vt console driver and default vga mode: breaking POLA

[Chris H]

On Fri, 9 Sep 2016 11:59:45 +0200 Borja Marcos <borjam at sarenet.es> wrote

> Hi
> 
> I apologise for being late on this, but I just noticed. The new vt console
> driver has a very important change in behavior, replacing the ancient
> “BIOS” text mode with a graphic VGA mode. 
>
> I don’t know how many people relies on BIOS serial redirection for
> consoles, but at least HP’s iLO system offers the possibility of accessing
> the console through a ssh connection instead of requiring a bloated Java
> console, and it’s a very convenient feature. But it only works in pure
> “BIOS text mode” (the old sc console driver used this mode as a default).
> 
> I would rather change the default behavior of vt to hw.vga.textmode=1 so that
> its behavior mimics the old sc driver.
> 
> I know the current fad is to hide boot messages with panda bears and
> beautiful butterflies revolving around them, but boot messages are critical
> when diagnosing problems. 
LOL
>
> I should have chimed in earlier, I know. But anyway it’s a very minor
> change. 
>
> 
> 
> 
> What do you think?
+1
It might also be worth mentioning that (most?) NVIDIA card
users users will also suffer from this (non text mode).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Borja.
> 
--Chris