The `video=' argument (not avail. in v2.0 kernels) is used when the frame buffer device abstraction layer is built into the kernel. If that sounds complicated, well it isn't really too bad. It basically means that instead of having a different video program (the X11R6 server) for each brand of video card (e.g. XF86_S3, XF86_SVGA, ...), the kernel would have a built in driver available for each video card and export a single interface for the video program so that only one X11R6 server (XF86_FBDev) would be required. This is similar to how networking is now - the kernel has drivers available for each brand of network card and exports a single network interface so that just one version of a network program (like Netscape) will work for all systems, regardless of the underlying brand of network card.
The typical format of this argument is
video=name:option1,option2,...
where name is the name of a generic option or of a
frame buffer driver.
The video= option is passed from linux/init/main.c
into linux/drivers/video/fbmem.c for further processing.
Here it is checked for some generic options before trying to
match to a known driver name. Once a driver name match is made,
the comma separated option list is then passed into that particular
driver for final processing. The list of valid driver names
can be found by reading down the fb_drivers array in the
file fbmem.c mentioned above.
Information on the options that each driver supports will
eventually be found in linux/Documentation/fb/ but
currently (v2.2) only a few are described there.
Unfortunately the number
of video drivers and the number of options for each one
is content for another document itself and hence
too much to list here.
If there is no Documentation file for your card, you
will have to get
the option information directly from the driver. Go to
linux/drivers/video/ and look in the appropriate
???fb.c file (the ??? will be based on the card name).
In there, search for a function with _setup in its name
and you should see what options the driver tries to match,
such as font or mode or...
This option is used to set/override the console to frame buffer device mapping. A comma separated list of numbers sets the mapping, with the value of option N taken to be the frame buffer device number for console N.
A number after the colon will set the size of memory allocated for the scrollback buffer. (Use Shift and Page Up or Page Down keys to scroll.) A suffix of `k' or `K' after the number will indicate that the number is to be interpreted as kilobytes instead of bytes.
A number, or a range of numbers (e.g. video=vc:2-5)
will specify the first, or the first and last frame
buffer virtual console(s). The use of this option also
has the effect of setting the frame buffer console to
not be the default console.