Arch Linux

itscooldani

Member

Registered: 2024-01-10

Posts: 1

How to set up a nice unicode font on the default TTY

Hello! I'm trying to get htop to run on tty1, displaying on my TV, and I have a few issues/gaps in my knowledge that I'm having a lot of trouble solving with the wiki and googling.

The resolution is too high, and the writing is really small. From what I can find out this is because of the framebuffer? How can I change this?

The font is apparently not unicode, and when I run htop, I get a lot of missing characters in the graphs and such. I use a Mac mainly and really like how htop displays on the terminal via ssh, how can I achieve a similar display on the tty?

It seems like there are a lot of different systems interacting with each other, and lots of terminology that I'm struggling to untangle. Framebuffers, virtual consoles, etc. I was hoping that this was a common enough problem that I'd quickly find a "How to get a nice looking unicode display on the TTY in Archlinux!" type tutorial but I can't find any. If anyone can point me in the right direction that would be great. I've been using arch for a while and am okay with a lot of it's systems, but display stuff is very foreign to me. Thanks!

Last edited by itscooldani (2024-01-10 09:30:00)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 24,479

Re: How to set up a nice unicode font on the default TTY

What graphics hardware? Generally speaking, imo,  stop fussing over TTY only framebuffers. Run a graphical session pick a terminal emulator you like, configure that appropriately make that fullscreen  *tada*.

If you really think you want a TTY, the closest to your stated goal is likely https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/KMSCON

mpan

Member

Registered: 2012-08-01

Posts: 1,419

Website

Re: How to set up a nice unicode font on the default TTY

Hello,

The Linux virtual console (the one you see on ttyN) is handled directly by the kernel and has only basic features. There is no full Unicode or rendering support. To display glyph it uses a table of up to fixed 256 or 512 tiles. You may use setfont to change the tile set. Default sets are available in “/usr/share/kbd/consolefonts/”. The change is temporary: use FONT entry in “/etc/vconsole.conf” to make it permanent. For more info see fonts in Linux console section.

An alternative is to use KMSCON, but be aware this is a third party solution. Note the warning suggesting keeping tty1 using the default console.

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Sometimes I seem a bit harsh — don’t get offended too easily!

Lone_Wolf

Administrator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 13,804

Re: How to set up a nice unicode font on the default TTY

too slow

Last edited by Lone_Wolf (2024-01-10 10:40:35)

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Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.

clean chroot building not flexible enough ?
Try clean chroot manager by graysky