Resolution Change at boot
Forum: X and Fluxbox
Topic: Resolution Change at boot
started by: Pickletech
Posted by Pickletech on June 02 2005,13:30
Hello everyone. DSL Rocks! Anywho, using a livecd, is it possible to set the video resolution to 800x600x16? I know that I can do it manually, but I would like it if every time i start DSL it automatically went to 800x600x16. Thank You,
Pickletech
Posted by liran on June 02 2005,14:11
there's a lilo/grub command line that controls that. dont' take my word on it, but it's something like `linux vga=800x600`
just read the docs for the exact syntax
liran.
Posted by Pickletech on June 02 2005,14:22
thank you. but do you know of any way to set it to automatically do it? i am just wondering, because i am setting up DSL as a thin client, and the users it is intended for are not too computer savvy. anything i can do to automate the process the better.Thanx Again,
Pickletech
Posted by Pickletech on June 02 2005,14:45
hmm, actually i guess that wasn't what i wanted. When i tried that it doesnt tell me i "passed an undefined mode number" but then just brings me into xvesa setup. can't i just change the xvesa defaults?
Posted by cbagger01 on June 02 2005,16:42
Press the F3 key and try booting using the framebuffer code for 800x600x16Then use the xfbdev driver.
Booting with:
fb800x600
might also work, but I don't know if it is 16bit or 32bit.
Posted by Pickletech on June 02 2005,17:22
chagger, thank you for the help but thats not what i need help with. I can get everything to display just fine. I just go to XVesa once DSL loads. What I need help with is getting it to do it automatically, as in you just press enter at the boot prompt and it will automatically go to 800X600X16. Is there any way to change the defaults for XVesa?thank you for your help and patience
Posted by emaynard on June 02 2005,19:19
Pickletech,I have the exact same need, so if you find a solution, please drop me a message and I'll do the same if I come across one.
UPDATE:
You may want to give this topic a look.
< http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin....;t=5808 >
I'm actually following a similar idea using vga=788 in the isolinux.cfg file. I'll keep you posted with my results.
Posted by Pickletech on June 02 2005,20:14
no problem emaynard. i am assuming i have to change the .xserverrc file, but whenever I do and remaster it it always gets changed. anyone got any ideas?
Posted by Fallen Kell on June 02 2005,20:16
If you want this from the CD, then you could edit the linuxrc in the minirt24.gz file and add the vga or whatever code you use and append it to the $CMDLINE variable and then remaster the CD:Follow the remaster guides but instead of simply copying the minirt24.gz file into the newcd/boot/isolinux do the following:
gunzip minirt24.gz
mount -o loop ./minirt24 /mnt/temp
cd /mnt/temp
vi linuxrc
(after the CMDLINE=$(cat /proc/cmdline) )
CMDLINE=$($CMDLINE vga=blah)
:wq!
umount /mnt/temp
gzip ./minirt24
cp ./minirt24.gz /newcd/boot/isolinux
And follow the rest of the normal remaster commands. There may be a better place to do this since this is truely a hack and not a true solution, but it would work. If it is in a hard drive install or frugal install, change the lilo boot loader's APPEND line to add in the code there.
Posted by emaynard on June 02 2005,20:20
| Quote (Pickletech @ June 02 2005,16:14) |
| no problem emaynard. i am assuming i have to change the .xserverrc file, but whenever I do and remaster it it always gets changed. anyone got any ideas? |
In my case it wouldn't be changed, but it would be ignored for some reason and default to 1024*768.
Posted by emaynard on June 02 2005,20:22
| Quote (emaynard @ June 02 2005,15:19) |
| Pickletech, I have the exact same need, so if you find a solution, please drop me a message and I'll do the same if I come across one. UPDATE: You may want to give this topic a look. < http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin....;t=5808 > I'm actually following a similar idea using vga=788 in the isolinux.cfg file. I'll keep you posted with my results. |
NO GO on either the Lilo.conf or the isolinux.cfg file. I'll try Fallen Kell's suggestion next
Posted by Pickletech on June 03 2005,15:01
Tried Fallen Kell's solution, but it didn't seem to work. I did vga=788 and it didnt seem to change anything. What about this .XvesaDefault file in the /ramdisk/home/dsl/ folder? Anyone know if this could mean anything or what the syntax would be?
