Several others here have suggested my favorite font already, the standard 6x13 "Fixed" bitmap font.
Pretty much every Linux machine has a version of this, but most modern Debians (and probably others) that ship with fontconfig have bitmapped fonts turned off by default for programs that use fontconfig for their font info (i.e., not xterm, but gnome-terminal, usually gvim, et cetera).
If you want to use Fixed and other bitmapped fonts and they're just not there, take a look in /etc/fonts/conf.d for a file named (something like) 70-no-bitmaps.conf, a symblink to the same filename in /etc/fonts/conf.avail. If you remove the symblink from /etc/fonts/conf.d and instead
I tried Inconsolata briefly in my xterm window but ... I don't know, I didn't like it. I guess it's a subjective thing, but I dislike anti-aliased font, I prefer the crisp look of my fixed bitmap font. :-)
There's another Inconsolata derivative named "Inconsolata-g" with straight quotes, dotted zeros, and other small fixes to make it a "programmer's font."
http://leonardo-m.livejournal.com/77079.html
I love the straight quotes, but I'm experiencing increased vertical space between lines in the terminal as well. Seems like the author has the same "problem" judged by the screenshots posted.
This is why Inconsolata beats every font. Because there's a 'mistake' in it, and it can be fixed because of the licensing. This stuff gets me very excited.
Looking at the fonts he did select, it's clear why Terminus gets no mention: it's significantly different aesthetically, with squarer edges and more straight lines, etc., from his preferred fonts.
I say this every time this discussion comes up but I do feel it bears repeating: I switched away from monospaced a while ago and I am never going back.
I encourage you to try something like Verdana for a week just to see how it feels.
All of these fonts look cool, but in Eclipse on Linux (and other GTK-based text editors), the font renderer adds a few pixels to the width for bold text, which screws up the monospacing.
Has anyone been able to figure out a way to disable this?
Just nit picking, but your misspelling of Envy Code R (I read it as "envy coder") to Code Envy R gave me a deja-vu. And I found your comment at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1287909. You are not alone there, though :)
I'm a fan of courier, though my favorite became Bitstream Vera Sans Mono some time ago after I was searching through my fonts for a better font. I like it a lot because it makes it easy to distinguish between O and 0, and l and 1.
I keep trying others and always end up going back to 6x13. It's the perfect font when working on a notebook.
At work I have a larger display that sits farther away, and am running windows. Consolas is easier on the eyes there with two Emacs buffers side-by-side (at "108" Emacs font height).
I came across the 5x13 font (https://github.com/chneukirchen/5x13) and wanted to try it on my netbook. For some reason spaces come out as hatched boxes for me. The font itself looks promising but needs many changes (some of which I've figured enough out to make; but I don't know what to do with the space).
I'm still using 7pt Dina, a monospace bitmap font, in all console windows and my IDEs - all except Visual Studio 2010, that is, which doesn't properly support bitmap fonts (leading me to avoid using it whenever possible).
I'm in love with Meslo https://github.com/andreberg/Meslo-Font works great both on my iTerm as well as in TextMate. What makes this font special is the L/M/S variations in the leading (line height). Give it a try, you won't regret!
I'm trying this out at the moment (14 pt S DZ) but the current line marking in VIM for example looks weird because there is more whitespace on the bottom of the characters than at the top.
Other than that it is a welcome improvement to Menlo regular.
Droid Sans Mono makes for a great programming font. It’s got a bit of flair,
and stands out among the other monospace fonts I’ve listed, and its only
real flaw is the lack of a slashed zero.
I use Droid Sans Mono with slashed zeros on my Arch Linux box. I find that I can get it up to a rather large font size (I don't see well) and it still looks really good.
Inconsolata looks like it is nice for Mac users, but on Windows 7 with Cleartype enabled (the default) it is the blurriest font I've ever seen, regardless of what size I used.
Consolas, on the other hand, is exceedingly crisp.
I use Mensch too, but let's not credit Apple too much considering Menlo in turn was a fairly minor tweak of the Bitstream Vera Sans Mono.
To do so would be almost as annoying as people claiming Apple created Webkit out of the blue rather than starting from an open source project, or that they created their kernel out of the blue, or their OS tools, or windowing operating systems in general were created by them, or the personal computer or the smart phone or the tablet. Apple is very good at polishing things, at integration, supply chains and marketing; extremely good, and they even have a very good record on fonts - but don't listen to Jobs' story on this or you will think we would still be using the command line for everything - however they get orders of magnitude too much credit when it comes to innovation.
This is the article that introduced me to monofur, which I dearly love even though it seems fairly unpopular. Take a look[1] and you'll either think that lowercase L is a terrible idea or exactly the thing to distinguish it from the number 1. The rounded friendliness distinguishes it from all the other fonts I use; now when I see monofur (in the zenburn color scheme), it says "programming time" to my brain.
Agreed. I use this font in vim at work because (believe or not) it seems to be the sharpest on my crappy LCD monitor at work. I was using Bitstream Vera Sans Mono before though which I love.
