Linux – Font getting reset in virtual console on GNU/Linux

consolefontslinux

I have set a custom font on my virtual console (vt1) using the following command:

shell> setfont ter-114f

If I switch to X (using Ctrl+Alt+F7) and come back to the virtual console (using Ctrl+Alt+F1), the display isn't proper. Looks like the screen size is getting reset (previously set to 28 rows before switching).

How can this be fixed?

Best Answer

It depends on your distribution.

Arch Linux

In Arch Linux, once you have selected the font from /usr/share/kbd/keymaps/ that you would like to set, you need to add it to your /etc/rc.conf like so:

CONSOLEFONT="lat2-16"

and then add the consolefont hook to your /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

HOOKS="base udev autodetect pata scsi sata filesystems consolefont"

and regenerate the image:

# mkinitcpio -p kernel26

Ubuntu/Debian

In Ubuntu/Debian, select your font from /usr/share/consolefonts/ and then edit /etc/default/console-setup and add an entry like:

CODESET="Lat15"
FONTFACE="Terminus"
FONTSIZE="16"

and to make it permanent:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure console-setup

Fedora

The available fonts are listed in /lib/kbd/consolefonts/.

Specify the desired font in /etc/sysconfig/i18n file by modifying the SYSCONF entry.

SYSFONT="lat2-16"

References

Related Solutions

Linux Console – How to Stretch Screen to Fit Monitor

Using only the nomodeset kernel option got me the results I wanted, the console now fills the entire screen.

Linux – Screen corruption after hibernate — Is there another way to refresh the X11 display

I had a similar situation with my laptop. The screen would often remain black when it woke from suspend. My solution was to use xrandr to reset my displays. You need to find the xrandr command that sets up your layout and run that. For example, on my system, I had two screens and this set it up as I wanted it:

xrandr --output DP-3 --auto --output VGA-0 --auto --right-of DP-3 --primary

If you only have a single screen, you could try switching it off and on again:

xrandr --output VGA-1 --off; xrandr --output VGA-1 --auto;

You can see the names of your screens by running xrandr with no arguments. On the system I am using now (one VGA screen), I get:

$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 8192 x 8192
VGA-1 connected primary 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 477mm x 268mm
   1920x1080      60.0*+
   1680x1050      60.0  
   1280x1024      75.0     60.0  
   1152x864       75.0  
   1024x768       75.1     60.0  
   800x600        75.0     60.3  
   640x480        75.0     60.0  
   720x400        70.1  
DVI-I-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

Once you find the right command, assign it a shortcut so you can run it even when the screen is blank.