Terminus, a modern customizable multiplatform terminal

web terms

In the next article we are going to take a look at Terminus. This is a terminal based on multiplatform web technology, open source for the modern era that is heavily inspired by Hyper. Unlike traditional terminals, Terminus comes with some cool features by default.

This terminal is fully customizable and it has multiple applications and possible color combinations for the terminal. We can show or hide Terminus using a global hotkey. We can also expand functionalities Terminus by installing plugins.

General characteristics of Terminus

terminus terminal

Regarding the characteristics, we can highlight the following:

  • Has an outline of configurable hotkeys. We will be able to use GNU screen shortcut keys available by default including the shortcut keys to copy (Ctrl + Shift + C) and paste (Ctrl + Shift + V).
  • We will have full Unicode support.
  • Lash persistence on macOS and Gnu / Linux.
  • CMD, PowerShell, Cygwin, Git-Bash, and Bash support on Windows.
  • Support multi platform. It is compatible with Windows, macOS and Gnu / Linux.
  • It's a program free and open source.

We can learn more about this program and its characteristics in the project website terms.

Terminus installation

On DEB-based systems like Ubuntu, Linux Mint, we will have to download the latest deb file from the releases page and install it. We can also use the terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) as shown below:

wget https://github.com/Eugeny/terminus/releases/download/v1.0.0-alpha.41/terminus_1.0.0-alpha.41_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i terminus_1.0.0-alpha.41_amd64.deb && sudo apt install -f

Use

We will be able to start Terminus from the applications menu or from our default terminal. This is what the default interface from Terminus:

About terms

As you can see, the Terminus app home screen offers two options. The first is to open a new terminal tab and with the second we can open the Settings window where we can customize the appearance and functionality of the Terminus application.

To open the Terminal, we just have to click on the «new terminal«. We will be able to work in the newly opened terminal tab as we would in the default traditional terminal. To open a new terminal tab, we will simply have to click on the plus sign (+) next to the existing tab. To close the open tabs we will only have to click on the X sign.

Customize Terminus:

To me the final interface looks perfect by default. However, we can customize the appearance, change the hotkeys, install add-ons, etc. All customization can be done from the Configuration option.

Application:

This is the global customization section.

Terminus Application

In this section, we can customize the following:

  • Change the topic from the Terminus app.
  • Modify the position of the tabs, up or down.
  • We will be able change window frame of Terminus. We can establish a custom window frame or our native window frame of the operating system.
  • We will be able set the position to dock the Terminal at the top, left, right, bottom.
  • If we are not satisfied with the default color themes, we may define our own custom CSS.

Hotkey:

In this section, we can define the keyboard shortcuts to use Terminus:

Terms Hotkeys

plugins:

Terminus is highly extensible using plugins. We will can improve terminal functionality by installing various plugins.

Terms plugins

By default, few plugins come pre-installed with Terminus. We will can install new plugins, to do so we must install npm. For example, in DEB-based systems, we can install npm as it's shown in the following:

sudo apt-get install npm

Terminal:

This section offers many options for customize our Terminal:

Terminus terminal options

  • Change the default appearance from the Terminal window. We can establish a color and background scheme for the Terminal.
  • Change the sources.
  • Modify the cursor shape.
  • Enable / disable sounds bell of the terminal.
  • We can enable / disable blinking cursor.
  • We will have the possibility of change working directory when we open a terminal tab. The default is $ HOME.
  • Change the shell predetermined.
  • Enable / disable "Copy on selection" option.
  • Change the right click behavior. We can define whether to open a menu or paste the items from the clipboard when we right-click on the Terminal.
  • Auto-opening at the start of the Terminus app.

If you are looking for a modern and fully functional terminal, Terminus is worth a try. Although still is in alpha phase, it works fine on my virtual Ubuntu 16.04 system. If someone finds an error, they can report it in the GitHub repository.


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