Re: [PATCH] Video mode fixes in linux loader

[BandiPat <magicpage91@earthlink.net>]

Robert Millan wrote:
> On Sat, May 02, 2009 at 01:31:14PM +0200, Robert Millan wrote:
>>>>> "vga=ask" is not a warning now.  It causes "error: You need to load the
>>>>> kernel first", apparently from initrd.  In other words, the "linux"
>>>>> command fails and there is no visible warning.
>>>> Sounds like my error code is wrong, but we could turn it into a warning
>>>> like you suggested.
>>> I was editing the command line from the menu, so I  could not see the
>>> message.  Waiting for input is a fair game for an option that implies
>>> waiting for input.
>> Spot on.  Will do that.
> 
> Fixed.
> 
> See also this new patch.  It restructures the checks so that
> "vid_mode == 0" indicates lack of "vga=" parameter.  For user requesting
> text mode (vga=normal or vga=0) we already have GRUB_LINUX_VID_MODE_NORMAL
> so there's no need to handle both values in GRUB.
> 
> It also introduces the GRUB_ASSUME_LINUX_HAS_FB_SUPPORT macro, which allows
> easy override of the "fallback to text mode" setting.
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
This may follow the last little problem we are having getting the splash 
screen to show in Zenwalk.  We were in IRC last weekend trying to come 
up with a solution as to why we had to use linux16 & initrd16 with the 
vga= command in the grub.cfg, but nothing he suggested seemed to work. 
Here is a section from my grub.cfg:
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig using templates
# from  and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
set default=0
set timeout=10
set root=(hd0,1)
search --fs-uuid --set 82d81803-e0a2-487d-9c83-ec6d8d35cf2a
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/ascii.pf2 ; then
   set gfxmode=1024x768x32
   insmod gfxterm
   insmod video
   insmod vbe
   if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
     # For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
     # understand terminal_output
     terminal gfxterm
   fi
fi
insmod png
background_image /boot/grub/ZenBlack.png
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry "Zenwalk 6.0 GNU/Linux" {
	set root=(hd0,1)
	search --fs-uuid --set 82d81803-e0a2-487d-9c83-ec6d8d35cf2a
	linux16	/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1 ro resume=/dev/sda4 splash=silent 
vga=794
	initrd16 /boot/initrd.splash
}
-------------------------
My first question for you Robert is; will your vid_mode.diff correct the 
need for using vga= and linux16 to get the splash screen to display in 
the correct resolution?  Second, what is needed in the grub.cfg to be 
able to not use the deprecated linux16 & vga= anymore?  Does someone 
have a sample grub.cfg for x86 Linux that works to display the splash 
screen using linux, but without the vga= ?  If you do, please send it to 
me, so I might try your solution.  I can't believe this is as big a 
problem as it appears to be, but no one seems to have mentioned a viable 
solution yet!

Thanks for your help!
Pat