Re: How to set monospace font with .emacs shared between ubuntu and Cygwin

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: "KARR, DAVID" <dk068x@att.com>
> Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2024 18:32:02 +0000
> 
> I have Cygwin emacs 29.4 running on my Windows laptop.  I have an Ubuntu VM 
> running on that laptop, which is running Emacs 27.1.  I am trying to use the 
> same .emacs file through a shared folder.  For most things, this works 
> perfectly fine.  My Cygwin Emacs is using a proper monospace font, but the VM 
> is using a proportional font.  I'd prefer that they both used the same font, 
> but at a minimum, the Ubuntu VM needs to use a monospace font.
> 
> In my Cygwin Emacs, I ran "list-fonts" and got this:
> -----------------
> Fontset: -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-fontset-default
> Fontset: -*-courier new-normal-r-*-*-13-*-*-*-c-*-fontset-standard
> Fontset: -outline-Courier 
> New-regular-normal-normal-mono-13-*-*-*-c-*-fontset-startup
> -----------------
> 
> In my Ubuntu VM Emacs, I did the same and got this:
> -------------
> Fontset: -DAMA-Ubuntu-normal-normal-normal-*-17-*-*-*-*-0-fontset-auto1
> Fontset: -DAMA-Ubuntu-normal-normal-normal-*-13-*-*-*-*-0-fontset-auto2
> Fontset: -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-fontset-default
> Fontset: -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-16-*-*-*-*-*-fontset-standard
> Fontset: -DAMA-Ubuntu Mono-normal-normal-normal-*-17-*-*-*-m-0-fontset-startup
> --------------
> 
> My .emacs currently has no customization related to fonts, except for 
> "(global-font-lock-mode 1)" (I don't even remember what that does, and the 
> associated descriptions are circular).
> 
> What are my options here?

My suggestion is to have your .emacs file specify the default font for
Ubuntu, using the system-type variable as the dispatch.  Find a font
on Ubuntu that you like, and then add to .emacs something like

  (unless (memq system-type '(cygwin windows-nt))
    (add-to-list 'default-frame-alist
      '(font . "YOUR-PREFERRED-FONT-HERE")))

To find out the correct specification of YOUR-PREFERRED-FONT-HERE,
start Emacs on Ubuntu, try different fonts (including sizes) until you
find one that you like, and then type "M-: (face-font 'default) RET".
This should produce the font string you can use in the above.

To try different fonts, you can use S-mouse-1, then select "Change
Buffer font" from the popup menu, which will display a font selection
dialog.  Alternatively, Options->"Set Default Font" from the menu bar
will show a similar font selection dialog.

HTH