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Old 08-06-2013, 07:25 PM   #1
j.sudol
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Registered: Aug 2013
Distribution: Slackware 14.0
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How to Change Screen Resolution, Command Line


I recently installed Slackware Linux 14.0 on a desktop. Partway through the boot sequence, the screen resolution jumps from what I assume is VGA=normal (in the lilo.conf file) to the highest possible resolution. The text shrinks to the equivalent of six point font on paper, making it quite difficult to read. I will not be using any X-windows environments. I use the computer solely for computation and work entirely from the command line. So, how do I switch the screen resolution or the font size for the command line?
 
Old 08-06-2013, 09:41 PM   #2
frankbell
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I think that the change in text size comes when the video card is detected and the appropriate drivers are loaded. That's just a guess, though.

I googled about a bit and it seems that the answer is to use a framebuffer. I the (search found this article about Lilo and framebuffer. I have no idea whether it will work, but it might be a start.

http://web.njit.edu/all_topics/Prog_...fer-howto.html

I also found several articles that talked about configuring framebuffer when you set up Lilo during install, such as this one.

http://dev.slackware.it/docs/howto.php?page=15

I suspect that you could boot to the install disk and skip to the Install Lilo section and run this, but that's just a guess.

Hope this helps you on your hunt.
 
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Old 05-19-2014, 04:01 AM   #3
dunne
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Distribution: OpenBSD
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Disabling the framebuffer

Quote:
Originally Posted by j.sudol View Post
I recently installed Slackware Linux 14.0 on a desktop. Partway through the boot sequence, the screen resolution jumps from what I assume is VGA=normal (in the lilo.conf file) to the highest possible resolution. The text shrinks to the equivalent of six point font on paper, making it quite difficult to read. I will not be using any X-windows environments. I use the computer solely for computation and work entirely from the command line. So, how do I switch the screen resolution or the font size for the command line?

I see this is over a year old, but I think my answer may still be helpful
to others who find this through a search.

I had the same problem recently, trying out slackware 14.1. The kernel was
booting up with the normal console, and then switching to the framebuffer
with an unusably-small font (142x80 or something absurd like that). I did a
google search and found several "solutions" that simply didn't work for me.
Finally, I found this:

With a properly-functioning kernel, you can disable framebuffer
console (fbcon) dynamically by adding something like this to the
kernel command line:

fbcon=map:2

(This syntax is also used to assign specific framebuffers to specific
VT ttys, but is also used to disable fbcon altogether if you specify
a framebuffer number that is out of range.)

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=146003
So I duly added
Code:
        append="fbcon=map:2"
to the approprate LILO stanza, and that fixed the problem. Now I get the
good old VGA 80x25 on the console.

 
Old 05-19-2014, 05:58 AM   #4
Didier Spaier
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Registered: Nov 2008
Location: Paris, France
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Two ways:

1) Use a Terminus font, that you'll find in /etc/share/kbd/consolefonts [Read the PPS below first]. To try one, for instance size 20 bold:
Code:
setfont -v ter-120b.psf.gz
In the font name argument, 1 is the codepage (should be OK for English), 20 is the size , b stands for bold (you can try also v or n instead). To check what's available:
Code:
( cd /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts
ls -1 ter* 
)
When you are satisfied, just put the setfont command in /etc/rc.d/rc.font and make it executable.

2) Make and install a package for FbTerm. This allows you to use any true type font on the console (not using X). I recommend DejaVu (you can pick DejaVu Sans, DejaVu Sans Mono or DejaVu Serif). Advantages:
  • DejaVu is very good looking IMO
  • It is fully scalable, i.e. you can use any size that you want. Of course you can't do that with a bitmap font.
  • fbterm works directly in a Linux console and in a framebuffer as well (not under X, but it wouldn't be useful there as true type fonts are already available under X).
For instance:
Code:
fbterm -n "DejaVu Sans Mono" -s 26
See "man fbterm" for the details, and don't worry: when writing font names case doesn't matter.

PS Just in case you didn't make a full Slackware installation: you'll need fontconfig and freetype and of course the font you want to use as dependencies of fbterm.

PPS I forgot... Terminus font is not shipped in Slackware 14.0. But that's not an issue, just grab the package you'll find in the ap/ series for Slackware 14.1 on any mirror, there is nothing to compile, so you can safely install it on Slackware 14.0 with the installpkg command.

PPPS I just realized I'm *really* late... Well, maybe that will help some though

Last edited by Didier Spaier; 05-20-2014 at 02:00 PM. Reason: path to consolefonts was wrong; fixed.
 
  


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