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Ace Blackwell 11-19-2012 03:49 PM

Lilo.conf unpredictable (Can't change Screen Modes)
I'm running Slackware 14_64 on an HP laptop. The problem I'm having is getting /etc/lilo.conf to allow me to change screen modes.

1) When I change lilo.conf using vi. Lilo wouldn't respond to the changes on the next boot up. IE "#" commeting out vga = normal and uncommenting vga=790. Or even vga = ask. Though I did get it to somewhat repond correctly typing lilo after my changes
2) The vga modes were 7?? but lilo "ask" mode has them in the 3??s. I tried to change the config number from 787 to 315 but it stopped and told me there was no 13b. Is there any table that shows the connection. IE 787 = 315


Ace Blackwell 11-20-2012 11:58 AM

I corrected this yesterday and marked it solved. It must not have taken for some reason.

In short, I learn you have to type the lilo command after changing the lilo.conf file. If not, the changes will be there but lilo will not act upon them.

As for the screen mode. The numbers commented out in the lilo.conf file for different screen resolutions are decimal numbers and don't directly colilate to the numbers lilo brings up in the "vga=ask" mode or if you have choosen a mode that doesn't exist.

Example, I choose 787 for screen mode 800x600x32 in the lilo.conf file. However when booting up, lilo stops with an error and tells me that there is no 313 mode. It asks me to choose from a list of modes. The 800x600x32 is actually 315. When I went back and changed the lilo.conf file, replacing 787 with 315 and rebooted, It came up with the same error but stated "there is no 13b mode and ask me to choose from a list again. At this time I realized that lilo converts the 787 to a hexadecimal number. That number is then compared to a list of screen modes. However 315 hex, the mode I chose, doesn't equal 787 in decimal, it equals 789. So I changed the 787 in the lilo.conf file to 789. Save file, activiated the lilo command and life has been good ever since lol.

More directly. when changing lilo screen resoltions, open the /etc/lilo.conf file. Comment out the vga=normal and uncomment vga-ask. Then save file, and type lilo from the prompt. Reboot. When lilo stops and ask you to choose a resolution, take note of the number next to the resolution. Convert the hexadecimal number to decimal. Then open /etc/lilo.conf again, and comment out vga-ask. From here you can just type in vga=(decimal number you converted from hex) or what I did was find my desired resolution, uncommented it and change the number to what I needed. Then I save the file and retyped the lilo command and rebooted. It's worked ever since.

All this may not be necessary if you have all the modes avalible. I noticed I didn't have the XXXxXXXx64 resolutions avalible. This may have affected the hex or decimal listing by shifting by the missing resolutions. It's complicated and I get lost the more I think about it. In short the dec no. to hex no. to specific resolution isn't absolute. It appears that one of the columns are relative to it's position in the list. So with missing modes, one of the columns shifts by that mode. Just an assumption. Either way the process above will work.

Any questions or insight, let me know

