On Sat, Nov 03, 2001 at 03:59:28PM -0500, Perry E. Metzger wrote:
> 
> jonathan michaels <jlm@caamora.com.au> writes:
> > i was trying to ask if it is possible to use an old IBM PC/XT keyboard
> > with NetBSD ?
> 
> If the machine is physically capable of driving the hardware, it should
> work. I do not know if the machine itself will do that.

as far as i can see (and with respect to the history of teh machine) i
will do so (it has for some 10 years).
 
> > i have been reading about the "wscon" (sorry if i misspelt the name),
> > it would be nice if it could do 'big' character fonts (for us with
> > poor/damaged eyes).
> 
> wscons will deal with loadable fonts and can deal with text in

yes, i found the few itmes in teh documentation at www.au.netbsd.org.

> different sizes. Read the documentation for details.

this is where teh problem lies i think ... the DEC vt220 (from memory)
used to be able to do double high and (concurrantly) double wide. this
gives a font that is nearly big enough to be read (almost) with ease.

the bigest fontsize that most of these text console "manipulators" in
"fixed" font mode is about 16x20 pixels, what is required is something
like 40x50 pixels. thic can be doable on X11 and any other bitmapped
"text screen" ... but i'm trying to find a way to do this on a std text
console. i am hoping that thier is some way that it could be engineered
into wscons or some other suchlike tool ???

to answer tehe usuall question, if i could program i would have done
this for myself (and teh half dozen or so people whom i know need such
tool, we are all 'disabled' with respect to our physical skills and
abilities) a long long time ago. even when i was a functional
participant in teh computer workers/users community my skills didn't
extend to this level of system programing. this is why i ask this
question.

thank you perry, et al for responding and please accpet my apologies if
i have annoyed anyone with my poor writing style.

with regards and much thanks

jonathan

-- 
    ===============================================================
    Jonathan Michaels                     http://rebuilt.soon-to.be
    PO Box 144, Rosebery, NSW 1445   suffering construction anxiety
    ========================================<jlm at caamora com au>