Arch Linux

jones

Member

Registered: 2013-03-14

Posts: 247

[SOLVED] Console font not working

SOLUTION I made a stupid mistake and mistook my wrong memory for AL's inability to set another console font.

Per following the wiki's section on console fonts, I created /etc/vconsole.conf:
The font entry does not have any effect. Why is that?

Some commands I ran, so all basic info is here:

$ cat /etc/vconsole.conf 
KEYMAP=de
FONT=lat9w-16

$ cat ~/.bashrc 
#
# ~/.bashrc
#

# If not running interactively, don't do anything
[[ $- != *i* ]] && return

alias ls='ls --color=auto'
#PS1='[\u@\h \W]\$ '
PS1='\[\033[0;37m\]\A\[\033[0m\] \u@\h [\[\033[0;33m\]\W\[\033[0m\]] \[\033[0;37m\]\$\[\033[0m\]

$ cat ~/.bash_profile 
#
# ~/.bash_profile
#

[[ -f ~/.bashrc ]] && . ~/.bashrc

Also, I can't get the info about the current (default) one:

$ showconsolefont 
Couldn't get a file descriptor referring to the console

But if I sudo that command:

$ sudo showconsolefont
bug: getfont called with count<256
    !  "  #  $  %  &  '  (    )  *  +  ,  -  .  /  0    
    1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8    9  :  ;  <  =  >  ?  @    
    A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H    I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P    
    Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X    Y  Z  [  \  ]  ^  _  `    
    !  "  #  $  %  &  '  (    )  *  +  ,  -  .  /  0    
    1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8    9  :  ;  <  =  >  ?  @    
    A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H    I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P    
    Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X    Y  Z  [  \  ]  ^  _  `    

    !  "  #  $  %  &  '  (    )  *  +  ,  -  .  /  0    
    1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8    9  :  ;  <  =  >  ?  @    
    A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H    I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P    
    Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X    Y  Z  [  \  ]  ^  _  `    
    !  "  #  $  %  &  '  (    )  *  +  ,  -  .  /  0    
    1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8    9  :  ;  <  =  >  ?  @    
    A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H    I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P    
    Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X    Y  Z  [  \  ]  ^  _  `    

I am at a loss, to be honest.

Last edited by jones (2019-11-18 19:08:29)

Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 29,523

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Console font not working

It looks like you are not running those fonts in a console or true tty but rather in a terminal emulator (under X or wayland).

---

"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

seth

Member

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 51,029

Re: [SOLVED] Console font not working

Also did you see

To use the specified font in early userspace, use the consolefont hook in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf. See Mkinitcpio#HOOKS for more information.

If the fonts appear to not change on boot, or change only temporarily, it is most likely that they got reset when graphics driver was initialized and console was switched to framebuffer. To avoid this, load your graphics driver earlier. See for example Kernel mode setting#Early KMS start, [3] or other ways to setup your framebuffer before /etc/vconsole.conf is applied.

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jones

Member

Registered: 2013-03-14

Posts: 247

Re: [SOLVED] Console font not working

Did the changes, it still does not work after powering off and restarting the machine. Hm.

It looks like you are not running those fonts in a console or true tty but rather in a terminal emulator (under X or wayland).

I can say that I checked on the fonts by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1-F6.

$ cat /etc/mkinitcpio.conf | grep i915
MODULES=(i915)
$ cat /etc/mkinitcpio.conf | grep consolefont
HOOKS=(base udev autodetect modconf block filesystems keyboard fsck consolefont)

seth

Member

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 51,029

Re: [SOLVED] Console font not working

Does "did the changes" imply that you rebuilt the initramfs?

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jones

Member

Registered: 2013-03-14

Posts: 247

Re: [SOLVED] Console font not working

Yes, I did, sorry for omitting that.

seth

Member

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 51,029

Re: [SOLVED] Console font not working

Does "no effect" refer to the locale?
Try

KEYMAP=de-latin1-nodeadkeys

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jones

Member

Registered: 2013-03-14

Posts: 247

Re: [SOLVED] Console font not working

The locale is not the issue at all... as far as I can tell. Getting the respective characters onto the screen after hitting the buttons... all that works flawlessly.

Last edited by jones (2019-11-15 16:40:10)

seth

Member

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 51,029

Re: [SOLVED] Console font not working

Can you successfully "setfont lat9w-16"?

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jones

Member

Registered: 2013-03-14

Posts: 247

Re: [SOLVED] Console font not working

I cannot, apparently. Whether I user-run or sudo-run the command on any of the 6 TTYs does not matter, there is no change, at least not any immediate one.

