fbdev - boot parameter question

fbdev - boot parameter question

[Roberto De Leo]

Hi,
I am developing a mini linux CD distro (movix.sf.net) and I would like 
to set up the boot in the following way:  by default the CD should boot 
with the vesa FB support on, but for those cards for which the vesa FB 
fails the kernel should switch _automatically_ to the standard setting 
it would use if it had started with the "video=vesa:off" boot parameter.
What I get now when vesa FB fails to load is instead the kernel prompt 
asking the user to choose among all available console modes, and I would 
be very happy if I could avoid that.

I looked in the LILO HOWTO and in the BootPrompt HOWTO and in the 
bootparam man page but could not find any way to do this.
Any hint would be welcome. If there is no parameter available, can you 
at least let me know which file should I change to set the standard 
linux console mode as the default in case the vesa FB load fails?

Please, CC any answer to my mail address since I am not subscribed to 
the ML.

Thanks,
 Roberto De Leo

Re: fbdev - boot parameter question

[Geert Uytterhoeven]

On Tue, 31 Dec 2002, Roberto De Leo wrote:
> I am developing a mini linux CD distro (movix.sf.net) and I would like 
> to set up the boot in the following way:  by default the CD should boot 
> with the vesa FB support on, but for those cards for which the vesa FB 
> fails the kernel should switch _automatically_ to the standard setting 
> it would use if it had started with the "video=vesa:off" boot parameter.

Do you really need the "video=vesa:off" boot parameter? If no VESA graphics
mode was activated by the boot loader, vesafb will not start. If your kernel
contains both vesafb and vgacon, it will fall back to VGA text mode.

> What I get now when vesa FB fails to load is instead the kernel prompt 
> asking the user to choose among all available console modes, and I would 
> be very happy if I could avoid that.

This is not the kernel prompt, but the prompt of your bootloader. So you should
modify your bootloader to not ask you for a mode if the wanted VESA graphics
mode is not available, but to continue with VGA text.

Gr{oetje,eeting}s,

						Geert

--
Geert Uytterhoeven -- There's lots of Linux beyond ia32 -- geert@linux-m68k.org

In personal conversations with technical people, I call myself a hacker. But
when I'm talking to journalists I just say "programmer" or something like that.
							    -- Linus Torvalds