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Author Topic: Beautiful console fonts - easy howto  (Read 3276 times)

Offline PDP-8

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Beautiful console fonts - easy howto
« on: December 05, 2019, 10:53:49 PM »
Right - so you want to change from the default console font?  Easy:

Download and install the setfont.tcz utility.

Then look in your /usr/local/share/consolefonts

directory and pick one.  Substitute pick-a-font with your choice.

Code: [Select]
setfont /usr/local/share/consolefonts/pick-a-font.psfu.gz
If the font is too funky and you want to reset back to normal, just use setfont with no arguments

Code: [Select]
setfont
BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE! :)

Inspired by a 2013 post by Juanito about console fonts, I started digging around and in true slacker fashion, instead of compiling Terminus console fonts myself, I just grabbed a *goldmine* of Terminus and other console fonts from my Debian Buster RPD install.  These are just console-fonts, and not the X-fonts in the terminus-fonts.tcz package.

I found these in the /usr/share/consolefonts
directory on that distro.  A modern goldmine of usable console fonts for TC!

Just put them where you like, and use the setfont utility to make it active.  I nearly cried.  Most useful to me are the larger fonts, which are perfect when you have say a teensy console font with large modern monitors with high-resolution, and don't feel like mucking about with changing your resolution - like size 18, 20, 22, 24, even 32 size Terminus fonts!

Sorry, but the old "drdos" and "sun" fonts from 1990 just don't cut it today with the original linux consolefonts selection.  THESE modern versions make a cli-only monitor (or if you like to hang out in virtual terminals from X every once in awhile pure joy.)

Not every font worked with the setfont utility, but I'm going to cull out the ones I don't really need or use.  But just wow, man.
« Last Edit: December 05, 2019, 10:57:18 PM by PDP-8 »
That's a UNIX book! - cool  -- Garth