# vesa higher resolution



## joplass (Apr 10, 2021)

Hello forum,
I have an NVIDIA card but I don't want to install the driver if I can use vesa to set up a higher resolution. Is this possible or I must install the driver?
I am on 12.2-RELEASE and the output is via a DVI port.
Thank you,

```
$ cvt 1920 1080
# 1920x1080 59.96 Hz (CVT 2.07M9) hsync: 67.16 kHz; pclk: 173.00 MHz
Modeline "1920x1080_60.00"  173.00  1920 2048 2248 2576  1080 1083 1088 1120 -hsync +vsync
$ xrandr
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
Screen 0: minimum 640 x 480, current 1024 x 768, maximum 1024 x 768
default connected 1024x768+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   1024x768       0.00*
   800x600        0.00 
   640x480        0.00
```


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## SirDice (Apr 10, 2021)

joplass said:


> I have an NVIDIA card


Which one?



joplass said:


> Is this possible or I must install the driver?


Install the driver. vesa(4) is rather limited.


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## kpedersen (Apr 10, 2021)

The VESA standard only has a max of 1024x768 I believe. I have seen a couple of instances where people have made it go higher (or widescreen!) but I personally have never managed that. There are VBE extensions that should allow it depending on the hardware. Consumer cards generally don't though.

Potentially if your machine has UEFI support; you can use the UEFI equivalent to vesa called scfb to achieve a higher resolution. Again, I have never tried. Some info here. (https://wiki.freebsd.org/GraphicsOld/SCFB). The manpage seems to suggest it is an OpenBSD / NetBSD specific driver however: https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?scfb. I can't find it on my FreeBSD machine but it could be hiding somewhere, perhaps in ports.

If you don't want to install the NVIDIA driver; then unplug the card and replace it with AMD or use the integrated Intel GPU if your motherboard has one. Then you can use the open-source drivers for those vendors.


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## joplass (Apr 10, 2021)

SirDice said:


> Which one?
> 
> 
> Install the driver. vesa(4) is rather limited.


GeForce 8600 GT


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## joplass (Apr 10, 2021)

kpedersen said:


> The VESA standard only has a max of 1024x768 I believe. I have seen a couple of instances where people have made it go higher (or widescreen!) but I personally have never managed that. There are VBE extensions that should allow it depending on the hardware. Consumer cards generally don't though.
> 
> Potentially if your machine has UEFI support; you can use the UEFI equivalent to vesa called scfb to achieve a higher resolution. Again, I have never tried. Some info here. (https://wiki.freebsd.org/GraphicsOld/SCFB). The manpage seems to suggest it is an OpenBSD / NetBSD specific driver however: https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?scfb. I can't find it on my FreeBSD machine but it could be hiding somewhere, perhaps in ports.
> 
> If you don't want to install the NVIDIA driver; then unplug the card and replace it with AMD or use the integrated Intel GPU if your motherboard has one. Then you can use the open-source drivers for those vendors.


I don't have any other card. All right! Nvidia it is. Thank you,


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## Phishfry (Apr 10, 2021)

Now you need to install the correct nvidia driver for the 8600GT.
There are several in ports. I beleive you want 340 branch. Maybe try 390 first.


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## Phishfry (Apr 10, 2021)

I just checked. You need the 340 branch.
`pkg install nvidia-driver-340 nvidia-settings nvidia-xconfig`
x11/nvidia-driver-340/
Look at the page above for details.

The x11/nvidia-settings package gives you a nice Nvidia control panel for adjustments.
x11/nvidia-xconfig is probably not needed. It is an configuration file generator.
I believe basic config should work automatically these days.


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## SirDice (Apr 10, 2021)

Phishfry said:


> x11/nvidia-xconfig is probably not needed. It is an configuration file generator.
> I believe basic config should work automatically these days.


Yeah, don't install or run it. 

Just create a /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/driver-nvidia.conf:

```
Section "Device"
        Identifier "Card0"
        Driver     "nvidia"
EndSection
```


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## joplass (Apr 14, 2021)

I had to install the Nvidia driver. Thanks to all.


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