changing console font

[Skippy-4]

Howdy y'all.

So I know you change the console font in /etc/conf.d/consolefont and I
know I can find more fonts in /usr/share/consolefonts . . . here's what
I don't know.  How can I preview a font?  

Is there some way to test/view a font without having to reboot the
computer?  Plus, what is to stop me from changing the font to something
non-english and ending up with a system where I can't read anything?  :)

Thank you
Skippy



--
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[Daniel Pielmeier-2]

2009/11/6 Skippy <linuxgn2@...>:
> So I know you change the console font in /etc/conf.d/consolefont and I
> know I can find more fonts in /usr/share/consolefonts . . . here's what
> I don't know.  How can I preview a font?
>
> Is there some way to test/view a font without having to reboot the
> computer?  Plus, what is to stop me from changing the font to something
> non-english and ending up with a system where I can't read anything?  :)

What about /etc/init.d/consolefont restart?

--
Daniel Pielmeier

[Dale-46]

Daniel Pielmeier wrote:

> 2009/11/6 Skippy <linuxgn2@...>:
>  
>> So I know you change the console font in /etc/conf.d/consolefont and I
>> know I can find more fonts in /usr/share/consolefonts . . . here's what
>> I don't know.  How can I preview a font?
>>
>> Is there some way to test/view a font without having to reboot the
>> computer?  Plus, what is to stop me from changing the font to something
>> non-english and ending up with a system where I can't read anything?  :)
>>    
>
> What about /etc/init.d/consolefont restart?
>
>  

I think what he is asking is this, how can we know what they look like
BEFORE we change it?  I looked in the directory and I don't recognize
most of the fonts.  Some of them doesn't make sense as far as the name.
I even wonder if some of them are not even English.  I would hate to set
that to something and then not be able to read it.

Could one do a google image search?  o_O

Dale

:-)  :-)

[Neil Bothwick]

On Fri, 6 Nov 2009 04:19:22 -0700, Skippy wrote:

> Plus, what is to stop me from changing the font to something
> non-english and ending up with a system where I can't read anything?  :)

Nothing, but even if you don't have X available, or another computer to
SSH in from, you should be able to type blind enough to do

rm -f /etc/init.d/conso[TAB]
reboot


--
Neil Bothwick

Top Oxymorons Number 6: Pretty ugly

[Dale-46]

Neil Bothwick wrote:

> On Fri, 6 Nov 2009 04:19:22 -0700, Skippy wrote:
>
>  
>> Plus, what is to stop me from changing the font to something
>> non-english and ending up with a system where I can't read anything?  :)
>>    
>
> Nothing, but even if you don't have X available, or another computer to
> SSH in from, you should be able to type blind enough to do
>
> rm -f /etc/init.d/conso[TAB]
> reboot
>
>
>  

In other words, save all your work before you try this.  LOL

Dale

:-)  :-)

[Skippy-4]

On Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:12:06 -0600
Dale <rdalek1967@...> wrote the words:

> Neil Bothwick wrote:
> > On Fri, 6 Nov 2009 04:19:22 -0700, Skippy wrote:
> >
> >  
> >> Plus, what is to stop me from changing the font to something
> >> non-english and ending up with a system where I can't read
> >> anything?  :)
> >
> > Nothing, but even if you don't have X available, or another
> > computer to SSH in from, you should be able to type blind enough to
> > do
> >
> > rm -f /etc/init.d/conso[TAB]
> > reboot
> >
> >
> >  
>
> In other words, save all your work before you try this.  LOL
>
> Dale
>
> :-)  :-)
>

Well, I was going to try this while performing some critical
applications, but maybe I'll wait now.  :)  

Okay, so even if I shaft it up, X will still function normally then?  I
suspected that was true, but didn't know for sure.  If all else fails I
can boot another linux system (I have multiple gentoo installs on this
box) and fix the config file.

I was just curious if there was a way to avoid all this potential pain.

Thanks, Skippy

[Daniel Pielmeier-2]

2009/11/6 Dale <rdalek1967@...>:

> I think what he is asking is this, how can we know what they look like
> BEFORE we change it?  I looked in the directory and I don't recognize
> most of the fonts.  Some of them doesn't make sense as far as the name.
> I even wonder if some of them are not even English.  I would hate to set
> that to something and then not be able to read it.
>
> Could one do a google image search?  o_O

He asked if there is a way to test/preview the font without rebooting.
So using the init script is the solution.

Maybe playing around with setfont manually can help to test the fonts
without setting them globally, this would avoid messing things up.

