Adjust console video modes on a FreeBSD

FreeBSD, one of the Unixs par excellence, comes up with an virtual terminal right after installation. By default, the video mode is not very … user-friendly … and leaves space for improvements :) Given the loaded VESA module (kldload vesa) you can find out which modes are supported by your hardware using

vidcontrol -i mode

To apply a certain video mode you just need to run

vidcontrol MODE_280

as root and enjoy your new video setting.

This will just change the video mode in your current session. If the new setting is what you expected and desired you can apply it permanently in your /etc/rc.conf:

allscreens_flags="MODE_280"