Table of Contents
Console Section
Explore other sections:
- Console Configuration Section (this article)
Overview
The console section defines the “settings” of the virtual CYBER Console.
This section is optional and the defaults should be sufficient on most builds. Every configurable characteristic of the rendered
DtCyber console is shown in the Sample Console Section. The section names are arbitrary and samples are shown below.
Sample Console Section
In these examples: the definition console.windows sets the display background to dark green with a foreground (text) color of white; the definition console.linux sets a foreground (text) color of teal on a grey background. The default values are expressed as ; (comments).
Notes about Fonts
The way that fonts are rendered will influence choice of font. The console renders characters in a matrix of a rectangular images. For this reason, proportional fonts can leave the display with inter-character spaces (Kerning is not applied). It is recommended that a non-proportional (monospace) typeface, or one that is “close enough” be selected.
Color Specifications
The color specifications colorBG and colorFG are 24-bit (6 character) hexadecimal representations of the desired colors for Background and Foreground respectively. See the RGB Color Model for a matrix of Numeric representations of a large range of colors.
Character Cell Specifications
The Console supports three different proportions of character cells: Small, Medium, Large
The following settings (the defaults) are integer values representing the number of pixels per cell.
| “Scale” | Width | Height |
|---|---|---|
| Small | 8 | 15 |
| Medium | 12 | 20 |
| Large | 24 | 30 |
Is configured as:
fontSmallHeight=15 fontMediumHeight=20 fontLargeHeight=30 fontSmall=8 fontMedium=12 fontLarge=24
Scaling (Windows Only)
Two additional parameters scaleX and scaleY provide an additional scaling option for the rendered text characters. The defaults should be sufficient but the scaling is a proportional value.
Timing (Windows Only)
One additional parameter timerRate affects the refresh rate at which the simulated Cyber console window is refreshed. The default should be sufficient but on Windows, running multiple DtCyber instances or an underpowered display adapter can cause “flickering” or “flashing”. Adjusting this parameter can sometimes help minimize those effects. The default value (100) is the number of milliseconds between each display refresh.
Console Window Dimensions
The two parameters widthPX and heightPX define the dimensions of the simulated Cyber console in pixels.
- console.cyber.txt
[cyber] . . (other statements) . console=console.windows ;console=console.linux [console.windows] ; fontName=comic sans ms ; RRGGBB = 004400 colorBG=004400 colorFG=ffffff ; fontSmallHeight=15 ; fontMediumHeight=20 ; fontLargeHeight=30 ; fontSmall=8 ; fontMedium=12 ; fontLarge=24 ; scaleX=10 ; scaleY=12 ; timerRate=100 ; widthPX=1100 ; heightPX=800 [console.linux] ; fontName=lucidatypewriter ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X11_color_names ; https://www.w3schools.com/colors/colors_x11.asp ; colorBG=black ; colorFG=green colorBG=navyblue colorFG=lightcyan ; fontSmallHeight=15 ; fontMediumHeight=20 ; fontLargeHeight=30 ; fontSmall=8 ; fontMedium=12 ; fontLarge=24 ; widthPX=1100 ; heightPX=800
About Colors
The rendering engines used differ between Windows and Unix versions of dtcyber. X-Windows (X11.org) rendering engine uses a defined set of colors and only those may be selected when setting colors for that platform. Although names may vary between X11 implementations, they are generally consistent with the name table on Wikipedia. The color names identified there, however, have spaces in their names so a more reliable reference of canonical names without spaces may be found on the W3Schools web page.
When testing the color and font settings, it is recommended that the [manual] start option is used for dtcyber so the console can be quickly shutdown if the settings are undesirable.