How do you get the very first boot messages smaller?

Question

How do I get the very first boot messages, before the decryption of the system and before uvesafb is loaded, smaller? I tried:

GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x768
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=1024x768

and

GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x768x8
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=1024x768x8

and

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="video=VGA-1:640x480"

the same as hex code (is supported according to sudo hwinfo --framebuffer),

in /etc/default/grub

and

  set gfxmode=${GRUB_GFXMODE}    
  set gfxpayload=keep
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
  insmod vbe

in /etc/grub.d/00_header. And of course, always sudo-update-grub2. The letters are still very big. Some of the above possibilities even result in a black screen before uvesafb is loaded.

Version: grub-mkconfig (GRUB) 1.99-12ubuntu5

Answer 1

Provided your screen resolution is 1024x768 you should only need to add

GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x768
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep

to /etc/default/grub and then run

sudo update-grub

Here is the diff of my grub file and the original one (my resolution is 1280x1024 ):

$ diff /etc/default/{grub,grub.bak}
25,26c25
< GRUB_GFXMODE=1280x1024
< GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep
---
> #GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

Answer 2

This was solved without me changing anything, I guess by a kernel update around 3.0.0.16. The text is now small, just how I like it. Maybe it was a kernel bug.