diff --git a/share/man/man5/src.conf.5 b/share/man/man5/src.conf.5
--- a/share/man/man5/src.conf.5
+++ b/share/man/man5/src.conf.5
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 .\" DO NOT EDIT-- this file is @generated by tools/build/options/makeman.
-.Dd February 16, 2024
+.Dd February 17, 2024
 .Dt SRC.CONF 5
 .Os
 .Sh NAME
@@ -990,6 +990,10 @@
 The
 .Va LLVM_TARGET_ALL
 option should be used rather than this in most cases.
+.It Va WITH_LOADER_BIOS_TEXTONLY
+Use the old, FreeBSD 12 vidconsole.c.
+This only supports text mode without teken, without any graphics, font or video mode support.
+This setting only affects the i386 and amd64 BIOS boot loader.
 .It Va WITH_LOADER_EFI_SECUREBOOT
 Enable building
 .Xr loader 8
diff --git a/share/mk/src.opts.mk b/share/mk/src.opts.mk
--- a/share/mk/src.opts.mk
+++ b/share/mk/src.opts.mk
@@ -202,6 +202,7 @@
     DTRACE_TESTS \
     EXPERIMENTAL \
     HESIOD \
+    LOADER_BIOS_TEXTONLY \
     LOADER_VERBOSE \
     LOADER_VERIEXEC_PASS_MANIFEST \
     LLVM_BINUTILS \
diff --git a/tools/build/options/WITH_LOADER_BIOS_TEXTONLY b/tools/build/options/WITH_LOADER_BIOS_TEXTONLY
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/build/options/WITH_LOADER_BIOS_TEXTONLY
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Use the old, FreeBSD 12 vidconsole.c.
+This only supports text mode without teken, without any graphics, font or video mode support.
+This setting only affects the i386 and amd64 BIOS boot loader.