Re: Laptop in Text Mode

From: Dances With Crows (danceswithcrows_at_usa.net)
Date: 08/21/03 

Date: 21 Aug 2003 17:53:35 GMT

On 21 Aug 2003 10:32:40 -0700, Felwynne staggered into the Black Sun and
said:
> Just curious, my laptop in text mode has a large border around the
> screen. It always did this when I had windows on it and switched to
> either 800x600 or 640x480. Is there a way to make it fill the screen
> or get bigger anyway?

Use the framebuffer console. It might be built into your kernel already
if you're using a distro-supplied kernel; if not, you'll have to rebuild
a kernel with VESA framebuffer console support. Then, boot your machine
with the kernel parameter "vga=0xNNN" where NNN is:
     
640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024
  0x301 0x303 0x305 0x307

...so if you wanted a 1024x768 console, boot with "linux vga=0x305".
You can make this permanent by editing /boot/grub/menu.lst (if you use
GRUB) or editing /etc/lilo.conf and rerunning /sbin/lilo (if you use
LILO.) There are details in /usr/src/linux/Documentation/fb/vesafb.txt
. HTH, 

-- 
Matt G|There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see
Brainbench MVP for Linux Admin / 
http://www.brainbench.com     /  "He is a rhythmic movement of the
-----------------------------/    penguins, is Tux." --MegaHAL

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