OK, so once in a while I have to work just on a plain old console on one of my linux machines. But since there is this neat 22″ monitor on my desk it hurts to see to see the default-resolution of 640×480 pixels.

So how to alter the default resolution, when you’re not using any graphic window manager thingy?

I have a recent version of Debian running, so I use grub for managing my boot-menu.

To change the resolution the easiest way is to go the /etc/default/grub and edit the commandline settings:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="vga=0x0305"

This will give you at least 1024×768 with 256 colors! (A decent list of codes to use can be found at www.pendrivelinux.com).