How to Change Your Console Fonts In Ubuntu [Geeks Trick]

By Damien | March 5, 2012 | 2 Comments

Very seldom do we need to work entirely on a console, but for those who do, you might like to change the font or the appearance of the console so it is more pleasing to the eye. Here is how you can do so in Ubuntu.

Note: the font used in the console is monospaced and is not the same as the ttf, otf fonts that we used for document and browsers. In addition, there is also a limited selection fonts that you can choose from.

Changing the console font is very easy. Here is what you need to do. Open a terminal and type:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure console-setup

You will see this:

Press “Enter” to select the default.

Next, it will ask you for the character set the console should support. Similarly, press “Enter” to select the default.

The next screen is the one that is most important to you – changing the font used in the console. There are only a few choices: VGA, Fixed, Terminus, TerminusBold and TerminusBoldVGA. Fixed seems to have the best coverage for international scripts while Terminus is the most pleasing to the eyes. Make your choice with the arrow up/down key and press Enter.

Lastly, you can set the font size used in the console. The default is 16, but you can change it to a bigger or smaller font size.

To see the font change in action, you have to open a virtual console (not to be confused with the terminal).

1. Press “Alt + Ctrl + F1″ on your keyboard. The virtual console should open full screen. Login with your username and password.

2. Once you are logged into the console, type:

setupcon

3. You should see the font change immediately.

4. To get out of the console, press “Alt + Ctrl + F7″ on your keyboard. This will return you to the desktop.

That’s it.

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Damien Oh is the owner and chief editor of Make Tech EasierNew Shortcut Keys Found in Windows 8 Consumer PreviewRandom PostGrabInbox Manages Your Social Accounts In One Place And Allows You to Schedule Messages Anonymous

Hi,

If you only need virtual consoles like “gnome Terminal”, you can do this easily with by going  to there preference.For example in Gnome terminal go to Edit->Profile preference-> General

Here uncheck the “Use System Fixed width font”, Now you should be able to choose your own preferred font.

http://maketecheasier.com/ Damien Oh

Thanks. You can indeed change the font for virtual console, such as the terminal in the preferences setting. For this tutorial, I am referring to the system console.

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