Andy Smith composed on 2025-07-29 13:34 (UTC):
> On Mon, Jul 28, 2025 at 11:58:55AM -0400, Felix Miata wrote:
>> Andy Smith composed on 2025-07-28 15:35 (UTC):
>>> The video= kernel command line looks promising and I will try this when
>>> I've finished using my laptop for work today :)
>>> It would help though if anyoen were able to confirm that I'm on the
>>> right track with that.
>> You are. I've been using it ever since KMS went mainstream going on two
>> decades
>> ago, using video=1440x900 by default as my goto for 1680x1050 and higher
>> native
>> resolution displays.
> I found a bit of time to tinker yesterday but unfortunately no matter
> what I put with video= always led to no difference and a log line
> saying:
> (video=1600x1200@119.82e)
> kernel: [ 2.910222] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] User-defined mode not
> supported: "1600x1200": 119 340129 1600 1736 1912 2224 1200 1201 1204 1285
> 0x20 0x6
> (video=1600x1200)
> kernel: [ 2.973614] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] User-defined mode not
> supported: "1600x1200": 60 160961 1600 1704 1880 2160 1200 1201 1204 1242
> 0x20 0x6
With a 15:10 2880x1920 display, I would not expect a 4:3 1600x1200 mode to
be supported, though not impossible. Can you configure use of 1600x1200
running in X? When you run xrandr in X11 or whatever its equivalent in Wayland
is, is 1600x1200 a listed/supported mode? Supported modes can also be found in
/sys/class/drm/<output-name>/modes.
> What I observe during boot is:
> 1. Absolutely minuscule text at grub menu, persisting up to and
> including point of asking for LUKS passphrase
Is your Grub menu a GUI configuration, or plain text? Mine on UEFI displays
are all using ordinary text for a Grub menu that looks like about 44-48 lines
tall and all but two characters of the full display width.
# inxi -GS
System:
Host: ab560 Kernel: 6.1.0-34-amd64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64
Console: tty 3 Distro: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel RocketLake-S GT1 [UHD Graphics 730] driver: i915 v: kernel
Display: server: X.org v: 1.21.1.7 driver: X: loaded: modesetting unloaded:
fbdev,vesa
dri: iris gpu: i915 tty: 200x56 resolution: 2560x1440
API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,swrast platforms: gbm,surfaceless,device
API: OpenGL Message: GL data unavailable in console for root.
API: Vulkan v: 1.3.239 drivers: intel,llvmpipe surfaces: N/A
Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo x11: xdriinfo,
xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
# fbset
mode "1600x900"
geometry 1600 900 1600 900 32
timings 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
accel true
rgba 8/16,8/8,8/0,0/0
endmode
# cat /proc/cmdline
BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz root=LABEL=<filter> noresume ipv6.disable=1 net.ifnames=0
consoleblank=0 preempt=full mitigations=off video=1600x900@60
At this point I apt updated and then rebooted:
# inxi -GS
System:
Host: ab560 Kernel: 6.1.0-37-amd64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64
Console: tty 3 Distro: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel RocketLake-S GT1 [UHD Graphics 730] driver: i915 v: kernel
Display: server: X.org v: 1.21.1.7 driver: X: loaded: modesetting unloaded:
fbdev,vesa
dri: iris gpu: i915 tty: 240x67 resolution: 2560x1440
API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,swrast platforms: gbm,surfaceless,device
API: OpenGL Message: GL data unavailable in console for root.
API: Vulkan v: 1.3.239 drivers: intel,llvmpipe surfaces: N/A
Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo x11: xdriinfo,
xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
# fbset
mode "1920x1080"
geometry 1920 1080 1920 1080 32
timings 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
accel true
rgba 8/16,8/8,8/0,0/0
endmode
# cat /proc/cmdline
BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz root=LABEL=<filter> noresume ipv6.disable=1 net.ifnames=0
consoleblank=0 preempt=full mitigations=off video=1920x1080@60
#
Another reboot:
# inxi -GS
System:
Host: ab560 Kernel: 6.1.0-37-amd64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64
Console: tty 3 Distro: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel RocketLake-S GT1 [UHD Graphics 730] driver: i915 v: kernel
Display: server: X.org v: 1.21.1.7 driver: X: loaded: modesetting unloaded:
fbdev,vesa
dri: iris gpu: i915 tty: 256x72 resolution: 2560x1440
API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,swrast platforms: gbm,surfaceless,device
API: OpenGL Message: GL data unavailable in console for root.
