Console resolution WORKROUND

neok · 2009-10-25 08:22:05

Hi,
I have just installed 2009.08/X86-64 on an AMD64 machine and somewhere during the boot process the console resolution switches to a high value which makes characters too small for my vision... I tried the vga=ask option on the kernel line but although I can select an initial resolution, it still switches to the high value in the boot process.
How can I get the console resolution I need? Apologies for a possible naive question...

Could not disable KMS - tried "radeon.modeset=0" and "nomodeset" but no result (this is running a custom compiled kernel). But my problem was font size too small for my aging eyes, so I worked round this by using a 12x22 console font.

Thanks for the suggestions

Last edited by neok (2009-10-27 13:24:44)

MadTux · 2009-10-25 08:32:41

Do you have an ATI card and use KMS (kernel mode setting with kernel 2.6.31)? If yes, the "vga=" setting does not work with KMS and you have to remove either "vga=" from /boot/grub/menu.lst or disable KMS (nomodeset).

plmday · 2009-10-25 10:34:45

Hi, MadTux, thanks for figuring out the cause of the problem. I met it also on my recently installed Arch on a server. As with neok, the console font is very small and actually the console covers only part of my screen. A check shows that I do have an ATI card. I also read form the wiki http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ATI#Disable_KMS this

As well, you will have a full-resolution framebuffer, which is nice for high-res displays in console mode.

Obviously it's not that nice, Anyway to change to use lower-resolution framebuffer instead of the full one?

Jamie · 2009-10-25 13:58:41

Thanks for the information!
I installed Arch on my mother's computer yesterday and after I updated it, the console resolution was switching to "hires" during boot. I couldn't understand why it was doing that, my computer doesn't do that. Her computer does have a Radeon card in it, while mine has a Nvidia.

Last edited by Jamie (2009-10-25 16:57:35)

neok · 2009-10-25 14:46:41

MadTux wrote:

Do you have an ATI card and use KMS (kernel mode setting with kernel 2.6.31)? If yes, the "vga=" setting does not work with KMS and you have to remove either "vga=" from /boot/grub/menu.lst or disable KMS (nomodeset).

OK thanks MadTux, I do have an ATI card and I will try your suggestion, but by compiling a custom kernel, as I usually do after I get my new installation working. If I fail, I will try your sugestions and/or the article in the wiki.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-10-25 08:22:05

Console resolution WORKROUND

#2 2009-10-25 08:32:41

Re: Console resolution WORKROUND

#3 2009-10-25 10:34:45

Re: Console resolution WORKROUND

#4 2009-10-25 13:58:41

Re: Console resolution WORKROUND

#5 2009-10-25 14:46:41

Re: Console resolution WORKROUND

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