All I really need is the sort of Hi Res console performance I get when I boot the Ubuntu Live CD (Dapper) and it stays in text mode. It is colour and hires from the very beginning. There is no fancy bootsplash or anything just a better use of the screen realestate (17" - 1680x1050) than I get with the default VGA=Normal or VGA=Extended.

The problem is that I am reading lots of stuff on bootsplash utils and silent mode boot frame buffers and all I really need is to switch to that high res on my ATI X1600 Video at boot and stay there throughout.

At the moment if I choose VGA=Extended it switches to my best chosen font alt-8x8 half way through the boot process and this is not nearly as good as the Ubuntu live cd.

I can't work out from the live cd how it sets this up - obviously it uses some pretty compatible stuff because it has no problem with my ati card.

As far as I can see I need to do a couple of things (and I would rather do it manually than with a package of utils (at least to start))

1) setup a ram disk to hold the stuff during boot.
2) a kernel with support for the right type of framebuffer
3) the right modules for ongoing fb support for my card

Now if I could just get happening what the Ubuntu live cd does I would be more than happy. Can someone point me at a resource that walks me through the basics of this or where to look on the Ubuntu CD for it's configuration.

BTW I am using LILO and Gentoo in this instance. The ati proprietry drivers are loading fine for X but I am stuck with 8x8 in console.

TIA
Will

The kernel options are a must. The ramdisk will only be needed if you want a splash screen, its not required if you just want a framebuffer for a higher res console. You will definatly need to keep up with the drivers for your card though. Here is a link to the Gentoo wiki, helped me a lot.

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_fbsplash

Perhaps this will help:

http://www.linux-fbdev.org/