API: Vulkan v: 1.3.239 drivers: intel,llvmpipe surfaces: N/A
Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo x11: xdriinfo,
xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
# fbset
mode "2048x1152"
geometry 2048 1152 2048 1152 32
timings 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
accel true
rgba 8/16,8/8,8/0,0/0
endmode
# cat /proc/cmdline
BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz root=LABEL=<filter> noresume ipv6.disable=1 net.ifnames=0
consoleblank=0 preempt=full mitigations=off video=2048x1152@60
#
One more reboot, but without any video= on cmdline:
System:
Host: ab560 Kernel: 6.1.0-37-amd64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64
Console: tty 3 Distro: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel RocketLake-S GT1 [UHD Graphics 730] driver: i915 v: kernel
Display: server: X.org v: 1.21.1.7 driver: X: loaded: modesetting unloaded:
fbdev,vesa
dri: iris gpu: i915 tty: 160x45 resolution: 2560x1440
API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,swrast platforms: gbm,surfaceless,device
API: OpenGL Message: GL data unavailable in console for root.
API: Vulkan v: 1.3.239 drivers: intel,llvmpipe surfaces: N/A
Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo x11: xdriinfo,
xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
# fbset
mode "2560x1440"
geometry 2560 1440 2560 1440 32
timings 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
accel true
rgba 8/16,8/8,8/0,0/0
endmode
# cat /proc/cmdline
BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz root=LABEL=<filter> noresume ipv6.disable=1 net.ifnames=0
consoleblank=0 preempt=full mitigations=off
#
I can't tell you why without video= that the framebuffer shrinks character
count to 160x45 from 256x72 in 2048x1152, 240x67 in 1920x1080, and 200x56
in 1600x900. I tried another boot sans video=, and sans
/etc/default/console-setup,
but the result was the same much larger text reduced to 160x45 in characters.
I get the same result when I include (the native) video=2560x1440@60. Whatever
is making my console text bigger in the absence of a non-native video= on kernel
cmdline must be absent in your installation, or hiding from me on mine.
Next boot I repeated absence of video=, but first reconnected the other two
displays:
inxi -GS
System:
Host: ab560 Kernel: 6.1.0-37-amd64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64
Console: tty 3 Distro: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel RocketLake-S GT1 [UHD Graphics 730] driver: i915 v: kernel
Display: server: X.org v: 1.21.1.7 driver: X: loaded: modesetting unloaded:
fbdev,vesa
dri: iris gpu: i915 tty: 210x65 resolution: 1: 2560x1440 2: 1920x1200 3:
1680x1050
API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,swrast platforms: gbm,surfaceless,device
API: OpenGL Message: GL data unavailable in console for root.
API: Vulkan v: 1.3.239 drivers: intel,llvmpipe surfaces: N/A
Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo x11: xdriinfo,
xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
# fbset
mode "1680x1050"
geometry 1680 1050 2560 1440 32
timings 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
accel true
rgba 8/16,8/8,8/0,0/0
endmode
BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz root=LABEL=<filter> noresume ipv6.disable=1 net.ifnames=0
consoleblank=0 preempt=full mitigations=off
#
This 1680x1050 210x65 result is that of the lowest native resolution among
the three connected displays, using the kernel's native font shared with
single display boots using video=. When I boot Mageia 9, Fedora 24, or
Tumbleweed 20250725 with only the 2k screen connected (to DisplayPort), vttys
are all tiny 320x90 text in 2560x1440 resolution. OTOH, booting Mint 22.1 or
Ubuntu 24.04 match Bookworm's 160x45 @2560x1440.
> 2. After LUKS passphrase given, screens to reset either font size or
> resolution or both (hard to tell) into something a lot more readable.
> This is still the scrolling text of the boot process.
This may be plymouth at work. I never have it installed.[1] Try adding also
to kernel cmdline noplymouth and/or plymouth.enable=0 and/or plymouth=0
and see what happens. Alternatively, check if using encryption requires
it, and if not, purge it.
After some more experimenting,I think all you should need to do is set the
FONTFACE= and FONTSIZE= to your preferences from the console-setup man page,
then run setupcon -f as root or with sudo or su - to enlarge the font used
in your default display mode 2880x1920. Apparently when setupcon has been
run, it gets overridden if a valid video= parameter is provided on the kernel
cmdline. What I have yet to determine is where, if at all, the result gets
saved. It does not appear that it does anywhere I've looked, so may need to
get dropped into a systemd service file to be run on each boot.
> Does anyone know how that should be done? This is recent-ish hardware
> (2023) with Intel i915 graphics.
Above info is all from my newest, 2021-Q1.
[1] "Never" is actually not true. In Mageia Linux, plymouth is a dependency
of an insane number of basic OS packages, so I simply disable it there. No
other distro has such requirements, so don't have it installed.
--
Evolution as taught in public schools is, like religion,
based on faith, not based on science.
Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!
Felix Miata
