Changing boot resolution and color

How about a new tip?

Well, on GNU/Linux distributions (and probably other free UNIX like systems) using GRUB for their boot manager it is possible to change the resolution and color of the boot screen, regardless of whether there is a splash or not. If you’re using an advanced distribution like Arch, Slackware, Debian or Gentoo where you’re likely to at least occasionally use only the console, I found it nice to set a higher resolution so more stuff can fit on screen at the same time, and it also looks nicer. And if you’re using a “friendlier” distro like Ubuntu, Fedora or OpenSUSE you’re likely to have a splash and boot directly into graphical mode, but you could still want to increase the resolution of the boot screen.

So this is how it’s done.

Open /boot/grub/menu.lst with super user privileges. This can be done with either of these ways:

1. Open a “run command” or “run application” dialog (usually alt-f2) and run this:

gksudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

. You can replace “gedit” with another editor you may have available (like kate, leafpad, mousepad etc.) and “gksudo” with “kdesudo” if you’re using KDE.

2. In command line, for those more familiar, opening the terminal (gnome-terminal or konsole) and running

nano /boot/grub/menu.lst

. You may wish to use something else aside of nano like vi or emacs.

Edit the file by appending vga=XXX to the uncommented kernel lines (uncommented lines being those that don’t start with #) where “XXX” is the number corresponding to the resolution and color you wish to choose from the table below. (Example: vga=794 for 1280×1024 with 16 bit color).

Any questions are welcome below in comments.

NOTE: For familiar users, I’ve deliberately made this novice friendly.

Cheers