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On a TTY ( ctrl+alt+f1 to f6 ), I use Shift+page up to scroll up and Shift+page down to scroll down. But the problem is, the scrolling is limited to certain number of lines.

How can I get unlimited scrolling on a TTY ?

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1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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First, you buy unlimited memory. Take a look at the kernel paramter fbcon=scrollback:Nk where N is the desired buffer size is kilobytes. The default is 32k, so increase it from there.

To increase framebuffer console memory :

gksu gedit /etc/default/grub

Now edit and change GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="" to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="fbcon=scrollback:<value>k" .

Now, update grub: 

sudo update-grub

And restart your computer

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  • 2
    This seems to be a working answer :P , but I don't know where to find kernel parameters and how to edit them. Could you please add some more explanation ? Thanks :)
    – Severus Tux
    Jun 24, 2016 at 1:46
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    You might be able to improve this answer with providing the steps needed in more detail to make it a rock solid answer.
    – Videonauth
    Jun 24, 2016 at 2:12
  • Digging deeper, I got this : kernel.org/doc/Documentation/fb/fbcon.txt , And Yes you are right! :D . Its given "fbcon=scrollback:<value>[k] The scrollback buffer is memory that is used to preserve display contents that has already scrolled past your view. This is accessed by using the Shift-PageUp key combination. The value 'value' is any integer. It defaults to 32KB. The 'k' suffix is optional, and will multiply the 'value' by 1024." But I still don't know how to edit them :P .
    – Severus Tux
    Jun 24, 2016 at 2:15
  • Is there a way of doing this without restarting? (say you're using a live image?)
    – thebunnyrules
    May 11, 2018 at 0:51
  • I don't see fbcon in the sysctl -a output, so probably not.
    – ubfan1
    May 11, 2018 at 2:32

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