I recently ran into some similar trouble with Grub's VBE. Unfortunately, Grub cannot access any graphics modes that are not reported by your vbeinfo command. Set Grub's graphics mode by setting GRUB_GFXMODE, and the console framebuffer by setting GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX, in /etc/default/grub and running sudo update-grub (source).
The linux console is displayed on a framebuffer device; that's what the inteldrmfb device is (shown in your fbset ouput). The framebuffer may need to be enabled in your initrd. If so, run the following to enable it:
echo FRAMEBUFFER=y | sudo tee /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/splash sudo update-initramfs -u I've seen several threads regarding configuring console framebuffers in Lucid. You may need to look into something similar. This post describes setting up uvesafb by passing specific framebuffer options on the kernel commandline. If this is needed in your case, you'd add something like "nomodeset video=intelfb:mode_option=1024x600-24,mtrr=3,scroll=ywrap" to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT in /etc/default/grub. (The "intelfb" in that line may need to be "inteldrmfb", but I'm not certain.) You may also need to add a line in /etc/initramfs-tools/modules -- "intelfb mode_option=1024x600-24 mtrr=3 scroll=ywrap" -- and then re-run the update-initramfs command above.
Another alternative mentioned in the last link would be to remove the splash kernel option (from GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT), setting GRUB_GFXMODE and GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX, and re-running update-grub.
Other resources that may help:
- "Setting a proper framebuffer" on the ArchLinux Wiki's Acer Aspire One page
- Kernel Mode Setting at the Ubuntu Wiki