In Cygwin how do I change the font color?

Question

I want to start using Cygwin, but I am not pleased with the font color and would like to change it to light green with a black background.

(I tried googling to no avail BTW)

Answer 1

It is basically just a DOS window. So click on the icon in the upper left of the shell window to get the menu. Go to properties. You can then change the colors, font, command history, and edit options (you will want to turn on Quick Edit and Insert modes).

Answer 2

The cygwin icon is actually just a MS-DOS batch file (if you right-click on it, you can edit it and see that it just launches bash from the cygwin\bin directory). If you right-click and go to Properties, there's a Colors tab where you can change the background and font colors. If you modify the main shortcut properties, it should launch with those every time.

Answer 3

If you want a better terminal to use with cygwin than the Windows Command Line window you could start xterm from within cygwin, or look at using puttycyg, which is a patched version of the windows ssh client putty designed to work with a local cygwin installation (in addition to the normal ssh functionality). puttycyg should provide you with much better control of your terminal than the Windows Command Line window.

Answer 4

I find the standard shell to be pretty horrible myself.

I download and install the rxvt package and change the cygwin.bat to launch rxvt which has nicer support of copy-cut-n-paste.

@echo off
c:
chdir c:\data\cygwin\bin
set EDITOR=vi
set VISUAL=vi
set CYGWIN=codepage:ansi
rxvt -fn '*-courier-*-r-*-16-*' -sl  9999 -bg Black -fg Cyan -e /bin/bash -login

The -e and -login switch the launch shell to the rxvt one and the rest: -fn sets a courier size 16 font (sue me) -sl scroll lines of 9999 Black background and Cyan foreground selecting text will fill the paste buffer automatically the last bit (-e /bin/bash -login) launches bash and tells it that its a login shell which runs the profile setups and such.

Answer 5

I use Cygwin's rxvt and an .Xdefaults file to tweak

My cygwin.bat:

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
@echo off

start /B \cygwin\bin\rxvt.exe -geometry 80x40+325+195 -fn "Andale Mono-13" -sl 2500 -e /bin/bash -i
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


My Cygwin .Xdefaults:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
! See rxvt --help for items available

! Black
Rxvt*background: #000000
Rxvt*cutchars: `"'()*,;<>[]{|}@
!!!Rxvt*cursorColor: #00ff00
Rxvt*cursorColor: White
Rxvt*foreground: Wheat
Rxvt*saveLines: 2048
Rxvt*scrollColor: Grey26
Rxvt*scrollBar_right: on
Rxvt*termName: xterm
Rxvt*visualBell: on
! Black
Rxvt*color0: #000000
! Red
Rxvt*color1: Red2
! Green
Rxvt*color2: Green1
! Yellow (brown)
Rxvt*color3: Khaki1
! Blue
Rxvt*color4: DodgerBlue1
! Magenta
Rxvt*color5: DarkOrchid1
! Cyan
Rxvt*color6: Cyan2
! This does not refer to foreground color!
! White
Rxvt*color7: #fdfdfd
! Gray
Rxvt*color8: #666666
! Bright red
!!!Rxvt*color9: #ee0000
Rxvt*color9: OrangeRed
! Bright green
Rxvt*color10: SpringGreen1
! Yellow
Rxvt*color11: Yellow
! Bright blue
Rxvt*color12: DodgerBlue3
! Bright magenta
Rxvt*color13: #ff00ff
! Bright cyan
Rxvt*color14: #00ffff
! This does not refer to foreground color!
! Bright white
Rxvt*color15: #ffffff

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!