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Setting a console resolution
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henrik i
Dec 28, 2017, 6:50:05 AM12/28/17
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Hi,
I got two computers that usually run headless, but from time to time I might need to troubleshoot from the console. When I do this, I just connect a plain VGA cable to my 1920x1200 Dell monitor. Just upgraded to Stretch with kernel 4.9 and noticed that no matter what I do, the console resolution is 1920x1200. In addition, on the computer with the Matrox-adapter running something as simple as 'dmesg -T' is really really slow. It literally takes several seconds while the text scrolls on the screen.
The thing is, I do not really care about fancy framebuffer resolution and graphics on the console. I just want fairly big text that scrolls without hiccups, even in 640x480 :P
I have tried setting the resolution in /etc/default/grub:
GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x768x32
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep
Then running update-grub. The only thing that changes, is the grub-menu resolution, nothing else. I think the resolutions I have tried should be supported, given the output from 'vbeinfo' in Grub. I also gave a couple of kernel parameters a try, like video=1024x768x32. Even tried vga= and nomodeset, but I think doing this is deprecated. None of these methods seem to work.
I believe the resolution is set through KMS, Kernel Mode Setting. Maybe I just need to blacklist some modules?
I know the onboard graphic cards are quite cheap, the Intel one is not even made/supported by Intel :P Here is some output taken from lspci and dmesg:
1.
04:03.0 VGA compatible controller: Matrox Electronics Systems Ltd. MGA G200eW WPCM450 (rev 0a)
Subsystem: Super Micro Computer Inc X9SCM-F Motherboard
Kernel driver in use: mgag200
Kernel modules: mgag200
[ 12.997224] [drm] Initialized
[ 13.150842] fbcon: mgadrmfb (fb0) is primary device
[ 13.870421] mgag200 0000:04:03.0: fb0: mgadrmfb frame buffer device
[ 13.888499] [drm] Initialized mgag200 1.0.0 20110418 for 0000:04:03.0 on minor 0
2.
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Atom Processor D2xxx/N2xxx Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation Atom Processor D2xxx/N2xxx Integrated Graphics Controller
Kernel driver in use: gma500
Kernel modules: gma500_gfx
- probably Intel 3600 graphics? (Not really Intel)
[ 7.592556] [drm] Initialized
[ 7.987711] [drm] Supports vblank timestamp caching Rev 2 (21.10.2013).
[ 8.007901] [drm] No driver support for vblank timestamp query.
[ 8.682025] fb: switching to psbdrmfb from VESA VGA
[ 8.740893] fbcon: psbdrmfb (fb0) is primary device
[ 9.598838] gma500 0000:00:02.0: fb0: psbdrmfb frame buffer device
[ 9.613364] [drm] Initialized gma500 1.0.0 20140314 for 0000:00:02.0 on minor 0
[ 32.791633] [drm:cdv_intel_dp_complete_link_train [gma500_gfx]] *ERROR* failed to train DP, aborting
With regards,
Henrik
henrik i
Dec 28, 2017, 11:20:06 AM12/28/17
to
A small update. I did some more testing on the system with Intel 3600 graphics, and at least one working solution was to blacklist the module:
In /etc/modprobe.d/whatever.conf
blacklist gma500_gfx
This enabled me to use the following lines in /etc/default/grub
GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x768@60
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep
Then run update-grub as always. For some reason, this works for resolution change for both grub and the console. I guess this is because vesafb is now in use. I wish it was possible to change the resolution with the 'native' modules, but have not found the right documentation on the video= syntax (if it works at all). As mentioned, it did not work with setting it in grub.
With regards,
Henrik
Brian
Dec 28, 2017, 12:00:04 PM12/28/17
to
On Thu 28 Dec 2017 at 17:12:47 +0100, henrik i wrote:
> A small update. I did some more testing on the system with Intel 3600
> graphics, and at least one working solution was to blacklist the module:
>
> In /etc/modprobe.d/whatever.conf
> blacklist gma500_gfx
>
> This enabled me to use the following lines in /etc/default/grub
> GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x768@60
> GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep
>
> Then run update-grub as always. For some reason, this works for resolution
> change for both grub and the console. I guess this is because vesafb is now
> in use. I wish it was possible to change the resolution with the 'native'
> modules, but have not found the right documentation on the video= syntax
> (if it works at all). As mentioned, it did not work with setting it in grub.
I have a machine with an nvidia card. 'video=800x600' added to the linux
> A small update. I did some more testing on the system with Intel 3600
> graphics, and at least one working solution was to blacklist the module:
>
> In /etc/modprobe.d/whatever.conf
> blacklist gma500_gfx
>
> This enabled me to use the following lines in /etc/default/grub
> GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x768@60
> GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep
>
> Then run update-grub as always. For some reason, this works for resolution
> change for both grub and the console. I guess this is because vesafb is now
> in use. I wish it was possible to change the resolution with the 'native'
> modules, but have not found the right documentation on the video= syntax
> (if it works at all). As mentioned, it did not work with setting it in grub.
line at boot time works satisfactorily. Can also be done via grub in
/etc/default.
--
Brian.
Sven Joachim
Dec 28, 2017, 2:30:05 PM12/28/17
to
OP had tried) does not. The color depth, if any, has to be preceded by
a '-' sign, i.e. "video=800x600-32", see Documentation/fb/modedb.txt[1].
Rather than changing the display resolution, I would use a bigger font.
The console-setup-linux package ships various fonts with up to 32x16
pixels in the /usr/share/consolefonts directory which can be tried out
with setfont(1) and set in /etc/default/console-setup.
Cheers,
Sven
1. https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/Documentation/fb/modedb.txt
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