DOS Fonts
Yes, you can easily change your command line font – so long as you’re running in a full screen session. I used to do this all the time (when DOS ruled the Earth). I’m not talking about changing the font in Windows, mind you – anybody can do that. Here’s a set of “.COM” files I collected back in the day, including a free DOS font editor from PC Magazine. They’re completely safe to use.
- Download these DOS fonts and extract them somewhere
- Open a command line window [run CMD.EXE]
- “CD” to the directory where you extracted the fonts
- Key in “MODE CON: LINES=23″ [without quotes, tap ENTER]
- Tap ALT+ENTER to go full screen
- Key in “DIR” [without quotes, tap ENTER]
- Key in “F#” [without quotes, "#" can be 1 through 44]
If these instructions make no sense to you, then you probably wouldn’t find this bit of digital nostalgia all that much fun anyway. I’ve been a font freak forever.
It’s totally geeky – but I’m not going to explain the reason or rhyme behind why I believe it’s still fun to do. The settings aren’t sticky, so everything goes back to normal when you EXIT the session. I created “F4,” by the way (very Beavis & Buttheadish). If you wanna create your own, I’ve included FONTEDIT.COM. Pimp it, yo!
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12 Comments
I Learned Something Today
September 28th, 2006
at 8:33pm
DOS Fonts ~ Chris PirilloA blog entry with a cool application to change the fonts in full screen DOS mode. DOS in BrushScript font? Believe it! There are some good fonts there to make the screen more readable too.
bradfarris.newsvine.com - Brad Farris
September 21st, 2006
at 8:33pm
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Newsvine - Get Smarter Here
September 21st, 2006
at 8:36pm
Sack Fest at the Pink Taco?[IMG Technology][IMG ]HP Sponsors Privacy Award[IMG ]Orion Moon Capsule Mock-Up Has Test Spin[IMG ]Motorola Unveils Phone Vending Machines[IMG ]BuddyTV – Social Networking, Chat, TV.. Forums 2.0[IMG ]How to Change Your Command Line Font[IMG ]O’Reilly — Build a Simple MP3 Player for Your Site[IMG ]Walt D: Disturbing Trend on Newsvine[IMG ]Sean Balsiger: Why YouTube users violating copyright laws is a good thing
SocioBiblog
June 15th, 2007
at 6:32am
but it doesn’t support Aero in Vista. And then there is the font rendering. WTF… Related Content:Font FunTweak Flash Player SettingsHate My Font?Gnoming ServersThe Sniffle ShuffleGetting New GlassesFix Windows Vista’s Fonts!Dell Ineptitude 8100DOS FontsOur Linksys Problems
digg / Technology / Upcoming
September 21st, 2006
at 6:28am
[...] How to Change Your Command Line Font [...]
Herbert N Swearengen III
September 21st, 2006
at 7:00am
Enjoy this trick while you can. Beginning with Vista (and Longhorn Server), Microsoft has permanently removed access to full screen mode for the command window.
(Sigh)
Slider2732
October 1st, 2006
at 2:58pm
Excellent prog Chris !
I needed something for a menu prog i’m writing. Your font editor is ideal for the full sized Defender arcade game i’ve now got running by computer…only trouble was, i had to use a PC monitor and mount it in the cabinet upside down.
How to do an upside down font for the menu ? i came here :)
Kurt
October 2nd, 2006
at 10:36pm
Computer Labs were never the same at UNI after I watched you perform this once. There’s nothing better than watching a newb try to access the ISCA BBS (See U of Iowa’s WEEG server circa 1992) and get the F3 (reversed fonts) and call the lab monitor over. *laughs*
I attempted to load them at the library, but that attempt ended rather badly. I’m never taking back the book I checked out for my Humanities class because of how the staff treated me. :(
Carrie Kruger
September 27th, 2007
at 3:59am
Hi!
After many hours of searching for a solution, I found your site.
I hope you can help!
Is there a way to eliminate the extraneous characters in a dos window?
I have a very old app that includes strings like “
Marcelo
February 28th, 2008
at 10:09am
Hello! Is there a way to convert the .exe font files to .fon or .ttf files? Thanks a lot!
Nathanael Colver
March 14th, 2009
at 10:38am
What Ms taketh away, DOSBox restoreth. If you’re peaved at the loss of a fullscreen DOS prompt, try DOSBox. Or forget fullscreen. DOS fonts work in DOSBox even in windowed mode.
Bob
July 30th, 2009
at 12:04am
DOS fonts loaded with Fontedit can be overridden by programs that reset or load their own fonts. A program called M10 loads a persistent screen driver that protects your font. That takes care of fullscreen, but one of my old programs used a proprietary font set, making the DOS box useless. Luckily XP still uses some fon files. I redrew one of them (I think it was ega40woa.fon) and made it large enough for a 1366×768 screen while I was at it..