Posted by emaynard on June 03 2005,15:46
| Quote (Pickletech @ June 03 2005,11:01) |
| Tried Fallen Kell's solution, but it didn't seem to work. I did vga=788 and it didnt seem to change anything. What about this .XvesaDefault file in the /ramdisk/home/dsl/ folder? Anyone know if this could mean anything or what the syntax would be? |
Same here. I did vga=788 as well, but again it's displaying this line as it's starting.
| Code Sample |
| Using Xvesa default 1024x768x32 -mouse "/dev/psaux",5 mouse |
Must be grabbing that from somewhere I haven't changed yet.
I'll look at the .XvesaDefault file as well, but I'm starting to wonder how many coasters will this take to get right
Posted by mikshaw on June 03 2005,15:53
If you're remastering, don't bother with anything in /home/dsl, as this directory is built during the boot process.Instead, look into /etc/skel
The file you want is .xserverrc
Posted by emaynard on June 03 2005,16:58
| Quote (mikshaw @ June 03 2005,11:53) |
| If you're remastering, don't bother with anything in /home/dsl, as this directory is built during the boot process. Instead, look into /etc/skel The file you want is .xserverrc |
Hmmm... I looked, but I don't see that file in there.
I wonder if that is because I'm remastering someone else's DSL iso - Booth FireFox Kiosk (http://boothbox.sourceforge.net/) - I doubt it.
Posted by Pickletech on June 03 2005,17:23
emaynard, if you are using windows you can download a trial for < Microsoft's Virtual PC >. you can set it up to use an iso file as a cd on a virtual computer. this will greatly reduce the amount of coasters u make. the only problem is it works fine in 1024 x 768. also < QEMU > would probably work, does kind of the same thing, only its a little funky to use at first.mikshaw, i know about the skel thing,
i changed .xserverrc in skel before and it didn't help any. below is what I have:| Quote |
| exec /usr/bin/X11/Xvesa -mouse "/dev/psaux",5 -screen 800x600x16 -shadow -nolisten tcp -I &>/dev/null |
Posted by emaynard on June 03 2005,19:23
| Quote (Pickletech @ June 03 2005,13:23) |
| emaynard, if you are using windows you can download a trial for < Microsoft's Virtual PC >. you can set it up to use an iso file as a cd on a virtual computer. this will greatly reduce the amount of coasters u make. the only problem is it works fine in 1024 x 768. also < QEMU > would probably work, does kind of the same thing, only its a little funky to use at first. |
My trial has already expired. I guess I just need to buy the damn thing, but I not sure if that would help anyways, since I am testing in QEMU and it seems to always use 800x600 mode on the Debian box that I use.
The problem shows up once I burn the ISO to disc and boot from that. The wierd thing is that, the PC I boot the disc from is the same machine that I remaster and run QEMU from as well.
Booting from CD defaults to DSL 1024x768. Booting DSL from QEMU on the same box runnning debian loads 800x600.
Go figure....
Posted by Pickletech on June 03 2005,20:27
hmm, well you could try to get your debian box to load up in 640x480 while your testing in qemu, so that it will change. just an idea...
Posted by emaynard on June 06 2005,13:27
| Quote (Pickletech @ June 03 2005,16:27) |
| hmm, well you could try to get your debian box to load up in 640x480 while your testing in qemu, so that it will change. just an idea... |
Yeah, that's probably an easier way to test the change instead of constantly burning. I just have been so focused on getting the changes made to the right files that I haven't stop to see the forest for the trees so to speak.
You have any luck finding the correct file to change?? I wasn't able to locate any .xcserv file in my /skel directory to even try.
Posted by Pickletech on June 06 2005,14:55
emaynard, i am thinking again that it is the .xserverrc file, but whenever I change it, it gets overwritten. I have changed it every place i found it before remastering. also look < here >if you want to boot from an iso without using an emulator, didnt try it myself, just came across it in the forums.
