how to change SCALE terminal text screen resolution?

[Benni.blanko]

Hi there,
I've successfully converted two Dell Optiplex 7040 boxes from CORE 15U3 to SCALE 23.10.0.1.
I do remote management of the boxes with Intel AMT/vpro and Meshcommander as the tool on my computer.
Everything is working fine with CORE but after the migration to SCALE the AMT remote desktop is going black during the boot process. The boxes are still running fine and web gui is working normally. Just the AMT remote desktop is broken.
I assume it's switching to a text mode during boot, which is not supported with AMT.
How can I limit text screen mode on the box to 80x25 or 80x40?
How can I even determine the actual screen resolution in a terminal session? Standard-tips like echo $DISPLAY or xrandr do not work, as they are not installed in SCALE.
Thanks

 

[Ericloewe]

You'd probably have to reconfigure GRUB accordingly. You're not going to gain much, since you'd have to do it all again if you were to use the boot media.

I also question the viability of any Optiplex desktop as a NAS, beyond the "tinker around before committing to a real server" role, for which remote management of the local console would not be particularly relevant.

 

[Benni.blanko]

Grub itself is visible thru AMT, but booting linux is not.
Well, the solution is to modify the grub kernel startup command line and add "nomodeset". Now it's working!
Is there any option (tunable or similar) to keep this additional kernel start up parameter thru upgrades in the future?

On the Dell Optiplex: They are pretty good and reliable boxes! We use them in company by the hundreds and nearly have no hardware failures. Also after retiring them in the company I got some of them and they continue to work without any issues. They have only a few drive bays, but they are energy efficient, quiet and reliable.
And I was able to get AMT/vpro enabled on them, so some kind of a cheap "iLO/iDrac/IPMS" is handy on remotely managed boxes.

 

[Ericloewe]

On the Dell Optiplex: They are pretty good and reliable boxes!

Sure, but they're very limited for the NAS role.

Is there any option (tunable or similar) to keep this additional kernel start up parameter thru upgrades in the future?

Not at first glance, but you could switch to using ZFS Boot Menu with a custom configuration, which is less likely to get clobbered by updates.

 

[Benni.blanko]

Found a tip in another thread here in the forum on how to persistently implement kernel start parameters in grub:

midclt call system.advanced.update '{"kernel_extra_options": "nomodeset"}'

That's implementing it into the grub configuration and that should survive future Truenas Scale updates as well.
We'll see.
Problem solved, and thanks everybody.