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Linux Desktop Hacks
book

Linux Desktop Hacks

by Nicholas Petreley, Jono Bacon
March 2005
Beginner to intermediate content levelBeginner to intermediate
342 pages
15h 55m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Linux Desktop Hacks
28
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Chapter 1, Booting Linux
#9 Graphics on the Console
HACK
Configuring the Bootloader
When the bootloader loads the kernel, it will pass to it the parameters which
you specify and these parameters affect how you use the frame buffer. Just
like you would normally tell it which partition is your root partition, you
can do the same thing by telling the kernel the values you want to use for the
frame buffer.
When using the frame buffer, people commonly require a higher resolution
for the command-line console. To set this option, you will need to pass to
the kernel the right video mode to use to enable the frame buffer. Refer to
Table 1-1 to determine the code to use for your desired video mode.
When you have determined the correct video mode to use, you can pass the
kernel the
vga parameter to set the mode.
Configure LILO. To configure LILO to use a value from the table (as an exam-
ple, 1024x768 with 16-bit color), edit /etc/lilo.conf and find the following
line:
vga=normal
Change this to the mode you want, which in this example is 0x317:
vga=0x317
Finally, save the file, and as root run /sbin/lilo -v.
Configure GRUB. You configure GRUB in much the same way you configure
LILO. The configuration file varies from distribution to distribution, and
this is discussed in “Give Your Computer the Boot”
[Hack #1]. Edit your grub
configuration file and add the
vga parameter on the kernel line:
title foo
root (hd0,0)
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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0596009119Supplemental ContentCatalog PageErrata