CONFIG_VIDEO_SELECT This enables support for text mode selection on kernel startup. If you want to take advantage of some high-resolution text mode your card's BIOS offers, but the traditional Linux utilities like SVGATextMode don't, you can say Y here and set the mode using the "vga=" option from your boot loader (lilo or loadlin) or set "vga=ask" which brings up a video mode menu on kernel startup. (Try "man bootparam" or see the documentation of your boot loader about how to pass options to the kernel.) Read the file <file:Documentation/svga.txt> for more information about the Video mode selection support. If unsure, say N. CONFIG_FBCON_VGA_PLANES This low level frame buffer console driver enable the kernel to use the 16-color planar modes of the old VGA cards where the bits of each pixel are separated into 4 planes. Only answer Y here if you have a (very old) VGA card that isn't VESA 2 compatible. CONFIG_FB_VGA16 This is the frame buffer device driver for VGA 16 color graphic cards. Say Y if you have such a card. This code is also available as a module. If you want to compile it as a module ( = code which can be inserted in and removed from the running kernel whenever you want), say M here and read <file:Documentation/modules.txt>. The module will be called vga16fb.o. CONFIG_FB_STI STI refers to the HP "Standard Text Interface" which is a set of BIOS routines contained in a ROM chip in HP PA-RISC based machines. Enabling this option will implement the linux framebuffer device and an fbcon color text console using calls to the STI BIOS routines. The HP framebuffer device is usually planar, uses a strange memory layout, and changing the plane mask to create colored pixels requires a call to the STI routines, so do not expect /dev/fb to actually be useful. However, it is the best we have as far as graphics on the HP chipsets due to lack of hardware level documentation for the various on-board HP chipsets used in these systems. It is sufficient for basic text console functions, including fonts. You should probably enable this option, unless you are having trouble getting video when booting the kernel (make sure it isn't just that you are running the console on the serial port, though). Really old HP boxes may not have STI, and must use the PDC BIOS console or the IODC BIOS. CONFIG_FBCON_FONTS Say Y here if you would like to use fonts other than the default your frame buffer console usually use. Note that the answer to this question won't directly affect the kernel: saying N will just cause the configurator to skip all the questions about foreign fonts. If unsure, say N (the default choices are safe). CONFIG_FONT_8x16 This is the "high resolution" font for the VGA frame buffer (the one provided by the VGA text console 80x25 mode. If unsure, say Y. CONFIG_FBCON_FONTWIDTH8_ONLY Answer Y here will make the kernel provide only the 8x8 fonts (these are the less readable). If unsure, say N. CONFIG_FONT_SUN8x16 This is the high resolution console font for Sun machines. Say Y. CONFIG_FONT_SUN12x22 This is the high resolution console font for Sun machines with very big letters (like the letters used in the SPARC PROM). If the standard font is unreadable for you, say Y, otherwise say N. CONFIG_FONT_8x8 This is the "high resolution" font for the VGA frame buffer (the one provided by the text console 80x50 (and higher) modes). Note that this is a poor quality font. The VGA 8x16 font is quite a lot more readable. Given the resolution provided by the frame buffer device, answer N here is safe. CONFIG_FONT_6x11 Small console font with Macintosh-style high-half glyphs. Some Mac framebuffer drivers don't support this one at all. CONFIG_FONT_PEARL_8x8 Small console font with PC-style control-character and high-half glyphs. CONFIG_FONT_ACORN_8x8 Small console font with PC-style control characters and high-half glyphs. CONFIG_FBCON_ADVANCED The frame buffer console uses character drawing routines that are tailored to the specific organization of pixels in the memory of your graphics hardware. These are called the low level frame buffer console drivers. Note that they are used for text console output only; they are NOT needed for graphical applications. If you say N here, the needed low level drivers are automatically enabled, depending on what frame buffer devices you selected above. This is recommended for most users. If you say Y here, you have more fine-grained control over which low level drivers are enabled. You can e.g. leave out low level drivers for color depths you do not intend to use for text consoles. Low level frame buffer console drivers can be modules ( = code which can be inserted and removed from the running kernel whenever you want). The modules will be called fbcon-*.o. If you want to compile (some of) them as modules, read <file:Documentation/modules.txt>. If unsure, say N. CONFIG_FBCON_AFB This is the low level frame buffer console driver for 1 to 8 bitplanes (2 to 256 colors) on Amiga. CONFIG_FBCON_ILBM This is the low level frame buffer console driver for 1 to 8 interleaved bitplanes (2 to 256 colors) on Amiga. CONFIG_FBCON_IPLAN2P2 This is the low level frame buffer console driver for 2 interleaved bitplanes (4 colors) on Atari. CONFIG_FBCON_IPLAN2P4 This is the low level frame buffer console driver for 4 interleaved bitplanes (16 colors) on Atari. CONFIG_FBCON_IPLAN2P8 This is the low level frame buffer console driver for 8 interleaved bitplanes (256 colors) on Atari. CONFIG_FBCON_HGA This is the low level frame buffer console driver for Hercules mono graphics cards.