On Fri, 30 Apr 2010 06:47:13 -0400 (EDT), Jan Willem Stumpel wrote: > > I like an old-fashioned VGA text look on the console; in > /etc/default/console-setup I have > > FONTFACE="VGA" > FONTSIZE="16" > > This used to work. > > But after a dist-upgrade around April 10th, the behaviour changed. > > 1 -- cold startup works normally (and looks normal). > 2 -- startx works OK > 3 -- pressing control-alt-f2 (to go to the console temporarily) > now gives a (framebuffer?) screen with very small letters; at the > top of the screen there is a message from "drm" stating that the > resolution is set to 1250 x 1024 (instead of 640 x 480 which is > what I want). > 4 -- presing alt-f7 gets me back into X. > 5 -- pressing control-alt-f2 AGAIN gives a completely black > screen. Nothing visible. Going back to X with alt-f7 is still > possible. > > uname -a gives: > Linux vega 2.6.32-3-686 #1 SMP Thu Feb 25 06:14:20 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux > > This kernel was installed recently; booting an earlier kernel, > e.g. 2.6.29-2, gets the old (proper) behaviour back. > > Configuration error? Or bug? If the latter, which package?
I think that this is a bug, but I don't know where. I'm guessing that it has something to do with KMS in newer kernels. But that's just a guess. I do a lot of work in the text consoles. I often use an 80x50 video mode (via the VGA option of lilo), which generally works everywhere. Anyway, I was not happy with the fonts provided by console-setup; and I wanted to go back to the legacy fonts that are used by Lenny. I opened a thread on this forum about the problem (http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2009/12/msg01438.html) and got a satisfactory resolution. Here's what I would recommend that you try. First, make sure that the console-data package is installed. Then, in /etc/default/console-setup, set FONTFACE="" FONTSIZE="" Then add FONT=lat1u-16.psf.gz In my case, I use lat1u-08.psf.gz as the font, since the 80x50 video mode requires an eight-pixel-high font; but in your case, since you apparently use the traditional VGA boot-up hardware text mode (no framebuffer, I presume), you will need the sixteen-pixel-high font. Give that a whirl and see how it goes. This method gives a larger selection of fonts to choose from. (lat1u-16 is a suggestion, but there are other sixteen-pixel-high fonts you can choose from. See the /usr/share/consolefonts directory for a complete list.) And in my opinion, these fonts look better too. But most importantly, this method may circumvent the bug you are experiencing. If it does circumvent the bug, console-setup is the most suspect package. -- .''`. Stephen Powell : :' : `. `'` `- -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/436712575.112714.1272634609803.javamail.r...@md01.wow.synacor.com
