Raspberry Pi Forums

Posted: **Thu Nov 07, 2019 12:56 pm**

I have a small screen and need to change the size of the font used in the raspi-config utility. Raspi-config uses ASCII characters to create the menus and prompts but I need these to be larger so they can be seen on a small screen. I've tried changing the console font size but this does not seem to affect the raspi-config fonts.

Can this be done?

Posted: **Thu Nov 07, 2019 2:31 pm**

What do you need to do with raspi-config? Maybe it can easily be done manually.

Or maybe just log in with SSH from another machine and run raspi-config in that terminal.

Posted: **Thu Nov 07, 2019 2:54 pm**

If you are using your Raspberry Pi with a smaller screen you may want to change the font used on the command line to make it easier to read. I usually do this when I am using various portable LCD screens (eg the HDMIPi).

It only changes the font within the console if you are using a screen connected directly to the Pi. It won’t affect Putty/SSH sessions.

Changing the font size on the console is easy to do and there are two methods you can choose.

Method 1
This method uses a system utility called “dpkg-reconfigure”. Run it using the command shown below :

sudo dpkg-reconfigure console-setup
This will launch a “Package Configuration” screen :

Changing Raspbian Font Size

Using the up/down arrow keys select “UTF-8”. Using the right arrow key select “OK” and press ENTER.

Changing Raspbian Font Size

Using the up/down arrow keys select “Guess optimal character set”. Using the right arrow key select “OK” and press ENTER.

Changing Raspbian Font Size

Using the up/down arrow keys select “Terminus”. Using the right arrow key select “OK” and press ENTER.

Changing Raspbian Font Size

Using the up/down arrow keys select “16×32”. Using the right arrow key select “OK” and press ENTER. There will be short delay before you are returned to the command prompt with the new font size. 16×32 is a font size that will be twice the size of the default.

See below for a video showing this method.

Method 2
This method involves editing a system file called “console-setup”. You just need to load it into your preferred text editor and tweak a few lines :

sudo nano /etc/default/console-setup
You will see the default settings :

Changing Raspbian Font Size

Using the arrow keys position the cursor and change the FONTFACE and FONTSIZE lines to :

FONTFACE="Terminus"
FONTSIZE="16x32"
Your file should look something like this :

Changing Raspbian Font Size

Press CTRL-X, then Y then ENTER to save the changes.

To apply these new settings to your command prompt without rebooting you can run the following command :

sudo /etc/init.d/console-setup restart

Hope this helps you!
Regards,
Lewis

Posted: **Thu Nov 07, 2019 10:08 pm**

Thank you, Lewis-H for you in-depth instructions that directly answered my question.

I have burned a lot of hours trying to figure out how to set the SSID and p/w for an enclosed Pi where the SD card is not accessible and the Pi is not on a LAN (SSH via USB, Putty, WinSCP, et al). It boiled down to the old chicken and egg paradox. In order to set the correct WiFi SSID and p/w, the Pi had to be connected to a LAN but it couldn't connect to a LAN until it had the correct SSID and p/w. I got close using SSH via USB but could never get the publickey aspect correct to allow login. Getting the raspi-config up to a size where WiFi can be set in the usual way was my last hope of making this work.

It will be a couple of days before I have everything connected and am able to implement your suggestions, but I'll report back on how it goes.

Posted: **Fri Nov 08, 2019 7:20 am**

By the way, Lewis-H. Will the procedures you provided change the size of the text used to display the raspi-config menus to a larger size? That's the most important thing for this project.

Posted: **Sat Nov 09, 2019 5:56 pm**

Lewis-H wrote: ↑
Thu Nov 07, 2019 2:54 pm
If you are using your Raspberry Pi with a smaller screen you may want to change the font used on the command line to make it easier to read. I usually do this when I am using various portable LCD screens (eg the HDMIPi).

It only changes the font within the console if you are using a screen connected directly to the Pi. It won’t affect Putty/SSH sessions.

Changing the font size on the console is easy to do and there are two methods you can choose.

Method 1
This method uses a system utility called “dpkg-reconfigure”. Run it using the command shown below :

sudo dpkg-reconfigure console-setup
This will launch a “Package Configuration” screen :

Changing Raspbian Font Size

Using the up/down arrow keys select “UTF-8”. Using the right arrow key select “OK” and press ENTER.

Changing Raspbian Font Size

Using the up/down arrow keys select “Guess optimal character set”. Using the right arrow key select “OK” and press ENTER.

Changing Raspbian Font Size

Using the up/down arrow keys select “Terminus”. Using the right arrow key select “OK” and press ENTER.

Changing Raspbian Font Size

Using the up/down arrow keys select “16×32”. Using the right arrow key select “OK” and press ENTER. There will be short delay before you are returned to the command prompt with the new font size. 16×32 is a font size that will be twice the size of the default.

See below for a video showing this method.

Method 2
This method involves editing a system file called “console-setup”. You just need to load it into your preferred text editor and tweak a few lines :

sudo nano /etc/default/console-setup
You will see the default settings :

Changing Raspbian Font Size

Using the arrow keys position the cursor and change the FONTFACE and FONTSIZE lines to :

FONTFACE="Terminus"
FONTSIZE="16x32"
Your file should look something like this :

Changing Raspbian Font Size

Press CTRL-X, then Y then ENTER to save the changes.

To apply these new settings to your command prompt without rebooting you can run the following command :

sudo /etc/init.d/console-setup restart

Hope this helps you!
Regards,
Lewis

Lewis,

It was worth a try, but neither of the above procedures accomplished what I was after. After making the changes, the command line text and boot text was increased in size, but it had no affect on the text size used to create the raspi-config menus (the menu layouts and text size remained the same size as before). I'll probably just run it the way it is and use a magnifying glass when accessing raspi-config.

But thanks for the assist. I'll put this in my toolbox and it make come in handy someday. Thanks!!

Raspberry Pi Forums

How to Change the Size of the ASCII Font Embedded in Raspi-Config

How to Change the Size of the ASCII Font Embedded in Raspi-Config

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Re: How to Change the Size of the ASCII Font Embedded in Raspi-Config

Re: How to Change the Size of the ASCII Font Embedded in Raspi-Config

Re: How to Change the Size of the ASCII Font Embedded in Raspi-Config

Re: How to Change the Size of the ASCII Font Embedded in Raspi-Config