Ubuntu – How to change the default font size of XTerm

To adjust the font/font-size used for the TTY, run sudo dpkg-reconfigure console-setup, which will guide you through the steps to choose a font and font-size:

1. Choose the default UTF-8, and press Tab to go highlight OK and then press Enter to go to the next step. (You can press it again and highlight Cancel to go back.)

   

2. Choose the default Combined - Latin, ... option ("Latin" includes the English alphabet) and proceed to step 3:

   

3. Select the font - be sure to read the notes above on the visual effect different fonts can have:

   

4. Select the font size:

   

5. Now you will exit console-setup; as the displayed message says, the new settings will be effective after reboot. To apply immediately, open a TTY and run setupcon.

The application settings override the Xresources (or .Xresouces), You should look into /etc/X11/app-defaults/XTerm to change the fonts permanently. The SimpleMenumenuLabel.font is for the menu itself, the others look like

 *fontMenu*font2*Label:  Tiny
*VT100.font2:           5x7

or

*VT100.utf8Fonts.font2: -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--8-80-75-75-c-50-iso10646-1
*VT100.utf8Fonts.font:  -misc-fixed-medium-r-semicondensed--13-120-75-75-c-60-iso10646-1

You can change the values to any font listed in the

xlsfonts

command, but restricting yourself to fixed fonts tends to work better. All the fonts like 5x7 are fixed, five pix wide, seven high, so it's easy to pick a bigger one. The longer names have a size embedded in the name, (first number), with a resolution like 75-75 or 100-100. Try out several at a time on the available font2-6. The new machine might have a different resolution which makes the same setting look smaller than the old one.

5x7 is the smallest standard font of that group, if it's too big, you probably have a resolution problem. Check the resolution of your display (DASH/Settings(gear)/Displays). If it is smaller than before, maybe you need to (re)install any proprietary video drivers.