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This seems an easy fix in some other distros: Arch, for example, looks at a "vconsole.conf" file. I know Slackware has a "setconsolefont" command, but I've also read on the wiki's for it (and locale) that it won't accept new fonts, which seems to be the case whenever I add anything to /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts/.
At the moment I was going to edit setconsolefont and hack the initial script for it and just add the font I want to the menu listings. That said, I'd also prefer an easier way in case, in the future, I get some new console fonts I want to try out. All that I can think of, avoiding hacking setconsolefont, would be to have an init script run 'setfont' with the font of my choice everytime I boot as I know setfont is temporary. However, wouldn't setfont merely set the font for the current tty and not the others?
Well, isn't that easy enough. Hacking the script isn't all that hard, you can just add your font(s) to be to two areas; the choice menu and the major list, but this is a lot easier to maintain and interface with. Thanks!
@BrainL - agreed Lat2-Terminus16 looks fine and dandy, except (for me) when I need it to draw something with box-drawing characters? What's the magic that loads the right code-page / Unicode map to make it do that properly?
@BrainL - agreed Lat2-Terminus16 looks fine and dandy, except (for me) when I need it to draw something with box-drawing characters? What's the magic that loads the right code-page / Unicode map to make it do that properly?
Are you having a problem with the box-drawing characters at the console or in a terminal emulator? I don't have access to a Slackware console at the moment but I do have access to a Crux console and Lat2-Terminus16 shows the box-drawing characters in tmux split panes fine. (Test: start tmux and type Ctrl-B Shft-%, which will split the screen into 2 panes.)
When I accessed this same Crux machine using a terminal emulator (Tera Term) I had to install a font provided by the Tera Term team to get the box characters to display properly, as lines rather than question marks. In ~/.profile on Crux I have $LANG set to en_US.UTF-8 and other LC variables (LC_TIME, LC_NUMERIC and LC_MONETARY) to en_IE.UTF-8. Some characters in man pages did not display properly with $LANG set to en_IE.UTF-8 or en_GB.UTF-8, so I stick to en_US.UTF-8 instead. If your problem appears in a SSH session, using a terminal emulator, make sure the locale setting in the emulator is correct, and it has the font installed on the local machine.
I suspect your problem with the line-drawing characters has to do with your locale. Type "locale" to check the values. Most values are inherited from the LANG variable, and they appear in quotation marks; values which are explicitly set are not inside quotation marks. Below are the values I have set in ~/.profile in Crux:
Turned out that what I needed to do to get my console font showing box-drawing characters correctly was described here in the localisation bit of good old Slackdocs. I was already using the right localisation variable (en_GB.UTF-8) but I needed to use the
Code:
Unicode_start
command to get the Unicode characters displayed correctly.
bogzab,
setup asks about using UTF-8 in console with 'No' as default answer. It writes kernel parameter vt.default_utf8=0 (for No) or vt.default_utf8=1 (for Yes, it is default for modern kernels) into append= line of /etc/lilo.conf.
If you want to use utf8 in console without calling unicode_start, remove vt.default_utf8=0 or replace it with vt.default_utf8=1 in /etc/lilo.conf and rerun lilo as root.
One of the advantages of using a stable OS like Slackware is that once you've done the setup and fixed up lilo you can forget (as I have done) all about it. I'll go back and check up the lilo.conf to see if it turns Unicode off.
I were wondering why do I get broken characters.
Checked, if vt.default_utf8=1 is set. Set.
Then I realize: wait, I've set font to Lat2-Terminus16 (latin), yet my locale is set bulgarian letters (cyrillic).
As expected switching to UniCyr_8x16 fixed broken chars. Finally! LOL
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