A DRM/KMS fork of yaft (yet another framebuffer terminal) that provides high-fidelity console terminal services on modern Linux kernels where the legacy /dev/fb0 framebuffer device has been removed (CONFIG_FB_DEVICE=n).

Modern Linux distributions (Fedora 43+, RHEL 10+) have disabled the legacy framebuffer character device in favor of DRM/KMS. This breaks all framebuffer terminal emulators that depend on /dev/fb0, including the original yaft.

yaft-drm replaces the fbdev backend with DRM dumb buffers, enabling a full-featured terminal emulator on the bare Linux console with:

• Sixel graphics — render images and graphical applications like brow6el directly on the console
• Mouse support — evdev absolute for BMC/KVM hardware (iDRAC, iLO, Pi-KVM, QEMU, VMware), PS/2 relative fallback for physical mice
• Adaptive cursor — arrow cursor with save/restore (no ghost artifacts), auto-contrast based on background luminance
• Nerd Font glyphs — Terminus ASCII with 3469 Meslo Nerd Font icons for powerline, file type icons, and status indicators
• True color approximation — 24-bit RGB SGR sequences mapped to the nearest 256-color palette entry
• Cursor blink — ~1Hz block cursor blink on idle
• Login shell support — use as /etc/shells login shell with automatic fallback to bash over SSH
• Configurable resolution — --res WxH, --res list, or ~/.yaft-drm.conf. Invalid or unavailable resolutions list supported modes and exit
• Mouse mode selection — --mouse evdev|relative|auto for different console environments
• Command execution — -c "command" to launch directly into an application
• Clean tmux integration — xterm SGR mouse reporting (modes 1000/1002/1006), proper DA handling, powerline rendering, mouse click support on tmux window tabs
• Crash recovery — signal handlers restore console on abnormal exit, clean CRTC restore with VT switch on normal exit

Run brow6el — a Chromium-based terminal web browser with Sixel graphics — directly on a server console with mouse interaction. No X11 or Wayland required.

yaft-drm -c "brow6el https://example.com"

Full terminal with mouse support, powerline-enabled tmux status bars, and graphical capabilities on headless servers accessed via iDRAC, iLO, IPMI, Pi-KVM, or VM console.

yaft-drm can also be used as a console kiosk launcher. Because -c executes a command directly instead of starting an interactive shell first, a VT console can boot straight into a dedicated application such as tmux, brow6el, a status dashboard, or another fixed-purpose terminal UI.

yaft-drm -c "tmux new -s Console"
yaft-drm -c "brow6el https://dashboard.example.com"

Use yaft-drm as a user's login shell. Console logins get a graphical framebuffer terminal; SSH sessions automatically fall back to bash.

sudo dnf install yaft
sudo example-shell-init.sh --yaft-login
sudo chsh username -s /usr/bin/yaft-drm

Pre-built RPMs are available from the greg-at-redhat/brow6el COPR repository:

sudo dnf copr enable greg-at-redhat/brow6el
sudo dnf install yaft

This installs:

• yaft-drm — Terminus + Nerd Font icons, 8x16 cells (default)
• yaft — legacy fbdev version (for kernels with /dev/fb0)

The RPM also includes example-shell-init.sh at /usr/share/doc/yaft/ and a man page (man yaft-drm).

sudo dnf install gcc make ncurses libdrm-devel
make yaft-drm
sudo install -m755 yaft-drm /usr/local/bin/yaft-drm

# Opens a shell on the DRM framebuffer
yaft-drm

# Set resolution
yaft-drm --res 1920x1080

# List supported resolutions
yaft-drm --res list

# Run a specific command
yaft-drm -c "brow6el https://example.com"

# Force mouse mode
yaft-drm --mouse evdev      # BMC/KVM absolute positioning
yaft-drm --mouse relative   # PS/2 relative

# Debug output (mouse device detection)
yaft-drm --debug

# Show help
yaft-drm --help

Command-line arguments override config file settings.

