By: Giro
Date: 2004-03-06
Site: Giro's Linux Tutorials
Email: giro - at - sub.gotdns.org
Copyright © 2004 Giro
The FrameBuffer can be used to achieve a higher screen resolution while in console making it allot nicer and easier to read. It is very simple to add support but you must recompile your Linux kernel. If you have it is trivial to do I will list the options to enable below and how to configure your boot loader so it all works. We will use the Vesa VGA driver and use the current kernel which at the time of writing is 2.6.3 and you get obtain it from here.
Configure the Kernel
Below are the options for the framebuffer you can use your cards
drivers instead of the Vesa drivers eg. Use nv for Nvidia
etc.. but Vesa is a good bet because it will normally work.
Then just configure and build your kernel like you normally
would,
Processor type and features --->
[*] MTRR
(Memory Type Range Register) support
Graphics support --->
[*] Support for frame
buffer devices
[*] VESA VGA graphics support
Console display driver support
--->
--- VGA text console
[*] Video mode selection support
[*] Framebuffer Console support
Configure Your Boot Loader
This is the last step you have do do then you can reboot and
enjoy your consol at a decent resolution below is a table
of the supported resolutions select the one that you want
and replace <YOUR_RESOLUTION> with it. An example is I have
an 1024x768 monitor and want 256 colours so I would use 0x305.
640x480 |
800x600 |
1024x768 |
1280x1024 |
|
256 |
0x301 |
0x303 |
0x305 |
0x307 |
32k |
0x310 |
0x313 |
0x316 |
0x319 |
64k |
0x311 |
0x314 |
0x317 |
0x31A |
16M |
0x312 |
0x315 |
0x318 |
0x31B |
Lilo Users
If you are using Lilo as your boot manager then append the following
to your /etc/lilo.conf again replacing <YOUR_RESOLUTION> with
the code from the table above.
vga=<YOUR_RESOLUTION>
append=video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr
Grub Users
If you are using Grub as your boot manager then append the following
to your /boot/grub/grub.conf again replacing <YOUR_RESOLUTION> with
the code from the table above.
title=Kernel-2.6.3
root=(hd0,0)
kernel=(hd0,0)/boot/bzImage root=/dev/hda3
video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=<YOUR_RESOLUTION>
Now just reboot I think it is worth using because even if you use a WM you still have a nice looking boot up not the normal 800x600 and it isn't hard at all if you have experience with compiling the Linux kernel.
Related Websites
Gentoo FrameBuffer Topic