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System Administration 3

System Administration 3

1. How can you change the console font ( when using command line, not X window system) ?
2. How and where can I change the color scheme for xterm ?
1.

How can you change the console font ( when using command line, not X window system) ?

Kevin Hochhalter

Applies to SuSE 8.0

There seems to be a problem with /etc/sysconfig/console, and it has to do with the CONSOLE_SCREENMAP entry. /etc/init.d/kbd doesn't seem to like the entry of none that was there in my system, and since I know the console runs in utf-8, I simple commented out that line. Try editing /etc/sysconfig/console, and change the line

CONSOLE_SCREENMAP="none"

to

#CONSOLE_SCREENMAP="none"
    

You can then change the font to any that you have in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts by changing the line

CONSOLE_FONT="CurrentEntry"

to

CONSOLE_FONT="YourChoice"
    

If the font is gzipped, leave off the .gz extension.

No need to reboot, either. To reload the console after changing the font, try this

/etc/init.d/kbd reload

or 

cd /etc/init.d
./kbd reload
    

You can always use YaST2 to change the console font, too. Just make sure that you have commented out that line in /etc/sysconfig/console first. Start YaST2, and then click on System, followed by Sysconfig Editor." Click on the+ that is next to Base-Administration", and then click on Console. If you don't see the font you want in the pulldown menu, just enter your choice there by hand. To finish up, click Save and then ok.

You can do this with YaST2 in text mode, of course, but it is a little clunky.

Making use of theAlt key rather than Tab helps things a lot, though. Also, if you are using YaST2 in text mode, and you see a + symbol, try using the + key that is on the number pad, rather than the + key that is next to Backspace. The + next to Backspace doesn't seem to work right if you are using a US key map for the keyboard.

You might give the font lat1-16.psfu a try, since it is really smooth. Kind of big, though, but the older I get, the bigger my fonts ;-)

2.

How and where can I change the color scheme for xterm ?

set -o noclobber && dircolors -p > ~/.dir_colors
    

and edit ~/.dir_colors.


Updated: Tue, 03 Feb 2004
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