Kernel Modesetting

This material needs expanding ... Needs nVidia driver information

KMS (Kernel Mode Setting) allows setting the display resolution in kernel space instead of userspace. This allows setting native screen resolutions early in the system boot process and can reduce flickering, both when booting and when switching ttys.

Enabling KMS requires adding kms to the mkinitfs configuration by adding it to the features variable, e.g:

Contents of /etc/mkinitfs/mkinitfs.conf

features="keymap cryptsetup kms ata base ide scsi usb virtio ext4"

The relevant DRM module for the graphics card needs to be added to the kernel cmdline (e.g.: if your graphics card uses amdgpu, add modules=other-modules,amdgpu to the cmdline). Omitting this step will result in additional flickering (e.g.: early output will render at low resolution and the resolution will change when the module is later loaded).

The exact driver (and firmware) required will vary depending on the GPU being used. See the links below for further details.

Intel

See Intel_Video#Kernel_Modesetting_(KMS)

AMD/Radeon

See Radeon_Video#Kernel_Modesetting_(KMS)

Nouveau

See Nouveau_Video#Kernel_Modesetting_(KMS)

nVidia

Todo: Find out how KMS works with nVidia drivers

See also

• Kernel mode setting archlinux.org