How do I change the font or the font size in the TTY (console)?
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:
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 highlightCancel
to go back.)Choose the default
Combined - Latin, ...
option ("Latin" includes the English alphabet) and proceed to step 3:Select the font - be sure to read the notes above on the visual effect different fonts can have:
Select the font size:
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 runsetupcon
.
Since the other answers did not work for my HiDPI display to increase the font size, after some research I found https://askubuntu.com/a/1134018/73759 to be working.
Edit the file /etc/default/console-setup
sudo nano /etc/default/console-setup
and change the values for font type and font size to
FONTFACE="TER"
FONTSIZE="16x32"
Save the file and apply the changes with
sudo update-initramfs -u
On the next reboot you will have a much larger font in your TTY.
I know this is not the answer to the specific question above but the title just says "change the font size" and this is the top search result on google, so I hope I can help some people here.
Using GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX
First, install xrandr
and run it:
$ sudo apt-get install xrandr
$ xrandr
The available screen modes are listed.
Now, edit /etc/default/grub
:
$ sudo nano /etc/default/grub
Assuming a previously unedited file, make the following changes:
The variable GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT
should contain at least nomodeset
, perhaps in addition to quiet
and splash
on desktop systems.
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nomodeset"
On server systems, uncomment GRUB_TERMINAL=console
to see more messages passing during boot before entering in the graphics console.
Leave this line as a comment:
#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480
At the end of the file, add a line:
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=1280x1024x16
or replace the value by any other (comma separated) mode(s) that is(are) supported by your hardware. The values text
, keep
, auto
, vga
and ask
should also work.
Finally, after saving the edited /etc/default/grub
with Ctrl+O and exiting it with Ctrl+X, issue the following commands:
$ sudo update-grub
$ sudo reboot
This answer will also work to decrease the resolution and/or refresh rate or frame buffer frequency on down-clocked systems. CRT monitors typically show flickering stripes when the refresh frequency is too high.