I use the solarized vim/terminal color scheme so from syntax highlighting I can tell the difference between the O and 0 but I can see why it would be a problem.
Although I am not a programmer, I do prefer monospaced fonts, and my favorite right now is the bitmap font Tamsyn. I recently discovered it via the Arch Linux wiki and I now have it set up as the font for my Xterm windows (set via .Xdefaults).
My favorite TTF monospaced font has got to be Consolas, which I use in Windows as the font for Foobar2000 and Notepad2 (I keep everything in plain text).
[+] [-] kwantam|15 years ago|reply
Pretty much every Linux machine has a version of this, but most modern Debians (and probably others) that ship with fontconfig have bitmapped fonts turned off by default for programs that use fontconfig for their font info (i.e., not xterm, but gnome-terminal, usually gvim, et cetera).
If you want to use Fixed and other bitmapped fonts and they're just not there, take a look in /etc/fonts/conf.d for a file named (something like) 70-no-bitmaps.conf, a symblink to the same filename in /etc/fonts/conf.avail. If you remove the symblink from /etc/fonts/conf.d and instead
fontconfig will cache bitmapped fonts for you. Then you'll just have to get it to update your cache with and you should be able to use bitmapped fonts like Fixed.You can look for other bitmapped fonts on your system with
which prints out the family name and the sizes for which the bitmaps are available. makes gvim look precisely like a terminal for me.[+] [-] afc|15 years ago|reply
I tried Inconsolata briefly in my xterm window but ... I don't know, I didn't like it. I guess it's a subjective thing, but I dislike anti-aliased font, I prefer the crisp look of my fixed bitmap font. :-)
[+] [-] dreeves|15 years ago|reply
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3275956/is-there-a-versio...
[+] [-] windsurfer|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ropers|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] telemachos|15 years ago|reply
If you have that same quibble, good news: Inconsolata-dz[1]. Inconsolata with straight quotes.
[1] http://nodnod.net/2009/feb/12/adding-straight-single-and-dou...
[+] [-] mgurlitz|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JonnieCache|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gurraman|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Ruudjah|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nickburdick|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] leif|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lt|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] buster|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wladimir|15 years ago|reply
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminus_%28typeface%29
[+] [-] wging|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] steve___|15 years ago|reply
A person can't fit quite as much on the screen but I find the extra spacing makes it much easier to read (eg emails).
[+] [-] gnuvince|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kristiandupont|15 years ago|reply
I encourage you to try something like Verdana for a week just to see how it feels.
[+] [-] yellowbkpk|15 years ago|reply
Has anyone been able to figure out a way to disable this?
Example from Eclipse: http://i.imgur.com/F3PhS.png
[+] [-] xbryanx|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SlyShy|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rezaprima|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|15 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] Jach|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MikeTaylor|15 years ago|reply
There really is no other choice.
http://mirtchovski.com/p9/fonts/6x13.png
[+] [-] sedachv|15 years ago|reply
At work I have a larger display that sits farther away, and am running windows. Consolas is easier on the eyes there with two Emacs buffers side-by-side (at "108" Emacs font height).
I came across the 5x13 font (https://github.com/chneukirchen/5x13) and wanted to try it on my netbook. For some reason spaces come out as hatched boxes for me. The font itself looks promising but needs many changes (some of which I've figured enough out to make; but I don't know what to do with the space).
[+] [-] marshray|15 years ago|reply
I wish I could say why though. It just feels nice and computer-y. Maybe the pixels remind me of bits.
[+] [-] ScottBurson|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] barrkel|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yamilg|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sudonim|15 years ago|reply
https://github.com/andreberg/Meslo-Font/issues/1
[+] [-] bittersweet|15 years ago|reply
Other than that it is a welcome improvement to Menlo regular.
[+] [-] kinofcain|15 years ago|reply
Eclipse has its lines of text set-solid which is seven brands of evil, so the "M" version of Meslo is a godsend.
[+] [-] funkyboy|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] davidw|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] drtse4|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] whackedspinach|15 years ago|reply
Download link http://www.cosmix.org/software/files/DroidSansMonoSlashed.zi...
Arch Linux AUR link: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=40418
[+] [-] swah|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joshuacc|15 years ago|reply
Consolas, on the other hand, is exceedingly crisp.
[+] [-] llimllib|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] drats|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] carlosedp|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ginsweater|15 years ago|reply
[1] http://www.dafont.com/monofur.font
[+] [-] Derbasti|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brcrth|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] daviddavis|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Wickk|15 years ago|reply
I use the solarized vim/terminal color scheme so from syntax highlighting I can tell the difference between the O and 0 but I can see why it would be a problem.
[+] [-] RexRollman|15 years ago|reply
My favorite TTF monospaced font has got to be Consolas, which I use in Windows as the font for Foobar2000 and Notepad2 (I keep everything in plain text).
[+] [-] maxer|15 years ago|reply