BootX and kernel args

[Isaac Wingfield]

I have recently gotten YDL 3.0 up on two Macs; an 8500 and a Beige G3. Both
work fine after I get into "X" and KDE. The 8500 works fine in text mode
also, but not so for the G3.

On the 8500, after BootX has booted into Linux, and there's a screenful of
scrolling text, it's in a small, readable fontsize. The Mac was running at
1152x864, and I think that's what the Linux screen is, too.

On the G3, which also started out at 1152x864, after BootX has done its
thing, I get a few lines that are readable (same size as on the 8500), and
then something pokes the video, the screen loses sync, and the font gets
real big, and (because of the lost sync) unreadable. The last readable line
is "arch:exit", and the first messed-up one is where the YDL logo gets
displayed (I can see the yellow dog). The problem is that I'm using a
Sun/Sony monitor (a GDM-20D10) that can't synch at such a low resolution.

Although I can't read anything, I can see all the lines of text go by, and
after it all stops, I can blindly login and type "startx". The graphic mode
then comes up fine, and, I think, at 1152x864. I can see a sync change as X
takes over.

The result of this is that, while "X" works OK, I can't use text-only mode.
I don't want to play around with the graphic mode, because, outside of "X",
I can't read the screen. If I goof up the video in "X", there's no way to
edit a file to recover. (Well, telnet maybe, but that's a PITB).

I've tried a number of variations on BootX's kernel args to get the video
to behave, but nothing changes things from that low resolution mode. I'm
beginning to believe that you can add all the video kernel args you want,
but nobody is paying any attention to them.

Any suggestions?

Isaac