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Setting the screen resolution in grub2

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Rob van der Putten

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Feb 23, 2011, 9:30:01 AM2/23/11
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Hi there


How do I set the screen resolution to 640x480?
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="vga=769" in /etc/default/grub doesn't work.
There is lots of stuff on the web on how to do this, but I couldn't find
anything /etc/default/grub specific.

TIA


Regards,
Rob


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darkestkhan

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Feb 23, 2011, 9:40:02 AM2/23/11
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2011/2/23 Rob van der Putten <r...@sput.nl>:

> Hi there
>
>
> How do I set the screen resolution to 640x480?
> GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="vga=769" in /etc/default/grub doesn't work.
> There is lots of stuff on the web on how to do this, but I couldn't find
> anything /etc/default/grub specific.
>
> TIA
>
>
> Regards,
> Rob
>

Try in adding this grub boot menu ( and iirc you should add it in
/boot/grub/grub.cfg )

darkestkhan
------------------------------------------
jid: darke...@gmail.com
May The Source be with You.


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Tom H

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Feb 23, 2011, 9:40:01 AM2/23/11
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On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 8:52 AM, Rob van der Putten <r...@sput.nl> wrote:
>
> How do I set the screen resolution to 640x480?
> GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="vga=769" in /etc/default/grub doesn't work.
> There is lots of stuff on the web on how to do this, but I couldn't find
> anything /etc/default/grub specific.

Isn't 640x480 the default?

The "/etc/default/grub" variables that control the resolution are
GRUB_GFXMODE and GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX.


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Rob van der Putten

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Feb 23, 2011, 10:10:03 AM2/23/11
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Hi there


On Wed, 23 Feb 2011, Tom H wrote:

> Isn't 640x480 the default?

As far as I can tell Grub2 tries to figure out largest resolution and
number of colours the hardware (video card) supports and then uses this as
its default.

> The "/etc/default/grub" variables that control the resolution are
> GRUB_GFXMODE and GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX.

Even GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX="text" doesn't work.

Is it OK to run update-grub or should I run grub-install?
Maybe update-grub doesn't install the right modules for a low resolution.
It does put a 'set gfxpayload=text' in /boot/grub/grub.cfg though.

I could be on the wrong track;
The problems start after grub has run. Maybe the Linux boot process
overrides the resolution set by Grub.


Regards,
Rob


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Dom

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Feb 23, 2011, 10:30:02 AM2/23/11
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On 23/02/11 13:52, Rob van der Putten wrote:
> Hi there
>
>
> How do I set the screen resolution to 640x480?
> GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="vga=769" in /etc/default/grub doesn't work.
> There is lots of stuff on the web on how to do this, but I couldn't find
> anything /etc/default/grub specific.
>

Setting:

GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep

in /etc/grub/default, and running update-grub, should set your boot
scree mode and kernel screen mode to 640x480. It will be a frame buffer
mode, not text only (which I would prefer on some of my older systems).

Are use using a standard kernel or a customised one? If it's custom you
may need to build in VESA frame buffer support (this is something I
haven't looked into yet, but will).

Dom


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Brian

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Feb 23, 2011, 10:40:02 AM2/23/11
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On Wed 23 Feb 2011 at 16:01:22 +0100, Rob van der Putten wrote:

> As far as I can tell Grub2 tries to figure out largest resolution and
> number of colours the hardware (video card) supports and then uses this
> as its default.

The default GRUB menu display screen is definitely 640x480. Are you
after controlling the screen resolution later in the boot process?

> Is it OK to run update-grub or should I run grub-install?
> Maybe update-grub doesn't install the right modules for a low resolution.
> It does put a 'set gfxpayload=text' in /boot/grub/grub.cfg though.

Run update-grub.

> I could be on the wrong track;
> The problems start after grub has run. Maybe the Linux boot process
> overrides the resolution set by Grub.

It can and it does. Your video card and the driver it uses have some
bearing on this, as does /etc/default/console-setup.


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Brian

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Feb 23, 2011, 10:50:02 AM2/23/11
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On Wed 23 Feb 2011 at 14:52:56 +0100, Rob van der Putten wrote:

> How do I set the screen resolution to 640x480?
> GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="vga=769" in /etc/default/grub doesn't work.
> There is lots of stuff on the web on how to do this, but I couldn't find
> anything /etc/default/grub specific.

http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub.html

Section 5.1.


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Brian

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Feb 23, 2011, 11:10:02 AM2/23/11
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On Wed 23 Feb 2011 at 15:23:02 +0000, Brian wrote:

> It can and it does. Your video card and the driver it uses have some
> bearing on this, as does /etc/default/console-setup.

I got carried away there. /etc/default/console-setup doesn't alter the
screen resolution.


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Rob van der Putten

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Feb 23, 2011, 2:20:02 PM2/23/11
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Hi there


On Wed, 23 Feb 2011, Brian wrote:

> I got carried away there. /etc/default/console-setup doesn't alter the
> screen resolution.

It does set COLUMNS and LINES.

Anyway. I solved the problem. It was a hardware and not a config problem;
The motherboard has a onboard VGA and had a NVidia AGP card. It wouldn't
work without the NVidea. Nor with a PCI card. So I cleared the BIOS with a
jumper.
It now works with the onboard VGA. My 1280x1024 monitor says it's at
720x400, but my IBM 8513 (640x480@60 Hz / 640x400@72 Hz) just works.
The IBM 8513 is a 12 Inch monitor that I only use when I can't SSH to my
server.

Thanks for all your input.


Regards,
Rob


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Chris Bannister

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Feb 25, 2011, 10:50:02 PM2/25/11
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On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 02:30:12PM +0000, darkestkhan wrote:
> 2011/2/23 Rob van der Putten <r...@sput.nl>:
[..]

> > How do I set the screen resolution to 640x480?
> > GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="vga=769" in /etc/default/grub doesn't work.
> > There is lots of stuff on the web on how to do this, but I couldn't find
> > anything /etc/default/grub specific.
[..]

>
> Try in adding this grub boot menu ( and iirc you should add it in
> /boot/grub/grub.cfg )

Incorrect.

root@fischer:~# ls -al /boot/grub/grub.cfg
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 1420 2010-02-12 16:59 /boot/grub/grub.cfg

--
"Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet."
-- Napoleon Bonaparte


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Tom H

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Feb 26, 2011, 12:40:01 AM2/26/11
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On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 11:48 PM, Chris Bannister
<mocki...@earthlight.co.nz> wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 02:30:12PM +0000, darkestkhan wrote:
>> 2011/2/23 Rob van der Putten <r...@sput.nl>:
> [..]
>> > How do I set the screen resolution to 640x480?
>> > GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="vga=769" in /etc/default/grub doesn't work.
>> > There is lots of stuff on the web on how to do this, but I couldn't find
>> > anything /etc/default/grub specific.
> [..]
>>
>> Try in adding this grub boot menu ( and iirc you should add it in
>> /boot/grub/grub.cfg )
>
> Incorrect.
>
> root@fischer:~# ls -al /boot/grub/grub.cfg
> -r--r--r-- 1 root root 1420 2010-02-12 16:59 /boot/grub/grub.cfg

The problem isn't that grub.cfg is read-only. It's that nay change to
grub.cfg will be overwritten any time
grub-mkconfig/update-grub/update-grub2 is run.

Furhermore, I remembered after deleting previous emails in thsi thread
that there's one suggestion that wasn't made namely to set
"GRUB_TERMINAL=console".


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