# Display resolution (must match a supported mode)
resolution=1920x1080

# Default command (instead of shell)
command=tmux new -s Console

# Mouse mode: auto, evdev, relative
mouse=auto

# Fallback to bash when not on a VT console
fallback=true

yaft-drm can be used as a login shell via /etc/shells and chsh. This is the recommended way to run yaft-drm on servers — console logins get the full graphical terminal, and SSH sessions fall back to bash transparently.

sudo example-shell-init.sh --yaft-login
sudo chsh username -s /usr/bin/yaft-drm

The --yaft-login flag:

1. Adds /usr/bin/yaft-drm to /etc/shells
2. Creates /etc/yaft-drm.conf with fallback=true
3. Stops and disables gpm (conflicts with yaft-drm's built-in mouse)

The user must be in the video and input groups:

sudo usermod -aG video,input username

When fallback=true is set, yaft-drm checks whether it is running on a real VT console before attempting DRM initialization:

• On a VT console (physical hardware, iDRAC, Pi-KVM, VM console): yaft-drm takes over the display and provides a graphical framebuffer terminal with mouse, Sixel graphics, and Nerd Font rendering.
• Over SSH, inside tmux, or in any non-VT context: yaft-drm immediately execs /bin/bash --login. The user gets a normal bash login shell with no disruption.

This makes it safe to set yaft-drm as a login shell. SSH access, remote management, scp, rsync, and scripted logins all continue to work.

When yaft-drm is a user's login shell, tmux must use bash for its panes:

set -g default-shell /bin/bash

The --tmux-global-config flag in example-shell-init.sh includes this automatically.

yaft-drm provides its own mouse input via evdev and PS/2 and conflicts with gpm. The --yaft-login flag automatically stops and disables gpm. Do not run gpm alongside yaft-drm.

sudo chsh username -s /bin/bash

No other cleanup needed.

yaft-drm auto-detects mouse input devices:

Evdev absolute — pixel-accurate cursor positioning via USB HID tablet devices. Used by BMC/KVM hardware:

• Dell iDRAC (Avocent USB)
• HPE iLO
• IPMI (AMI, ATEN)
• Pi-KVM (Raspberry Pi 4 Model B)
• QEMU USB Tablet
• VMware VMMouse

PS/2 relative — fallback using /dev/input/mice for physical mice and basic PS/2 emulation.

The cursor automatically adapts its color based on background luminance: white fill with black outline on dark backgrounds, black fill with white outline on light backgrounds. Pixels under the cursor are saved and restored on movement (no ghost artifacts).

Mouse click reporting (xterm SGR mode 1006) is activated when an application sends the standard enable sequences — tmux with mouse on, brow6el, and other xterm-compatible applications work automatically.

example-shell-init.sh provides turnkey setup of the complete terminal environment:

# Install everything: calabi-shell prompt, tmux + Tokyo Night, git
sudo example-shell-init.sh

# Individual components
sudo example-shell-init.sh --calabi-shell
sudo example-shell-init.sh --tmux-global-config
sudo example-shell-init.sh --git
sudo example-shell-init.sh --yaft-login

See the calabi-shell repository for full documentation.

• DRM/KMS backend (/dev/dri/cardN) instead of fbdev (/dev/fb0)
• Auto-detection of connected DRM display
• Login shell support with automatic SSH fallback
• Locale auto-detection (C.UTF-8 fallback for Nerd Font rendering)
• evdev absolute mouse for BMC/KVM hardware (iDRAC, iLO, IPMI, Pi-KVM, QEMU, VMware)
• PS/2 relative mouse fallback
• Save/restore cursor with adaptive contrast (no XOR artifacts)
• xterm SGR mouse reporting (modes 1000/1002/1006) gated on application enable
• Scroll wheel support (button 64/65) with separate scroll device fallback
• Cursor blink (~1Hz)
• True color SGR (38;2;R;G;B) to 256-color approximation
• DA response suppressed to prevent tmux escape leaks
• Crash signal handlers restore console state
• Clean exit with DRM CRTC restore and VT switch recovery
• -c command argument and config file support
• --res WxH / --res list resolution selection
• --mouse evdev|relative|auto input mode selection
• --debug diagnostic output, -h/--help usage summary
• Terminus + Meslo Nerd Font icons for powerline rendering

• Linux kernel with DRM/KMS
• User in video and input groups
• A display connected to a DRM output (physical, virtual, or remote console)

Fork of uobikiemukot/yaft v0.2.9.

MIT (same as upstream yaft)