# how to make console text smaller



## rusma (Jan 16, 2010)

Hi! How do I get smaller (or preferably native resolution, since it has sharper edges) native text/fonts in console. On my archlinux box this happens when Kernel Mode Settings starts (for native), or in grub by specifying VGA in the `kernelÂ´ line. 

How do I do this in freebsd?


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## fronclynne (Jan 16, 2010)

vidcontrol(1) on i386, perhaps using this on amd64.

Unless you're talking about a serial console, in which case, I don't know at all.


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## crsd (Jan 16, 2010)

FOS - fonts over serial? :e


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## graudeejs (Jan 16, 2010)

I should warn you that increasing "console resolution" will decrease it's speed. If it's not server I suggest using X


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## volatilevoid (Jan 17, 2010)

If you really want VESA on the console then you'll have to recompile your kernel. Your kernel config then needs to contain


```
options VESA
options SC_PIXEL_MODE
```

If you haven't compiled a kernel by yourself yet, I recommend reading the great handbook, especially chapter 8.5.

Thomas


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## graudeejs (Jan 17, 2010)

you can simply `# kldload vesa`
or to make this permanent add

```
vesa_load="YES"
```
to /boot/loader.conf


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## volatilevoid (Jan 17, 2010)

killasmurf86 said:
			
		

> you can simply `# kldload vesa`
> or to make this permanent add
> 
> ```
> ...


That works without recompiling the kernel? I tried that several times but vidcontrol always told me


```
Inappropriate ioctl for device
```
without having SC_PIXEL_MODE set. So maybe it works out of the box, maybe not.


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## graudeejs (Jan 17, 2010)

perhaps you just tried to set unsupported mode
also maybe oyu need to `# kldload vga`


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## volatilevoid (Jan 17, 2010)

killasmurf86 said:
			
		

> perhaps you just tried to set unsupported mode
> also maybe oyu need to `# kldload vga`



Hm, I always tried the modes listed by `# vidcontrol -i mode`. vidcontrol(1) says



> If you want to use any of the raster text modes you need to recompile your kernel with the SC_PIXEL_MODE option. See syscons(4) for more details on this kernel option.



And that matches my personal experience with VESA consoles.


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## rusma (Jan 17, 2010)

I forgot to say: my video card is a Nvidia Geforce (7200, something I think) Turbocache 128MB.


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## fonz (Jan 17, 2010)

volatilevoid said:
			
		

> And that matches my personal experience with VESA consoles.


Same here.

One can of course always _try_ to improve console resolution, but your mileage may vary. For example, on my current laptop I can increase the number of rows, so instead of 80x25 I can get 80x43 or 80x50. But I can't for the life of me get the number of columns increased, even with vga and vesa and the SC_PIXEL_MODE and everything.

Alphons


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## volatilevoid (Jan 18, 2010)

Well, it depends if you're on i386 or amd64. amd64 needs this patch to run VESA on the consoles. i386 should work more or less out of the box (with a recompiled kernel with SC_PIXEL_MODE option).


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