Linux CLI not using the full screen.
 

Hi.

Just installed Debian 5 on an old laptop, and due to its age I don't want to use a GUI.

However, the machine only uses the center of the screen, leaving about a 2 inch border around the screen.

Any ideas on why this is happening?

Thanks

Are you sure the monitor settings are not letting it happen?

Monitor works fine when running live CD's such as puppy.

I do not know if these settings change in CLI as well. Will have to look out for it. But you should try changing monitor settings to see if anything changes.

If by CLI, you mean the linux console then, it's probably that you're using a vesa framebuffer console and the mode(resolution) its set to doesn't match the native resolution of your laptop screen. Some laptops will try and scale the display, often resulting in fuzzy image quality, others will just center and put a border around the image.

The VGA= kernel option is probably what you need to look at. My guess is it'll be specified in the grub config somewhere, but it's been a while since I've looked at debian (or grub for that matter), so rather than give you duff information, I'll leave you to investigate further.