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Originally Posted by billy_bazooka
hey guys,
i have a weird question.
i do almost all my work from the console on unix like systems, but on occasion i need to startx.
now, on linux and all bsd's the system always turns on framebuffer (kms) and i have huge resolution in console instead of 80x25 normal text mode. BUT, when i turn off framebuffer to get 80x25 text console i cannot startx in full hd resolution.
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Interesting observation, I hadn't noticed that since I generally want a high (but not necessarily huge) resolution console. In the old days, before KMS, what you're asking for used to be very possible ... and I'd thought it still would be, but when I tried with Linux last night adding a "nomodeset" to the kernel command line, indeed I couldn't start X.
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my question is this, recently i started toying around with openindiana and since i installed it with a live-dvd it automatically boots to gui. i turned graphical login off and restarted the system to boot into 80x25 text console.. and then i noticed when i typed startx, voila! x was in full hd resolution! no more that annoying framebuffer crap that linux and bsd's do.
what makes illumos different from linux / all bsd's to be able to do that?
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I don't know.
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and is such a thing (80x25 text console, and then startx in FULL HD resolution) possible in linux / any bsd?
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One possibility is to go back to something pre-KMS. For example
NetBSD 6.1.x should do it and it's still supported. Maybe an older Linux like Slackware 13.0, which still receives patches, could be tried? In this approach you'll miss out on the latest features of the OS if you need them.
Another thought is to go with KMS but adjust the console to your liking. I can't advise about this on BSD (lack of knowledge), but it can be done on Linux. Usually people want a high-res console, so that's what you get by default, but you can change the video mode and font. Use the "video=..." Linux kernel command line parameter to set a video mode, and the "setfont" program to switch fonts. Maybe you can get an 80x25 (or similar) console that looks nice to you in this way? As an example, I happen to use this:
video=1280x800-8@60
This may be too hi-res for you, but it's less than my monitor's native 1920x1080 resolution.