Another edit, sorry. To make sure:

$ ls /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts/
161.cp.gz
162.cp.gz
163.cp.gz
164.cp.gz
165.cp.gz
737.cp.gz
880.cp.gz
928.cp.gz
972.cp.gz
Agafari-12.psfu.gz
Agafari-14.psfu.gz
Agafari-16.psfu.gz
alt-8x14.gz
alt-8x16.gz
alt-8x8.gz
altc-8x16.gz
aply16.psf.gz
arm8.fnt.gz
cp1250.psfu.gz
cp850-8x14.psfu.gz
cp850-8x16.psfu.gz
cp850-8x8.psfu.gz
cp857.08.gz
cp857.14.gz
cp857.16.gz
cp865-8x14.psfu.gz
cp865-8x16.psfu.gz
cp865-8x8.psfu.gz
cp866-8x14.psf.gz
cp866-8x16.psf.gz
cp866-8x8.psf.gz
cybercafe.fnt.gz
Cyr_a8x14.psfu.gz
Cyr_a8x16.psfu.gz
Cyr_a8x8.psfu.gz
cyr-sun16.psfu.gz
default8x16.psfu.gz
default8x9.psfu.gz
drdos8x14.psfu.gz
drdos8x16.psfu.gz
drdos8x6.psfu.gz
drdos8x8.psfu.gz
ERRORS
eurlatgr.psfu.gz
Goha-12.psfu.gz
Goha-14.psfu.gz
Goha-16.psfu.gz
GohaClassic-12.psfu.gz
GohaClassic-14.psfu.gz
GohaClassic-16.psfu.gz
gr737a-8x8.psfu.gz
gr737a-9x14.psfu.gz
gr737a-9x16.psfu.gz
gr737b-8x11.psfu.gz
gr737b-9x16-medieval.psfu.gz
gr737c-8x14.psfu.gz
gr737c-8x16.psfu.gz
gr737c-8x6.psfu.gz
gr737c-8x7.psfu.gz
gr737c-8x8.psfu.gz
gr737d-8x16.psfu.gz
gr928-8x16-thin.psfu.gz
gr928-9x14.psfu.gz
gr928-9x16.psfu.gz
gr928a-8x14.psfu.gz
gr928a-8x16.psfu.gz
gr928b-8x14.psfu.gz
gr928b-8x16.psfu.gz
greek-polytonic.psfu.gz
iso01.08.gz
iso01-12x22.psfu.gz
iso01.14.gz
iso01.16.gz
iso02.08.gz
iso02-12x22.psfu.gz
iso02.14.gz
iso02.16.gz
iso03.08.gz
iso03.14.gz
iso03.16.gz
iso04.08.gz
iso04.14.gz
iso04.16.gz
iso05.08.gz
iso05.14.gz
iso05.16.gz
iso06.08.gz
iso06.14.gz
iso06.16.gz
iso07.14.gz
iso07.16.gz
iso07u-16.psfu.gz
iso08.08.gz
iso08.14.gz
iso08.16.gz
iso09.08.gz
iso09.14.gz
iso09.16.gz
iso10.08.gz
iso10.14.gz
iso10.16.gz
koi8-14.psf.gz
koi8c-8x16.gz
koi8r-8x14.gz
koi8r-8x16.gz
koi8r-8x8.gz
koi8r.8x8.psfu.gz
koi8u_8x14.psfu.gz
koi8u_8x16.psfu.gz
koi8u_8x8.psfu.gz
lat0-08.psfu.gz
lat0-10.psfu.gz
lat0-12.psfu.gz
lat0-14.psfu.gz
lat0-16.psfu.gz
lat0-sun16.psfu.gz
lat1-08.psfu.gz
lat1-10.psfu.gz
lat1-12.psfu.gz
lat1-14.psfu.gz
lat1-16.psfu.gz
lat2-08.psfu.gz
lat2-10.psfu.gz
lat2-12.psfu.gz
lat2-14.psfu.gz
lat2-16.psfu.gz
lat2a-16.psfu.gz
lat2-sun16.psfu.gz
Lat2-Terminus16.psfu.gz
lat4-08.psfu.gz
lat4-10.psfu.gz
lat4-12.psfu.gz
lat4-14.psfu.gz
lat4-16.psfu.gz
lat4-16+.psfu.gz
lat4-19.psfu.gz
lat4a-08.psfu.gz
lat4a-10.psfu.gz
lat4a-12.psfu.gz
lat4a-14.psfu.gz
lat4a-16.psfu.gz
lat4a-16+.psfu.gz
lat4a-19.psfu.gz
lat5-12.psfu.gz
lat5-14.psfu.gz
lat5-16.psfu.gz
lat7-14.psfu.gz
lat7a-14.psfu.gz
lat7a-16.psf.gz
lat9-08.psf.gz
lat9-10.psf.gz
lat9-12.psf.gz
lat9-14.psf.gz
lat9-16.psf.gz
lat9u-08.psfu.gz
lat9u-10.psfu.gz
lat9u-12.psfu.gz
lat9u-14.psfu.gz
lat9u-16.psfu.gz
lat9v-08.psfu.gz
lat9v-10.psfu.gz
lat9v-12.psfu.gz
lat9v-14.psfu.gz
lat9v-16.psfu.gz
lat9w-08.psfu.gz
lat9w-10.psfu.gz
lat9w-12.psfu.gz
lat9w-14.psfu.gz
lat9w-16.psfu.gz
LatArCyrHeb-08.psfu.gz
LatArCyrHeb-14.psfu.gz
LatArCyrHeb-16.psfu.gz
LatArCyrHeb-16+.psfu.gz
LatArCyrHeb-19.psfu.gz
latarcyrheb-sun16.psfu.gz
latarcyrheb-sun32.psfu.gz
LatGrkCyr-12x22.psfu.gz
LatGrkCyr-8x16.psfu.gz
LatKaCyrHeb-14.psfu.gz
Mik_8x16.gz
pancyrillic.f16.psfu.gz
partialfonts
README.12x22
README.Arabic
README.cp1250
README.cybercafe
README.Cyrillic
README.drdos
README.Ethiopic
README.eurlatgr
README.eurlatgr.mappings
README.Greek
README.Hebrew
README.lat0
README.Lat2-Terminus16
README.lat7
README.lat9
README.LatGrkCyr
README.psfu
README.Sun
ruscii_8x16.psfu.gz
ruscii_8x8.psfu.gz
sun12x22.psfu.gz
t850b.fnt.gz
tcvn8x16.psf.gz
t.fnt.gz
UniCyr_8x14.psf.gz
UniCyr_8x16.psf.gz
UniCyr_8x8.psf.gz
UniCyrExt_8x16.psf.gz
viscii10-8x16.psfu.gz