Posted by roberts on June 06 2005,15:46
If you are talking about DSL/qemu then this is in the wrong section. Anyways, DSL/qemu has an initial small backup file that is restored upon boot from the virtual hard drive.This has items that would not make sense to be on the cd. Take a look in there and you will see the soundbaster stuff in opt/bootlocal.sh as well as the .xinitrc with 800x600 default.
Posted by emaynard on June 06 2005,15:58
| Quote (Pickletech @ June 03 2005,16:27) |
| hmm, well you could try to get your debian box to load up in 640x480 while your testing in qemu, so that it will change. just an idea... |
This is interesting.... I change my Debian desktop settings to 640x480 and booted DSL from QEMU and it came up 640x480, so QEMU must have some way of limiting the supported monitors in it's emulation to the host computer's resolution by default.
Not much help other than
Posted by emaynard on June 06 2005,17:17
| Quote (roberts @ June 06 2005,11:46) |
| If you are talking about DSL/qemu then this is in the wrong section. Anyways, DSL/qemu has an initial small backup file that is restored upon boot from the virtual hard drive. This has items that would not make sense to be on the cd. Take a look in there and you will see the soundbaster stuff in opt/bootlocal.sh as well as the .xinitrc with 800x600 default. |
Actually we're discussing how to hardcode the display resolution to a specific setting at boot for a DSL based ISO.
The QEMU info is relevant only in that it would appear to be an easy way to test without burning, however, in my experience it appears to adopt the host's (Debian Sarge in my case) display settings.
If wer're booting QEMU with -cdrom I'm not certain I understand how/why the small backup file would be involved.
I will look at .xinitrc though.
Posted by Pickletech on June 06 2005,18:56
EUREKA!!!! It was the .xserverrc file! I got it all running beautifully now. The reason why my .xserverrc file kept getting overwritten is because i had the permissions wrong. I can't believe I didn't think to look at that earlier! This is how to do it:as root create a file called .xserverrc in /mnt/hda1/source/etc/skel that just contains:
| Quote |
| exec /usr/bin/X11/Xvesa - mouse "/devpsaux",5 -screen 800x600x16 -shadow -nolisten tcp -I |
| Quote |
| chmod 700 .xserverrc |
Posted by emaynard on June 06 2005,19:50
| Quote (Pickletech @ June 06 2005,14:56) | ||||
| EUREKA!!!! It was the .xserverrc file! I got it all running beautifully now. The reason why my .xserverrc file kept getting overwritten is because i had the permissions wrong. I can't believe I didn't think to look at that earlier! This is how to do it: as root create a file called .xserverrc in /mnt/hda1/source/etc/skel that just contains:
|
Ok, so you had to create this file from scratch then, correct?
Posted by Pickletech on June 06 2005,19:55
Emaynard. Yes, I believe I did. It was one of the first things I tried, so I'm not exactly sure. But if you create it from scratch it will work fine.
Posted by emaynard on June 07 2005,16:44
Tried this and for whatever reason it's still loading 1024x768x32 at startup.Now I'm starting to doubt my remastering process. Are my changes truly being applied, etc..
Posted by emaynard on June 08 2005,13:17
| Quote (Pickletech @ June 06 2005,14:56) | ||||
| EUREKA!!!! It was the .xserverrc file! I got it all running beautifully now. The reason why my .xserverrc file kept getting overwritten is because i had the permissions wrong. I can't believe I didn't think to look at that earlier! This is how to do it: as root create a file called .xserverrc in /mnt/hda1/source/etc/skel that just contains:
|
Pickletech,
Were you CHROOTed while doing these commands?
Posted by emaynard on June 10 2005,17:39
Got it.turns out that because I was using an existing remaster version of DSL, I had to use the user structure it defined in place of DSL's default. In this case, I needed to add the .xserverrc file to the home directory of an account labeled "guest".
See this post on SF for details:
< http://sourceforge.net/forum....=419458 >
Hope this saves someone else some pain....