Screen resolution in terminal mode

[liquid]

How can I change screen resolution in terminal mode (that is switched on by ctrl+alt+Fn)? Some time ago the resolution was bigger. I suppose after upgrading Nvidia driver this was lost and now there are large characters displayed which I don't like.

[SteveRiley]

I don't believe the proprietary driver supports anything other than 80x25 on a TTY. According to the Arch wiki, it's because the driver lacks a frame buffer for high-resolution consoles.

[Buddlespit]

All of this assumes that you're in runlevel 1 (ctrl+alt+F1)

$ sudo apt-get install v86d hwinfo
$ sudo hwinfo --framebuffer

This will show you your supported resolutions. Write it down. Don't choose a resolution larger than you actual screen size.

$ sudo nano /etc/default/grub

Search for - GRUB_GFXMODE=
then add this line below it: GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=the resolution you wrote down
Save the file and then:

$ echo FRAMEBUFFER=y | sudo tee /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/splash
$ sudo update-grub
$ sudo update-initramfs -u
$ sudo reboot

This should give you a better resolution in TTY and on bootup (returns the nice splash screen).

[SteveRiley]

I have seen these suggestions, often as part of a larger set of steps (example: http://byobu.info/article/Changing_P...ion_in_Ubuntu/). Can you confirm if your version accomplishes the stated goal -- higher resolution console on the proprietary nVidia blob after boot has completed, as opposed to only at the GRUB prompt?

[Buddlespit]

My wife and I both got the nvidia blob before the login screen when we were both on 13.04. I'm on 13.10 and I don't think I've seen the blob, but the pretty glowing Kubuntu splash still shows up (vs the ugly Kubuntu with 3-5 dots). I haven't looked at my grub config since I have had other fires to put out...

[oshunluvr]

My nvidia machine has a much nicer TTY look using


GRUB_GFXMODE=1280x1024

in /etc/default/grub. This gets me 64x160. I also use 100 DPI fonts and have set my screens to 100 DPI. I don't think I had to change anything else to get this result.

EDIT: I did switch grub to DejaVuSansMono.pf2 font, but I don't think that affects resolution.

[SteveRiley]

My wife and I both got the nvidia blob before the login screen when we were both on 13.04. I'm on 13.10 and I don't think I've seen the blob, but the pretty glowing Kubuntu splash still shows up (vs the ugly Kubuntu with 3-5 dots). I haven't looked at my grub config since I have had other fires to put out...

My use of the word "blob" here means the binary drivers provided by nVidia, as opposed to the open source Nouveau drivers.

My nvidia machine has a much nicer TTY look using ... /etc/default/grub.

And you can do that on the binary blob without using any framebuffer configuration? If so, that's pretty neat. There's probably a way to do it without GRUB, as I've given up using that. Must go a'Googin'...

[oshunluvr]

I've even dropped most of the older stuff from xorg.conf. Most happens auto-magically. I've been really pleased with the progress nVidia has made - until recently of course

[Buddlespit]

My use of the word "blob" here means the binary drivers provided by nVidia, as opposed to the open source Nouveau drivers.

Ahhh... ok, my bad. My wife is on NVIDIA-Linux 313.xx and I'm on NVIDIA-Linux 331.xx.

[alesandro]

What I did very simply:

sudo /etc/default/grub

search for GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
then added between cotes "792" that correspond to 1024x768 becoming GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="792"
save the file. Then

sudo update-grub 
sudo reboot

[SteveRiley]

search for GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
then added between cotes "792" that correspond to 1024x768 becoming GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="792"

Hmm, usually that's vga=modenumber, not just a mode number by itself.

I tried various vga=modenumber entries, based on reports of valid numbers for nVidia, but none worked. Then I remembered that rEFInd, the boot manager I use, has a couple mechanisms for controlling boot appearance as documented in /boot/efi/EFI/refind/refind.conf.

First:

# Use text mode only. When enabled, this option forces rEFInd into text mode.
# Passing this option a "0" value causes graphics mode to be used. Pasing
# it no value or any non-0 value causes text mode to be used.
# Default is to use graphics mode.
#
textonly 1

I have always run rEFInd with textonly 1 because pure text mode boot is The One True Way. All others are absolute sacrilege.

But then:

# Set the EFI text mode to be used for textual displays. This option
# takes a single digit that refers to a mode number. Mode 0 is normally
# 80x25, 1 is sometimes 80x50, and higher numbers are system-specific
# modes. Mode 1024 is a special code that tells rEFInd to not set the
# text mode; it uses whatever was in use when the program was launched.
# If you specify an invalid mode, rEFInd pauses during boot to inform
# you of valid modes.
#
#textmode 0

I removed the comment from the line and changed the mode to 999, hoping that it was an invalid one that would trigger the list valid modes. Yep, it did! Of the several choices, mode 11 seemed reasonable, at 160x43. I edited the line once again, rebooted, and voila: high resolution boot text and virtual TTYs! Yay!

[oshunluvr]

because pure text mode boot is The One True Way. All others are absolute sacrilege.

zealot