Booting with higher resolution console and NVIDIA drivers

[luisflorit]

I switched from Nouveau to proprietary NVIdia drivers in my Fedora 34 because the former were hard freezing my computer. Now when I boot (always in text mode), the fonts are too big. I tried the usual fixes and did not work.

Following this wiki page, I added

GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x768x16,auto
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep

to /etc/default/grub , run grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg , and reboot. Same ugly resolution.

The 1024x768x16 I got from the output of hwinfo --framebuffer .

I also tried with GRUB_GFXMODE=1680x1050x16,auto , same problem.

Any clues?

[scottro (Scott Robbins)]

For console fonts, I usually edit /etc/vconsole.conf. I think the default is eurlatgr. In my case, this is on a HiRes laptop where the fonts are too small so I change it to ter-v32n. You can see a selection of possible fonts in /usr/share/lib/kbd/consolefonts.

I don’t think the Nvidia stuff will make a big difference in console but this is untested by me with Nvidia.

[luisflorit]

@scottro

For console fonts, I usually edit /etc/vconsole.conf. I think the default is eurlatgr. In my case, this is on a HiRes laptop where the fonts are too small so I change it to ter-v32n. You can see a selection of possible fonts in /usr/share/lib/kbd/consolefonts.

I don´t think that NVidia driver installation edited this file. And my problem is with the size, not with the font.

Anyway, I don´t have folder /usr/share/lib, but there is a consolefonts folder in /usr/lib/kbd/consolefonts. This helps to choose the font: https://alexandre.deverteuil.net/docs/archlinux-consolefonts/ . But what about the size?

I don’t think the Nvidia stuff will make a big difference in console but this is untested by me with Nvidia.

I had this problem many years ago, and solved it. Maybe even before Fedora, with RedHat. I don’t remember what I did, of course. It resurfaced after installing NVidia drivers.

[scottro (Scott Robbins)]

I’m sorry, I mistyped. It should be /usr/lib/kbdconsolefonts/.

I wasn’t clear, so I apologize for that as well. Chosing a font in /etc/vconsole.conf enables you to choose a size. So, if I have ter-v32n it will be size 32, if I want it smaller, and it has a ter-v24n (the files usually have names like /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts/ter-v32n.pfs.gz) then I can use ter-v24n. You can choose the size from any font in that directory. Sorry if that wasn’t clear, but at least with terminus fonts. (on Fedora, you would have install terminus-fonts-console if you want terminus fonts), the size will be in the font name. It is that for some other fonts as well, but definitely with terminus.

[luisflorit]

@scottro

I’m sorry, I mistyped. It should be /usr/lib/kbdconsolefonts/.

Of course you meant /usr/lib/kbd/consolefonts/

I wasn’t clear, so I apologize for that as well. Chosing a font in /etc/vconsole.conf enables you to choose a size. So, if I have ter-v32n it will be size 32, if I want it smaller, and it has a ter-v24n (the files usually have names like /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts/ter-v32n.pfs.gz) then I can use ter-v24n. You can choose the size from any font in that directory. Sorry if that wasn’t clear, but at least with terminus fonts. (on Fedora, you would have install terminus-fonts-console if you want terminus fonts), the size will be in the font name. It is that for some other fonts as well, but definitely with terminus.

Oh, I see. I will try those and report back. I thought I needed to lift the resolution of the console, not just the fonts. I am using eurlatgr, that does not seem to have a size option.
Thanks!

[luisflorit]

I tried lat0-08.psfu.gz and lat0-16.psfu.gz: same sizes.
Tried other fonts, same sizes.
Fonts change, but not their sizes.
My console is still in VGA mode.
This seems to be a resolution problem, not a font problem.