XDirectFB

Kernel operations

First you need to build in framebuffer support to the kernel. Go to Console drivers > Framebuffer Support and enable the following:

[*]   Support for frame buffer devices (EXPERIMENTAL)
[*]   VESA VGA graphics console

You can also select the framebuffer driver for your video card in the same section, however VESA will always work since it is the legacy standard.

When finished modifying the kernel parameters, rebuild your kernel.

Grub configuration

Edit your menu.lst (usually in /boot/grub/menu.lst) to add the following parameters to the kernel line:

 vga=791

Example:

title=Gentoo 2.6.22
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/bzImage.2.4.19 root=/dev/hda3 vga=791

791 corresponds to 1024x768x16bit color in grub. The other modes are defined as follows:

color  depth     | 640x480  800x600  1024x768 1280x1024
256        (8bit)|  769      771       773      775
32000     (15bit)|  784      787       790      793
65000     (16bit)|  785      788       791      794
16.7 Mil. (24bit)|  786      789       792      795

Emerging

At this point go ahead and add the 'fbcon USE var to your /etc/make.conf

NOTE: this will probably cause a lot of packages to need to be rebuilt!

Then run

emerge xdirectfb
emerge -auN world

Config files

The xdirectfb server reads xinit like the normal X server. However, it also has its own config file /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/dfbserverrc.

Edit that file this way:

#!/bin/bash
exec /usr/X11R6/bin/XDirectFB -enableRoot

You will start all other apps in xinit as usual. If x starts in an undesired resolution edit /etc/fb.modes. You now have a working x framebuffer server.

See also

• A similar Howto where you can find LILO video modes
• Forum thread from which this wiki page was created
• Related forum thread
• Other tutorial containing info about GRUB video modes