Debian Well Underway

[Kerry Hoath]

There is svgatextmode that can set screen size; also note that kernel uses 
framebuffer by default not sure if that changes how larger than normal 
screen sizes work.
Just out of curiosity what was the boot problem after all that?

Also keep in mind all configuration files are stored in /etc for Debian,
if you are careful you can hand-edit the config files and not use the 
maintainer scripts.
Regards, Kerry.