Font Management In Linux, Part 2 - page 3

Previewing Fonts

I'm talking the Real Linux Console here, the one you get to with Ctrl+Alt+F1. No sissy X terminal, no, but the real deal with no X windows of any kind. On Debian console fonts are stored as compressed files in /usr/share/consolefonts. Fedora puts them in /lib/kbd/console/fonts.

To change the console font, Fedora users need to edit /etc/sysconfig/i18n. The default console font is latarcyreb-sun16. You can change this to any of the fonts in /lib/kbd/console/fonts.

On Debian, look for /etc/console-tools/config, and enter any font that is present in /usr/share/consolefonts.

Ubuntu users must change /etc/default/console-setup. The file itself tells you what variables you can use. Always leave CHARMAP="UTF-8" alone; you always want Unicode. CODESET, FONTFACE, and FONTSIZE adjust your fonts.

The new fonts will appear as soon as you log into to a new console, so hit Ctrl+Alt+F1, or any F-key up to F6, and log in to try it out. Alt+Fn switches you between consoles, and Alt+F7 takes you back to X Window.