Problem: When you install Debian as a server, the initial resolution and font type leave something to be desired.

Here's an example shown in a virtual machine running Debian 12:

That'll make your eyes go berserk after a while. This can be the case whether you are working with a real physical server or a virtual machine.

Solution: Modify the resolution and the font type/size. Here's how to do it:

Change the resolution

  • As root, open the /etc/default/grub file. Change this line:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet"

to this:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nomodeset"
  • Now, add this line:
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=1280x720
You might also choose 1920x1080, or another resolution, if you wish!
  • Update the GRUB bootloader. Run the following command:
update-grub

Make sure that it takes effect. You may have to run it twice.

  • Reboot the system with the reboot command.

That's it. Now, instead of some old-school 640 x 480 resolution, you should be running at 1280 x 720.

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There are other resolution options as well. To find out what they are, reboot the system and access the GRUB area by pressing c immediately after the system boots. Type set pager=1 so that you can view results in the GRUB console one page at a time. Then type vbeinfo. This will show all the resolutions that the system supports. 

Change the Font Type

Type the command:

dpkg-reconfigure console-setup

That will open console-setup and you can select your favorite font.

  • For encoding, leave it as UTF-8 and tab down to OK and press Enter.
  • For the character set, leave it as the default (for me it was Latin1 and Latin5).
  • For the font, consider TerminusBold or Terminus.
  • Finally, for the font size, consider 10x20 or 11x22.

For my example, I chose TerminusBold and 11x22. Take a look at the results. Click the image to enlarge.

Much BETTER! Now we can actually read the screen. On a physical server, I might go with a bit smaller font size, or perhaps use a larger resolution and a bigger font. It all depends on the video card the server has and the monitor that it is connected to. But most of the time, I make this configuration change on virtual machines.

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The process for modifying the resolution is similar on Fedora-based server systems, but you need to run grub2-mkconfig to update the GRUB bootloader. Once done, that should display a decent font size without any further configuration required.
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That's it. I hope that helps anyone who has been straining their eyes when working with Debian server!