Instructions: How to permanently enlarge/alter font and font size

Used2BeRX

Depending on what TV you're using, you may find that the default font size in the Linux Console is far too small to read. Even if you have a crystal clear 1080 TV, you might find the tiny text hard to read from the couch.

FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS AND SAVE YOUR EYES!!!

To temporarily change the font size for a single session, do the following:

Type setfont /usr/share/consolefonts/Lat15-TerminusBold20x10.psf.gz and hit ENTER

This should at least make it large enough to take further steps. You may decide that you want it even bigger. You can see a list of available fonts and font sizes by typing in the following:

ls /usr/share/consolefonts/ and hit ENTER

You're going to have a LOT to choose from, and there's no one right answer depending on your situation. Personally I use Lat15-TerminusBold28x14.psf.gz. That is on an old school 720 resolution projection screen TV. It's still a little blurry, but at least I can read it when it's that big.

BIG BONUS: When you go into any of the "Blue" menus for updating packages or setting your individual roms to use an emulator other than default all of the menu options will benefit from this font size change as well!

So.... I turned off the Pi and when I came back the text was small again. What gives?

You need to make it a "permanent" change. You can go back and follow these instructions at any time to change it again, but once you do this and set the font and size you like for your TV you'll never have to do it again.

Follow these instructions:

Exit EmulationStation (either through the menu or hit F4).
Type: cd /etc/default/ and hit ENTER
Type: sudo cp console-setup console-setup.original and hit ENTER
Type: sudo nano console-setup and hit ENTER
Now you are in nano text editor. We will use the original example from the beginning of these instructions "Lat15-TerminusBold20x14".

The three lines you need to change are as follows:

CODESET="guess"
FONTFACE=""
FONTSIZE=""

Change them to the following:

CODESET="Lat15"
FONTFACE="TerminusBold"
FONTSIZE="20x10"

(Make sure to leave the quotation marks)

Hold CTRL and hit X
Hit "Y" when it asks if you want to save.
Hit ENTER to save over the old console-setup file
Back in the Linux Console now, type sudo reboot and hit ENTER

Wait for EmulationStation to finish loading and hit F4.

Now enjoy the enlarged font and NEVER HAVING TO TYPE THAT DAMN COMMAND IN AGAIN. I've seriously typed it so many times now that I know it by heart..... geez...

Big thanks to @Meleu and @backstander for getting me on the right path to figuring this out!!!!

P.S. If you somehow screwed things up, that's why we made a copy by typing "sudo cp console-setup console-setup.original in step 3.

You can type cd /etc/default/ and hit ENTER
Then type sudo rm console-setup and hit ENTER
Then type sudo cp console-setup.original console-setup and hit ENTER
Now type sudo reboot and hit ENTER

This will revert back to original settings and you can try it again.

IMPORTANT ADDENDUM:

Some programs may not play nice with the larger size. I found that jstest (for testing your joysticks) does not work right with a TerminusBold font size greater than 20x10. Every time you press a button it writes a new line on the screen with the output instead of just switching on and off like designed.

You have two options here.

Keep the text size permanently the way you like it and just remember to enter the setfont command to a size small enough for jstest (or other problem programs).
Bring the font size down to 20x10 or whatever necessary with a different font and you don't have to remember the setfont line.

Personally, I would go for number 1. Using jstest is the only time I've noticed this to be a problem and I don't imagine I'll be using it often. I'd much rather have the text on the screen very large 100% of the time until the few times I would need to change it.

meleu

@Used2BeRX I think it's a valuable info to put in the wiki.

@herb_fargus where do you think it should be placed (it's a way to increase the console font size, useful for big screens with high resolutions).

herb_fargus

@meleu how is this any different than just forcing a lower res through config.txt?

There are a ton of things that really have nothing to do with retropie and really are Raspbian/Linux specific and I haven't really figured out what the best thing to do about those things yet...

meleu

@herb_fargus said in Instructions: How to permanently enlarge/alter font and font size:

@meleu how is this any different than just forcing a lower res through config.txt?

You can change console fonts on-the-fly, and it has nothing to do with the resolution.

In big screens with high resolution it's really hard to see what's written on the screen, and, of course, it's hard to see the options in retropie_setup/runcommand menu.

I face this "issue" since I started with RetroPie back in 2014 and was used to solve it using the setfont command in my ~/.bashrc. What our mate @Used2BeRX is sharing here is a broader way to set the default console font (and do not touch the resolution in config.txt).

Are you OK if I summarize the steps in the OP and put it in the Troubleshooting/FAQ?

BuZz

You can sudo dpkg-reconfigure console-setup and switch font via a console gui which should be easier for new users.

meleu

@BuZz said in Instructions: How to permanently enlarge/alter font and font size:

You can sudo dpkg-reconfigure console-setup and switch font via a console gui which should be easier for new users.

Added this info to the FAQ.

Thanks to @Used2BeRX for bringing this up.

backstander

Does RetroPie use the stock raspi-config from Raspbian? I would think that would be a good place to add a menu option for what @BuZz said using "dpkg-reconfigure". Also I think it would benefit Raspbian upstream to have this option because I'm sure there's a large user base with RPi's running Raspbian on TVs (probably an even larger base of RetroPie users). I don't know how accommodating Raspbian would be with a PR for something like this. I'm just thinking out loud again.

BuZz

@backstander I agree. Ill submit a patch upstream when I have some time.