--
Daniel Pielmeier

[Skippy-4]

On Fri, 6 Nov 2009 12:26:21 +0100
Daniel Pielmeier <billie@...> wrote the words:

> 2009/11/6 Skippy <linuxgn2@...>:
> > So I know you change the console font in /etc/conf.d/consolefont
> > and I know I can find more fonts in /usr/share/consolefonts . . .
> > here's what I don't know.  How can I preview a font?
> >
> > Is there some way to test/view a font without having to reboot the
> > computer?  Plus, what is to stop me from changing the font to
> > something non-english and ending up with a system where I can't
> > read anything?  :)
>
> What about /etc/init.d/consolefont restart?
>

Hmmm...  I don't know, but I'm insane enough to try it.  :)

Thanks, Skippy

[Dale-46]

Skippy wrote:

> On Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:12:06 -0600
> Dale <rdalek1967@...> wrote the words:
>
>  
>> Neil Bothwick wrote:
>>    
>>> On Fri, 6 Nov 2009 04:19:22 -0700, Skippy wrote:
>>>
>>>  
>>>      
>>>> Plus, what is to stop me from changing the font to something
>>>> non-english and ending up with a system where I can't read
>>>> anything?  :)
>>>>        
>>> Nothing, but even if you don't have X available, or another
>>> computer to SSH in from, you should be able to type blind enough to
>>> do
>>>
>>> rm -f /etc/init.d/conso[TAB]
>>> reboot
>>>
>>>
>>>  
>>>      
>> In other words, save all your work before you try this.  LOL
>>
>> Dale
>>
>> :-)  :-)
>>
>>    
>
>
> Well, I was going to try this while performing some critical
> applications, but maybe I'll wait now.  :)  
>
> Okay, so even if I shaft it up, X will still function normally then?  I
> suspected that was true, but didn't know for sure.  If all else fails I
> can boot another linux system (I have multiple gentoo installs on this
> box) and fix the config file.
>
> I was just curious if there was a way to avoid all this potential pain.
>
> Thanks, Skippy
>
>  

You are braver than me.  After looking at the names of those fonts, I'm
to chicken to try to change them.  Be my luck I'd change it to Greek or
something and I see enough of that in the man pages.   lol

Let us know how it turns out and what you use.  If it is English, I may
try it too.

Dale

:-)  :-)

[Beau Henderson]

Daniel Pielmeier wrote:

> 2009/11/6 Dale <rdalek1967@...>:
>
>> I think what he is asking is this, how can we know what they look like
>> BEFORE we change it?  I looked in the directory and I don't recognize
>> most of the fonts.  Some of them doesn't make sense as far as the name.
>> I even wonder if some of them are not even English.  I would hate to set
>> that to something and then not be able to read it.
>>
>> Could one do a google image search?  o_O
>
> He asked if there is a way to test/preview the font without rebooting.
> So using the init script is the solution.
>
> Maybe playing around with setfont manually can help to test the fonts
> without setting them globally, this would avoid messing things up.
>

The setfont command seems to do the job nicely. If ctrl + f1-6 to another TTY and experiment with
set font, it should set the font permanently. Also there are *.README files in the consolefonts
directory, worth a read.

--
Beau Henderson

[Nikos Chantziaras]

On 11/06/2009 03:16 PM, Dale wrote:

> Skippy wrote:
>> On Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:12:06 -0600
>> Dale<rdalek1967@...>  wrote the words:
>>
>>
>>> Neil Bothwick wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Fri, 6 Nov 2009 04:19:22 -0700, Skippy wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Plus, what is to stop me from changing the font to something
>>>>> non-english and ending up with a system where I can't read
>>>>> anything?  :)
>>>>>
>>>> Nothing, but even if you don't have X available, or another
>>>> computer to SSH in from, you should be able to type blind enough to
>>>> do
>>>>
>>>> rm -f /etc/init.d/conso[TAB]
>>>> reboot
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>> In other words, save all your work before you try this.  LOL
>>>
>>> Dale
>>>
>>> :-)  :-)
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> Well, I was going to try this while performing some critical
>> applications, but maybe I'll wait now.  :)
>>
>> Okay, so even if I shaft it up, X will still function normally then?  I
>> suspected that was true, but didn't know for sure.  If all else fails I
>> can boot another linux system (I have multiple gentoo installs on this
>> box) and fix the config file.
>>
>> I was just curious if there was a way to avoid all this potential pain.
>>
>> Thanks, Skippy
>>
>>
>
> You are braver than me.  After looking at the names of those fonts, I'm
> to chicken to try to change them.  Be my luck I'd change it to Greek or
> something and I see enough of that in the man pages.   lol
>
> Let us know how it turns out and what you use.  If it is English, I may
> try it too.

First, all fonts support English, no matter their language or else they
would be useless (you still need to type commands, for example).
Second, just use the setfont tool to test them first.