How to change the command line resolution in Debian

**Lucillee** · 01-07-2011

I am having the command line resolution of 1280x1024 in my home server (Squeeze). But my graphics card can only go up to 1024x768. I was succeeded in changing the resolution for my GRUB2 but this didn’t help me out. I also tried to install the X and also the GNOME just to verify that they work at 1024x768. Currently my system is only usable through the SSH. And fining out any solution would be great.

**Dolsy_bendal** · 01-07-2011

In the kernel line of the /boot/grub/menu.lst file, you need to add the parameters. You can see the VGA table for the reference. In the Linux Video Mode you can check this table out. But the resolution that my system supports is only of the 1280x1024. So I changed the resolution by adding the value of the vga= 793 in the last of the kernel line. So just need to add the value that you want in the vga, by referencing the table.

**kraal** · 01-07-2011

To configure the command line resolution, you need to configure your xorg.cofig file. To do so you need to type:
ps - chris the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf

When you open this file you will find the following line in it:
Depth 1
Modes "1280x960" "1024x768"

Once when you open and see this file, you can find out these lines and understand that where you need to enter the values.

**Emiliio** · 01-07-2011

There is a simple way to change the resolution of your command line, you just need to enter the values of the vga that you want according to the resolution. I.e. vga=”value value” from the parameter in the command line that is there in your grub.config file. You can also do this by editing during the boot time. You can find various resolution values for it, you can check the resolution table manually.

**teena_pansare** · 01-07-2011

If you can try this using the text mode then you can do the following steps that will help you out to change the resolution of your command line. For that you need to edit your /boot/grub/menu.lst. You can edit this file using any of the text editors you are having. I use the vim for editing

Code:

sudo vim /boot/grub/menu.lst

You can find the kernel block that looks somewhat like this:

Code:

# (0) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux
root   (hd2,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/1069fde9-8696-49a8-bbec-b8f35458f4d9 ro
initrd /boot/kernel26.img

There you can find the value of vga that you want. There you can put the value as “vga=795”. This will make your resolution to start with the 1280x1024.

**Lucillee** · 02-07-2011

Thank you guys! After a long time I got my resolution solved with the help of all your suggestions. I just changed the vga value to the 795 as you have mentioned. Thank you for all your suggestions. It really helped me out to get this solved. Now I got my resolution to 1280x1024.