Last edited by jones (2019-11-16 12:24:09)

seth

Member

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 51,029

Re: [SOLVED] Console font not working

What if you avoid a framebuffer console?
Eg. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GR … ramebuffer (not sure about systemd-boot) or maybe boot "nomodeset"?
Can you switch to "cybercafe"?

---

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jones

Member

Registered: 2013-03-14

Posts: 247

Re: [SOLVED] Console font not working

I can switch to cybercafe!
Also, per https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=249072:

$ systemctl status systemd-vconsole-setup
● systemd-vconsole-setup.service - Setup Virtual Console
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-vconsole-setup.service; static; vendor preset: d>
   Active: inactive (dead)
     Docs: man:systemd-vconsole-setup.service(8)
           man:vconsole.conf(5)

I cannot find any reliable info for learning how to avoid the framebuffer console with systemd, as I boot with systemd-boot.

edit: Added the bit about systemd-boot

Last edited by jones (2019-11-18 17:28:52)

seth

Member

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 51,029

Re: [SOLVED] Console font not working

So, if you can switch to cybercafe why do you want to switch to anything else and (on topic ;-) what makes you believe to fail to switch to lat9w-16?

If we're back to the

$ sudo showconsolefont
bug: getfont called with count<256
    !  "  #  $  %  &  '  (    )  *  +  ,  -  .  /  0    
    1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8    9  :  ;  <  =  >  ?  @  
…

output in your initial post: that's clearly made from some TE in a graphical environment and not a linux console (the "bug" as well as that you had to invoke sudo) and is therefore completely meaningless.

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jones

Member

Registered: 2013-03-14

Posts: 247

Re: [SOLVED] Console font not working

Oh man. Now I got it. I am so terribly sorry. This was so annoying.
You are right, I actually can set the font. It's just... I was stupidly mistaken. The one I remembered, and could have sworn I set on another AL machine, was lat2-something. But to my eyes, it looks like the default font when you boot the ISO (perhaps it is, I can't say). So I always had the names wrong.

Again, sorry.

I understand the bit about the "getfont"-bug as well now. Yes I ran in it xfce's terminal at first.

Also, ter7-18n is great. cybercafe, not so much.... not my cup of tea.

Last edited by jones (2019-11-18 18:30:33)

2ManyDogs

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2012-01-15

Posts: 4,645

Re: [SOLVED] Console font not working

Please remember to mark your thread [SOLVED] (edit the title of your first post).