RL9 booting on laptop with retina display

Does anyone know how/if I can change the boot messages to be larger and readable when booting on a laptop with a retina display? Right now, the messages are are not readable at all, including the prompt to enter the passphrase to unlock the LUKS partition.

This is what I do for my 2560x1440 laptop display.
In /etc/default/grub I added the following:

GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT="gfxterm"
GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x768
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep

I also added the following and installed the terminus fonts so that my console was legible:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="vconsole.font=ter-v32n"

Then update grub.cfg thus:

grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg --update-bls-cmdline

This sounds like something I should try tomorrow! I will let you know how it works out!

Thank you, that worked beautifully up through entering the LUKS passphrase, after that it reverted to minuscule size font for the remainder of the boot sequence.

Is there perhaps a fix for that as well?

Did you install the terminus font? It does not come with the standard install nor do I remember if it is in the base, crb or epel repositories.

Even with the modifications I’ve outlined in my prior post there is a portion of the boot output that reverts to minuscule font. To enlarge the login prompt for my desktop environment (Mate) I had to edit the lightdm config and tell it that the monitor was high resolution. If you boot to a console prompt then the addition of the terminus font and insertion of the kernel parameter should provide you with a legible screen.

Yes, I installed the terminus font and it worked beautifully up until I had entered the LUKS passphrase. The rest of the boot sequence after that reverted to the minuscule font.

Perhaps the LUKS passphrase entry changes the use of fonts after it has been entered and boot sequence reverts back to the default tiny font? Would be great to have that readable as well.

I spoke incorrectly above. The first few boot sequence statements after entering the LUKS passphrase do retain the new setting, then - presumably after some other software has been loaded - it reverts back to tiny font.

Also, when shutting down the computer the font is tiny.

I just saw somebody listed
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep
as something to add to grub. I really do not know grub to know if this would make any difference. I need to read the grub documentation.

The terminus font has no effect on the grub menu. These three lines are what effect the grub menu:

Can you copy and paste the contents of your /etc/default/grub file here and the exact command you used to update grub.

Below is the content of my /etc/default/grub:

GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=“$(sed ‘s, release .*$,g’ /etc/system-release)”
GRUB_DEFAULT=saved
GRUB_DISABLE_SUBMENU=true
GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT=“console”
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=“crashkernel=1G-4G:192M,4G-64G:256M,64G-:512M resume=/dev/mapper/rl-swap rd.luks.uuid=luks-2ed902bc-a984-451b-9e94-a3f86d25c649 rd.lvm.lv=rl/root rd.lvm.lv=rl/swap vconsole.font=ter-v32n”
GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY=“true”
GRUB_ENABLE_BLSCFG=true
GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT=“gfxterm”
GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x768
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep

and the command I used to update grub with is:
grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg --update-bls-cmdline
which is the one you posted.

Looks correct to me.
When you enter the virtual console via ctrl+alt+F2 does that show you a legible text login prompt? If so then all is as expected. Because there are several stages to the boot process there are portions that do not scroll by in legible text size. I have found no way to correct that but if I need to review that output it is easier to do with the journalctl command.

Just tried Ctrl-Alt-F2 and the font is tiny. Is it “large” on your computer?

Well I guess that is a question of personal perspective. I would say it is 10 point vs 4 point w/o the intervention. There might be a kernel parameter to change the vconsole resolution the same as is done for the grub menu, but I am not familiar with that.

You may be right, the font might be larger albeit not as large as I would like… :wink:

What do you think of this info for the latter part of the boot process:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pop_os/comments/nbjwu9/systemdboot_resolution_and_fonts/

That is a depth of intervention I have no interest in.

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