Widescreen tty console on widescreen 1280x800 with Geforce 4 Go, possible?

AchubaNanoiaBR · 06-29-2009, 02:10 PM

Hello everyone, this is my first post here at LinuxQuestions.org, even though I've been lurking around since 2005! Now, I'm a Linux beginner, and I've always used either Mandriva, Ubuntu or OpenSuse, with not many problem (all in a 4:3 monitor). However, I bought a second hand Presario R 3000 laptop, with a Geforce 4 Go videocard, running Ubuntu 9.04 and with restricted drivers.

My question is: even though X runs fine at the screen's native 1280x800 resolution, whenever I switch to a tty console (tty5, tty6, etc), the resolution reverts back to what I'm guessing is 640x480, though I'm not sure. Is it possible to set it at the same resolution as X, 1280x800 ? If not, could you refer me to a way to at least bump the resolution to 1024x760 or higher?

I've tried searching the forums, and some say that Geforces can't do that, that grub can't do that, and a few other conflicting answers. Any help would be appreciated!

PS: English is not my primary language, so excuse me for any spelling mistakes.

H_TeXMeX_H · 06-30-2009, 07:46 AM

Welcome to LQ.

I don't think it's possible to get a widescreen resolution in the console, but you can get a number of 4:3 resolutions. As you are using Ubuntu, I'm guessing you're using grub, so there should be a '/boot/grub/menu.lst', open it in a text editor and you should see something like:

Code:

# Linux bootable partition config begins
  title Linux on (/dev/sda1)
  root (hd0,0)
  kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1 ro vga=normal
# Linux bootable partition config ends

Notice the 'kernel' line, it has a 'vga=normal' option here, this means it doesn't use a framebuffer console. You should either add the following if it doesn't exist or change vga=normal to one of the following:

Code:

# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x64k
# vga=791
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x32k
# vga=790
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256
# vga=773
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x64k
# vga=788
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x32k
# vga=787
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x256
# vga=771
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x64k
# vga=785
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x32k
# vga=784
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x256
# vga=769

ignore the '#' signs, just use one of the 'vga=' options. So if you wanted VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x64k, then you would change it to:

Code:

# Linux bootable partition config begins
  title Linux on (/dev/sda1)
  root (hd0,0)
  kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1 ro vga=791
# Linux bootable partition config ends

Then just reboot for the settings to take effect. If you think it won't work, copy the above into a new option in menu.lst, like this:

Code:

# Linux bootable partition config begins
  title Linux on (/dev/sda1) vga normal
  root (hd0,0)
  kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1 ro vga=normal
# new option
  title Linux on (/dev/sda1) vga 791
  root (hd0,0)
  kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1 ro vga=791
# Linux bootable partition config ends

That way you can still boot if something goes wrong with the new option, you can still boot using the old one. Your choice what to do.

AchubaNanoiaBR · 07-01-2009, 04:13 PM

Thank you very much @ H_TeXMeX_H , that worked nicely! I got it running at 1024x768, which is already a HUGE improvement over 640x480... . Now text mode is actually useful once again for me!

Still waiting for a way to use it at widescreen. If someone knows how to make it work, please share the information.