Ubuntu high resolution console

(I like to post in one place all the necessary steps to enable the high resolution console on Ubuntu, I'm fed up fishing the different posts here :) )

Edit the file '/boot/grub/menu.lst' with the desired resolution as the 'vga' value, look for the line with the entry 'defoptions'.
A some how safe value, for modern monitors and laptops LCDs, might be 'defoptions=vga=791' which will give you a 1024x768 console.

After that execute:

sudo update-grub

This will re-generate the file '/boot/grub/menu.lst', you can check that the changes were made (they are made to ALL the kernels installed on the box)

Then, add 2 entries, a 'vesafb' and a 'fbcon' to the /etc/initramfs-tools/modules file, once edited, it has to be like this (there might be ohter entries on the file, leave them be!!):

## -----------------------------------------------
## High resolution console
vesafb
fbcon
## -----------------------------------------------

After that execute:

sudo update-initramfs -u

Then, in the file: '/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-framebuffer', comment the 'blacklist vesafb' entry; once edited, it has to be like this (there are other entries on the file, leave them like they are!!!):

## -----------------------------------------------
## High resolution console
## blacklist vesafb
## -----------------------------------------------

And, finally in the file '/etc/modules', add an 'vfesafb' entry, once edited, the file has to be like this (once again, there might be other entries on the file, leave them be!!!!!):

## -----------------------------------------------
## High resolution console
vesafb
## -----------------------------------------------

Then, after all that, if you want to, you can disable the GDM, so your box boots onto text mode, you can login as usual, and if you want to, issue:

startx

To start the full Gnome desktop as usual.

If you want to disable the graphical login, issue:

update-rc.d -f gdm remove

Other posts related to this one:

- CentOS 5 console customization - Yeah, it's for CentOS, but somehow related
- Fight font uglyfication (console)
- Adventures in Ubuntu Land
- Of services & servers on Ubuntu

EDIT - 08/02/2009
Corrected a few typos that got thru the first time

Update - 02/04/2009
Posted a procedure to do this on Jaunty Ubuntu high resolution console (3)