kern/71142; VESA 1024x768; (Poor Console resolution on Compaq 2103US)

[Nikolas Britton]

Disclaimer!!!: please note that this patch was never meant for newbies 
and that if you decide to use it you are basically on your own if you 
have any problems with it. This patch is very much still in alpha 
status, but it does work and if It breaks your system you can always 
back it out.

>1. do I copy the patch exactly as is from the webpage?
>  
>
no, forget the patches from the webpage it's all messed up and you have 
to run it though scripts and edit it and stuff etc etc....
-----------------------------
Step 0: su to root.
Step 1: cd into /tmp
Step 2: fetch the patch: "fetch 
http://www.nbritton.org/uploads/current-vesa_patch.tar.gz"

Alternate Source (these patches are from Deng XueFeng BTW): 
http://unix.derkeiler.com/Mailing-Lists/FreeBSD/current/2004-08/att-2992/current-vesa_patch.tar.gz

Step 3: Extract the files from the archive: "tar -zxvf curr*gz"
Step 4: cd into /usr/src/sys/dev/syscons
Step 5: patch the files: "patch 
</tmp/current-vesa_patch/current-syscons.diff" (make sure this applies 
cleanly, no error messages!)
Step 6: cd into /usr/src/usr.sbin/vidcontrol (usr.sbin is not a typo)
Step 7: Copy the file current-vidcontrol.1 here:  "cp 
/tmp/current-vesa_patch/current-vidcontrol.1 ./vidcontrol.1"
Step 8: Copy the file current-vidcontrol.c here:  "cp 
/tmp/current-vesa_patch/current-vidcontrol.c ./vidcontrol.c"
Step 9: while your in there rebuild vidcontrol: "make && make install && 
make clean"
Step 10: cd into /usr/src/sys/i386/conf
(if you have never done this before then your kernel will be "GENERIC", 
if you have then you don't need me to explain what to do)
Step 11: Add the kernel option for VESA support to your kernel: echo 
"options VESA" >> GENERIC
Step 12: Add the kernel option for SC_PIXEL_MODE to your kernel: echo 
"options SC_PIXEL_MODE" >> GENERIC
Step 13: config your kernel: config GENERIC
Step 14: cd into ../compile/GENERIC
Step 15: rebuild your kernel: "make depend && make && make install"
Step 16: reboot
(After FreeBSD reboots and loads you will see this message several times 
(ignore it) "vidcontrol: showing the mouse: Invalid argument")
Step 17: login as root
Step 18: Now change the video mode "vidcontrol MODE_279"
(you should now have a console at 1024x768, if you don't you did 
something wrong.)
Step 19: If everthing seems ok then add it to the /etc/rc.conf file: 
allscreens_flags="MODE_279"
Step 20: reboot or do a "shutdown now"
Step 21: login as a normal user, you're done, have fun :-), report any 
bugs your having to I think ether freebsd-current or freebsd-hackers 
mailing lists.

you can also use "vidcontrol -i mode | grep G" to see a complete list of 
supported modes (this is a list of modes supported by your video card, 
not your monitor!) and if you want you can play with these other modes 
"vidcontrol MODE_modenumber"

Also note that if you try to update your sources with cvsup it will 
overwrite the changes you made to the files so you will have to redo 
steps 0 though 8 again (this is how you can back out the changes if you 
have problems with it).