Comment 21 for bug 73955

OK, I've worked around this in console-setup; I have an idea as to how to implement setup-console-under-usplash while still avoiding this problem. I do think it's a kernel bug that you can't reliably set the font on another virtual console, though - and it's particularly irritating that vgacon doesn't support more than one font at all, and doesn't appear to store the font you give it anywhere other than in video memory!

console-setup (1.13ubuntu5) feisty; urgency=low

  * Add a --save-only option to setupcon, to save the keyboard/font on the
    root filesystem but not actually tell the kernel to set it up.
  * Back out part of setup-console-under-usplash changes: attempts to change
    the font must be guarded against being run while on an X display or
    while usplash is running, because some kernel console drivers (at least
    vgacon) are fundamentally unable to change the font only on some virtual
    consoles, and will corrupt video memory if you try (LP: #73955). We now
    use setupcon --save-only to make sure the font is available on the root
    filesystem for the next boot but don't load it immediately.

 -- Colin Watson <email address hidden> Mon, 15 Jan 2007 20:08:33 +0000