Rob

-----------------------README---------------------------------

consrest.tar.z -- updates to the console.c and tty_ioctl.c
files in kernel.chr_drv

Last revision: May 10, 1993
By: Robert Baruch (baruch@nynexst.com)
Relative-to: 0.99pl8

Reason for patch: console has function do_screendump which
  dumps the characters on a given console into user space
  via an ioctl call.  Does not dump attributes.  Console
  does not have functionality to write back a full screen
  (essentially the inverse of do_screendump).  Console also
  cannot tell you what char/attr are at a given x,y location,
  and you also cannot write a given char/attr to a given
  x,y location.

Purpose:  Adds the following functionality:

(1) Adds code to function do_screendump to allow attributes
    of characters to also be dumped.

(2) Adds function do_screenwrite to allow writing back the
    whole console screen from user space as gotten by (1).
    Accessed by the TIOLINUX ioctl call (see tty_ioctl.c).

(3) Adds function do_charwrite to allow writing a given 
    char/attr at a given x,y location on a console.  Accessed
    by the TIOLINUX ioctl call (see tty_ioctl.c).

(4) Adds function do_charread to allow reading a char/attr
    from a given x,y location on a console.  Accessed by
    the TIOLINUX ioctl call (see tty_ioctl.c).
