arch-wiki-md-repo/wiki/_content/english/Fbterm.md

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*   [KMSCON](/index.php/KMSCON "KMSCON")

**Note:** The last release was in 2010.[[1]](https://code.google.com/archive/p/fbterm/downloads)

[Fbterm](https://code.google.com/archive/p/fbterm/) (*F*rame *b*uffer *term*inal emulator) is standalone replacement of Linux kernel terminal that can function outside of [Xorg](/index.php/Xorg "Xorg"). Keep in mind that its development has stopped.

## Contents

*   [1 Features](#Features)
*   [2 Installation](#Installation)
*   [3 Customization](#Customization)
    *   [3.1 Fonts](#Fonts)
    *   [3.2 Input method support](#Input_method_support)
*   [4 Tips and tricks](#Tips_and_tricks)
    *   [4.1 Background image](#Background_image)
    *   [4.2 White font color](#White_font_color)

## Features

From [http://code.google.com/p/fbterm/](http://code.google.com/p/fbterm/):

	*FbTerm is a fast terminal emulator for linux with frame buffer device or VESA video card. Features include:*

*   *mostly as fast as terminal of linux kernel while accelerated scrolling is enabled*
*   *select font with fontconfig and draw text with freetype2, same as Qt/Gtk+ based GUI apps*
*   *dynamically create/destroy up to 10 windows initially running default shell*
*   *record scroll-back history for every window*
*   *auto-detect text encoding with current locale, support double width scripts like Chinese, Japanese etc*
*   *switch between configurable additional text encodings with hot keys on the fly*
*   *copy/past selected text between windows with mouse when gpm server is running*
*   *change the orientation of screen display, a.k.a. screen rotation*
*   *lightweight input method framework with client-server architecture*
*   *background image for eye candy*

## Installation

[Install](/index.php/Install "Install") the [fbterm-git](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/fbterm-git/) package.

After installation, mind the additional instructions:

```
==> To run fbterm as a non-root user, do:
sudo gpasswd -a YOUR_USERNAME video
==> To enable keyboard shortcuts for non-root users, do:
sudo setcap 'cap_sys_tty_config+ep' /usr/bin/fbterm
or
sudo chmod u+s /usr/bin/fbterm

```

## Customization

### Fonts

Fbterm uses [fontconfig](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/fontconfig "wikipedia:fontconfig") for a list of fonts, trying each sequentially until it is able to render the characters.

To change the fonts that are used, use the `--font-names` option to select favorites from the list given by `fc-list`.

### Input method support

Fbterm supports diverse [input methods](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Input_method "wikipedia:Input method") by acting as a client for an independent input method framework server. Several such programs are available for Arch, see [Internationalization#Input methods in Xorg](/index.php/Internationalization#Input_methods_in_Xorg "Internationalization").

## Tips and tricks

### Background image

To use a background image, Fbterm can be set to take a screen shot of the frame buffer device when it starts.

The following script (using the [fbv](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/fbv/) image viewer) is recommended in the man page:

```
#!/bin/bash
# fbterm-bi: a wrapper script to enable background image with fbterm
# usage: fbterm-bi /path/to/image fbterm-options
echo -ne "\e[?25l" # hide cursor
fbv -ciuker "$1" << EOF
q
EOF
shift
export FBTERM_BACKGROUND_IMAGE=1
exec /bin/fbterm "$@"

```

### White font color

By default, fbterm display the "white" text as a gray color, even using the -f 7 switch. Its possible to get real white by doing an echo once inside fbterm, like this

```
echo -en "\e]P7ffffff"

```