Looking for a really *BIG* terminal font for Linux (xterm)

Kenny McCormack

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Oct 16, 2018, 10:52:33 AM10/16/18

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I have the need to open an xterm with a really big font. I am currently
using "terminus-32", which is the largest font I could find, but I would
like something bigger if possible.

Can anyone recommend a bigger font? Where would I find it?

Also, is there any way to construct (myself) a bigger font?

--
People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough
men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

George Orwell

Scott Lurndal

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Oct 16, 2018, 11:20:04 AM10/16/18

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gaz...@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) writes:
>I have the need to open an xterm with a really big font. I am currently
>using "terminus-32", which is the largest font I could find, but I would
>like something bigger if possible.
>
>Can anyone recommend a bigger font? Where would I find it?

Look for tools that build/edit bdf font files.

http://profs.etsmtl.ca/mmcguffin/learn/x11fonts/

BDF file looks like this (all human readable):

STARTFONT 2.1
FONT -Lurndal-TD830-Medium-R-Normal--15-140-75-75-C-90-ISO8859-1
SIZE 15 75 75
FONTBOUNDINGBOX 9 15 0 -3

STARTPROPERTIES 23
FONTNAME_REGISTRY ""
FOUNDRY "Lurndal"
FAMILY_NAME "TD830"
WEIGHT_NAME "Medium"
SLANT "R"
SETWIDTH_NAME "Normal"
ADD_STYLE_NAME ""
PIXEL_SIZE 15
POINT_SIZE 140
RESOLUTION_X 75
RESOLUTION_Y 75
SPACING "C"
AVERAGE_WIDTH 90
CHARSET_REGISTRY "ISO8859"
CHARSET_ENCODING "1"
COPYRIGHT "Public domain font. Share and enjoy."
CAP_HEIGHT 10
X_HEIGHT 7
WEIGHT 10
QUAD_WIDTH 9
DEFAULT_CHAR 0
FONT_DESCENT 3
FONT_ASCENT 12
ENDPROPERTIES

CHARS 223

STARTCHAR defaultchar
ENCODING 0
SWIDTH 576 0
DWIDTH 9 0
BBX 9 15 0 -3
BITMAP
0000
0000
6D00
0100
4000
4100
0100
4000
4100
0100
4000
5B00
0000
0000
0000
ENDCHAR

.. repeat for each glyph.

You can use

$ xfd -fn -lurndal-td830-bold-r-normal--15-140-75-75-c-90-iso8859-1

to display the font after it's loaded into the Xserver as per the instructions
in the link above.

Paul

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Oct 16, 2018, 11:54:50 AM10/16/18

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You can use this to resize the appearance of a BDF.
I used this to change a cursor font.

sudo apt install bdfresize

Paul

Jens Schweikhardt

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Oct 18, 2018, 6:21:23 PM10/18/18

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In comp.windows.x Kenny McCormack <gaz...@shell.xmission.com> wrote:
# I have the need to open an xterm with a really big font. I am currently
# using "terminus-32", which is the largest font I could find, but I would
# like something bigger if possible.
#
# Can anyone recommend a bigger font? Where would I find it?
#
# Also, is there any way to construct (myself) a bigger font?

Is using a rendered font an option? You can use them at any size.

To see which fonts are available,

$ fc-list :scalable=true:spacing=mono: family
Monaco
[...]

Then

$ xterm -fa "Monaco:size=48"

Voilá!

Regards,

Jens
--
Jens Schweikhardt http://www.schweikhardt.net/
SIGSIG -- signature too long (core dumped)

Kenny McCormack

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Oct 20, 2018, 1:51:37 PM10/20/18

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In article <g2sfb1...@mid.individual.net>,

Jens Schweikhardt <use...@schweikhardt.net> wrote:
>In comp.windows.x Kenny McCormack <gaz...@shell.xmission.com> wrote:
># I have the need to open an xterm with a really big font. I am currently
># using "terminus-32", which is the largest font I could find, but I would
># like something bigger if possible.
>#
># Can anyone recommend a bigger font? Where would I find it?
>#
># Also, is there any way to construct (myself) a bigger font?
>
>Is using a rendered font an option? You can use them at any size.
>
>To see which fonts are available,
>
> $ fc-list :scalable=true:spacing=mono: family
> Monaco
> [...]
>
>Then
>
> $ xterm -fa "Monaco:size=48"

Bingo! I think my problem is solved.

Observe:

$ fc-list :scalable=true:spacing=mono: family

Droid Sans Mono
DejaVu Sans Mono
Liberation Mono
FreeMono
$

(Should there be more than just these 4? Do I need to apt-get something?)

The following command line solves my problem:

$ xterm -fa DroidSansMono:size=32

>Voilá!

Kudos for knowing how to spell that word. The common modern spelling is
the same as that of a member of the violin family.

--
A 70 year old man who watches 6 hours of TV a day, plays a lot of golf
and seems to always be in Florida is a retiree, not a president.

Jens Schweikhardt

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Oct 20, 2018, 5:42:25 PM10/20/18

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In comp.windows.x Kenny McCormack <gaz...@shell.xmission.com> wrote:

...
# Observe:
#
# $ fc-list :scalable=true:spacing=mono: family
# Droid Sans Mono
# DejaVu Sans Mono
# Liberation Mono
# FreeMono
# $
#
# (Should there be more than just these 4? Do I need to apt-get something?)

Dunno, on FreeBSD I have simply extracted a ton of monospaced fonts in
otf or ttf files from the 'net to my $HOME/.fonts directory. Try looking
for font or monospace or terminal packages.