Larger font in virtual terminals

[Lars01]

Guides posted here do not seem to fit with F17.

1. I gather that I must change /etc/sysconfig/i18n so it reads something other than SYSFONT="True". Evidently the terminus fonts might work.

2. My system has no /etc/default/grub configuration file. Instead I have /boot/efi/EFI/redhat/grub.conf
This file has SYSFONT=True and I wonder whether changing it to match /etc/sysconfig/i18n would work. Would I have to rebuild the config file?

I'm brand new to Fedora and to GRUB2.

[PabloTwo]

Hello, and welcome to the Forum-

I have an older Dell XPS laptop with a graphics memory that produces artifacts on the screen, but it's reasonably usable when booted into run level 3 (console terminal with no X server running). The native resolution on this laptop (17" screen) is 1920x1200, and running in that resolution, the standard, default, Fedora console font "latarcyheb-sun16" was pretty small, though sharp as a tack.

I found that reducing the screen resolution to effectively make the font larger was not a satisfactory solution on this older laptop, as the text was not nearly as sharp and well defined at any resolution I tried as it was in the native resolution. The largest console font I found installed on my F16 was "sun12x22", which was large enough at 1920x1200 resolution to satisfy me, and a nice looking console font as well.

For any larger console font, you'll need to install terminus-fonts-console. You can get up to point size 32 fonts with that. My laptop uses the "ter-122b" terminus font from that package. Besides setting your console font in /etc/sysconfig/i18n, setting the kernel boot line option to match is the proper thing to do.

I have no idea how to edit /boot/efi/EFI/redhat/grub.conf as I've never seen one. I have /etc/default/grub which I edit as you've seen in the guides you've read. But you should be able to edit the /boot/grub2/grub.cfg file (assuming you have one) directly to change the SYSFONT= entry there.

Once you've made those two changes, you should also use dracut, as root, to generate a new initramfs file for the currently running kernel to "bake" that in.

dracut -f /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img $(uname -r)

And a reboot after making all of the above changes.
You can change console fonts on-the-fly using the "setfont" command to see what they look like, and use the showconsolefont command to display all printable characters of the currently set console font. I don't know if this adds any helpful info to what you've already read.

[Lars01]

Thanks for the gracious welcome and the information, PabloTwo!

My resolution is 1600x900, and I don't want fonts that are a great deal larger than what I have -- just a bit bigger will do. Changing the resolution is not my first choice.

You mention that I should change the kernel boot line option for new fonts. I'm pretty sure that refers to GRUB-legacy, while I have GRUB2. That would also explain why you have not seen /boot/efi/EFI/redhat/grub.conf, I suspect. I have no /boot/grub2/grub.cfg file. My /boot has grub2 (directory) which contains only (directory) themes which contains only (directory) system which contains only the file background.png. As for /etc/default, in my system, there is no directory or file grub there.

My guess at this point is that I can get what I want by making the changes I mentioned, and then the only question left is just how I finish the job -- given the fact that I'm running GRUB2.

It looks to me as if the move to GRUB2 has caused a few growing pains, but overall, I am given to understand it's a distinct improvement. Yes, it's a bit clumsy for a newbie like me, and I need confirmation that I've not gone off the rails in my attmept to get a bit more legibility. Your info on fonts is much appreciated.

Another rookie question: how, exactly, do I get the "Preview" feature to work here? Do I avoid the "Quick Reply" approach? TIA.

[PabloTwo]

F16, which I use on both my desktop PC and on the older laptop I referred to uses GRUB2. The difference you're seeing I'm sure is due to the fact that you installed F17 in UEFI mode, which I have no direct experience with. Or possibly this is just a change in file location in F17 from previous releases (F15/16) that I'm just not aware of. I do have a /boot/efi/EFI/redhat directory on both of my F16 machines, but they both contain only a single file, grub.efi.

If you're /boot/efi/EFI/redhat/grub.conf file is the same file as would be found in /boot/grub2/grub.cfg (plain ASCII text file) from a non-UEFI install, then I would assume you can directly edit that as well. Have a look at that file in any text editor, or just "cat" it in a terminal. A typical kernel entry would look like:

menuentry 'Fedora (3.4.6-1.fc16.x86_64)' --class fedora --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	load_video
	set gfxpayload=keep
	insmod gzio
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(hd0,msdos5)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 0f1d7564-da19-436a-be25-b0a5f1245ec7
	echo 'Loading Fedora (3.4.6-1.fc16.x86_64)'
	linux	/vmlinuz-3.4.6-1.fc16.x86_64 root=UUID=7f83c155-bb22-40cc-b213-479e96734d7b ro rd.md=0 rd.dm=0  KEYTABLE=us quiet SYSFONT=latarcyrheb-sun16 rhgb rd.luks=0 rd.lvm.lv=vg_speedie/lv_swap LANG=en_US.UTF-8
	echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd /initramfs-3.4.6-1.fc16.x86_64.img
}

It's not really necessary to change the SYSFONT= line in the grub2 menu entry kernel boot line, and only do so in your /etc/sysconfig/i18n file, but in that case, you won't get the larger font in the console until the boot up is complete. With it in the kernel as well, you'll get the larger font during the boot-up process as well.

And just to make sure we're on the same page here, you are referring to the font size in a non X server console environment, and not in one or the other X terminals such as xterm, gnome-terminal, Terminal, urxvt, konsole, etc., right?

I've no clue about your "Preview" question. I do all of my file management, even on the desktop PC running in a X server environment, from the command line. Thunar gets no love on my machine.

[Lars01]

Many thanks for the reply!

I have some homework to do -- will investigate and respond as soon as practical with what I hope will be informed comments. Meanwhile, by "Preview" I meant the feature on the Fedora Forum that allows me to take the text of my reply for a trial run, and try to edit out the typos before posting. --Oh, I think I see how to do that. I'm learning!

Back in a while.

[PabloTwo]

Just below the "Quick Reply" input entry box and the "Options" box below that, are two buttons, "Post Quick Reply" and "Go Advanced". If you click the "Go Advanced" button, you should then have a "Preview" button available.

[Lars01]

OK, thanks for all the info. And yes, my only concern is the fonts in the terminals when I use the CLI.

Well...today I made a rookie mistake and killed my install of F17, so I got out the DVD and did it again. It took a long, long time; so long, I wondered whether something had gone wrong, and I almost bailed out. But I guessed it might just be my ISP reminding me yet again who is The Boss and who should be grateful for the "service". Now I suspect that it was Fedora, handing me changes in the install.

I might be correct, because...wow! A lot is different now. Things are organized differently than they were two days ago, but of course the specifics are off topic in this thread.

Well, for me, changing the font size is on hold. I can live with squinting at the screen, and there may be aftershocks, so I'll wait for a while.

Thanks for the help, Pablo Two; you have been more than kind, and I do appreciate it very much. It's been a warm welcome to the Fedora Forum for me.

[PabloTwo]

Originally Posted by Lars01

OK, thanks for all the info. And yes, my only concern is the fonts in the terminals when I use the CLI.

That still doesn't answer my doubt as to whether you mean in run level 1 or 3 with no X server running, or in a terminal running under X. "CLI" could be referring to either. In any X term, you change the font by using that applications preferences, or in ~/.Xresources for X terms like xterm and rxvt, or launching the terminal with specific options. That is entirely different from changing the font in the console in a non X-server environment. My discussion thus far has been assuming you mean a console in a non X server environment.


Sorry you had to endure a re-install, that's never any fun, though it does provide the opportunity to "do it differently this time", if that's what you want.

[Lars01]

Sorry to have been vague. Your assumption was correct: no X was involved.