# Configure virtual console colors

The colors in the Linux virtual console running on the framebuffer can be changed. This is done by writing the escape code `\\e]PXRRGGBB` where `X` is the hexadecimal index of the color from 0-F, and `RRGGBB` is a traditional hexadecimal RGB code.

## Reusing ~/.Xdefaults settings

To reuse the color configuration from ~/.Xdefaults, add the following snippet to the shell init script (`.bashrc`/`.zshrc`/...).

    if [ "$TERM" = "linux" ]; then
        _SEDCMD='s/.*\*color\([0-9]\{1,\}\).*#\([0-9a-fA-F]\{6\}\).*/\1 \2/p'
        for i in $(sed -n "$_SEDCMD" $HOME/.Xdefaults | \
                   awk '$1 < 16 {printf "\\e]P%X%s", $1, $2}'); do
            echo -en "$i"
        done
        clear
    fi

## Virtual Console Login Screen

Changing the default Virtual Console Login screen. Take a backup of your original `/etc/issue` like `mv /etc/issue /etc/issue.bak`. Make a new file called `issue` in your `/etc/` folder and input the following below.

    echo -e '\e[H\e[2J' > issue
    echo -e '                                                            \e[1;30m| \e[34m\\s \\r' >> issue
    echo -e '       \e[36;1m/\\\\                      \e[37m||     \e[36m| |                   \e[30m|' >> issue
    echo -e '      \e[36m/  \\\\                     \e[37m||     \e[36m|     _               \e[30m| \e[32m\\t' >> issue
    echo -e '     \e[1;36m/ \e[0;36m.. \e[1m\\\\   \e[37m//==\\\\\\\\ ||/= /==\\\\ ||/=\\\\  \e[36m| | |/ \\\\ |  | \\\\ /     \e[30m| \e[32m\\d' >> issue
    echo -e '    \e[0;36m/ .  . \\\\  \e[37m||  || ||   |    ||  || \e[36m| | |  | |  |  X      \e[1;30m|' >> issue
    echo -e '   \e[0;36m/  .  .  \\\\ \e[37m\\\\\\\\==/| ||   \\\\==/ ||  || \e[36m| | |  | \\\\_/| / \\\\     \e[1;30m| \e[31m\\U' >> issue
    echo -e '  \e[0;36m/ ..    .. \\\\   \e[0;37mA simple, lightweight linux distribution.  \e[1;30m|' >> issue
    echo -e ' \e[0;36m/_\x27        `_\\\\                                             \e[1;30m| \e[35m\\l \e[0mon \e[1;33m\\n' >> issue
    echo -e ' \e[0m' >> issue
    echo -e  >> issue

Save the file, then `chmod +x issue` and your done.

To restore your original `issue` just run the following: `mv /etc/issue /etc/issue.old && mv /etc/issue.bak /etc/issue`.

Credits & Original thread can be found here: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=386429#p386429

Category:

- Eye candy