Which terminal

[pawRoot]

I am looking for a terminal (available in repos) that will allow me to easily customize things like color schemes through config files.

Any ideas?

[Wheelerof4te]

I've heard that Terminator is good for multitasking, but any terminal will do. Just try them out and stick with what suits you best.

[kopper]

I don't know what you mean by "easy". If you're looking for options, urxvt (rxvt with Unicode support) gives a lot of freedom on how to make it look and act like. There are tons of other options, but I tried and stayed. I think it works nicely with i3, is lightweight and after initial shock, comfortable to configure. Like everything, more configuration means steeper learning curve. But it can teach you a lot.

You can use .Xresources in your home folder for configuration. Just add the following for .xinitrc to load the configuration when starting X. I know you have i3 so I assume you also have a line for it already.

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xrdb ~/.Xresource
exec i3
...

But like Wheelerof4te said, try everything and pick the one you like.

[bw123]

I think all the DE terminals set color schemes and other stuff pretty easy, Konsole is the KDE terminal. I use it some, but it seem to use a LOT more memory than xterm. I like xterm, have dabbled with the others mentioned over the years and they are good too, but I would not say easy to setup.

[None1975]

I am looking for a terminal (available in repos) that will allow me to easily customize things like color schemes through config files.Any ideas?

If you want lightweight terminal emulator, use stterm. Attention. St is configured at compile-time by editing some of its source files, namely config.h...If you want simpler solution (but slightly heaver), you can use rxvt. I use rxvt-unicode-256color, as a daemon. Just add this line to your

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.xsessionrc

-

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urxvtd -q -f -o &

. It start daemon. Then you can launch client- urxvtc. If you are interested, here my configuration for

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.xresources

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! =====================================================================
! XTerm stuff
! =====================================================================
! Default and menu font
XTerm*font:  -*-terminus-medium-*-*-*-14-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
! "Unreadable": Leave it actually unreadable.
!XTerm*font1: -*-terminus-bold-r-*-*-20-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
! "Tiny"
XTerm*font2: -*-terminus-medium-*-*-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
! "Small"
XTerm*font3: -*-terminus-bold-*-*-*-14-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
! "Medium"
XTerm*font4: -*-terminus-bold-*-*-*-17-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
! "Large"
XTerm*font5: -*-terminus-bold-*-*-*-28-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
! "Huge"
XTerm*font6: -*-terminus-bold-*-*-*-32-*-*-*-*-*-*-*


! VT Font Menu: Unreadable
xterm*faceSize1: 8
! VT font menu: Tiny
xterm*faceSize2: 10
! VT font menu: Medium
xterm*faceSize3: 12
! VT font menu: Large
xterm*faceSize4: 16
! VT font menu: Huge
xterm*faceSize5: 22

xterm*VT100.Translations: #override \
    Ctrl <Key> minus: smaller-vt-font() \n\
    Ctrl <Key> plus: larger-vt-font() \n\
    Ctrl <Key> 0: set-vt-font(d)



! Only select text
xterm*highlightSelection: true
! Remove trailing spaces
! font settings --------------------------------------------------------------

Xft.autohint: true
Xft.antialias: true
Xft.hinting: true
Xft.hintstyle: hintslight
!Xft.dpi: 96
Xft.rgba: rgb
Xft.lcdfilter: lcddefault


xterm*trimSelection: true

! Lines of output that you can scroll back over
xterm*saveLines: 4096
! Turn the scrollbar on, and put it on the right
xterm*scrollBar: false
xterm*rightScrollBar: false

! Do not scroll when there is new input e.g. tail -f /var/syslog
xterm*scrollTtyOutput: false

xterm*foreground: rgb:a8/a8/a8
xterm*background: rgb:00/00/00

xterm*color0: rgb:00/00/00
xterm*color1: rgb:a8/00/00
xterm*color2: rgb:00/a8/00
xterm*color3: rgb:a8/54/00
xterm*color4: rgb:00/00/a8
xterm*color5: rgb:a8/00/a8
xterm*color6: rgb:00/a8/a8
xterm*color7: rgb:a8/a8/a8
xterm*color8: rgb:54/54/54
xterm*color9: rgb:fc/54/54
xterm*color10: rgb:54/fc/54
xterm*color11: rgb:fc/fc/54
xterm*color12: rgb:54/54/fc
xterm*color13: rgb:fc/54/fc
xterm*color14: rgb:54/fc/fc
xterm*color15: rgb:fc/fc/fc




! urxvt -------------------------------------------

URxvt.font:            xft:Terminus:size=12:autohint=false:antialias=true:hinting=true:style=regular
URxvt.boldFont:        xft:Terminus:size=12:bold:autohint=true:antialias=true:hinting=true:style=regular
URxvt.italicFont:      xft:Terminus:italic:size=12:autohint=true:style=regular
URxvt.boldItalicFont:  xft:Terminus:bold:italic:size=12:autohint=true:style=regul

! Window size and position
!URxvt*geometry: 60x22+50+100
! Window size, let the Window Manager position it
URxvt.geometry: 80x28

URxvt.scrollstyle: plain
URxvt.scrollBar: true
URxvt.scrollBar_right: true

! scrollback buffer lines - 65535 is max (64 is default)
URxvt.saveLines:16384


! Clickble URLs
URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,matcher
URxvt.url-launcher: /usr/bin/chromium
URxvt.matcher.button: 3

! Colors taken from http://ezyang.scripts.mit.edu/blog/2010/01/rxvt-unicode-for-gnome-terminal-refugees/
URxvt*background: black
URxvt*foreground: white
! black
URxvt*color0  : #2E3436
URxvt*color8  : #555753
! red
URxvt*color1  : #CC0000
URxvt*color9  : #EF2929
! green
URxvt*color2  : #4E9A06
URxvt*color10 : #8AE234
! yellow
URxvt*color3  : #C4A000
URxvt*color11 : #FCE94F
! blue
URxvt*color4  : #3465A4
URxvt*color12 : #729FCF
! magenta
URxvt*color5  : #75507B
URxvt*color13 : #AD7FA8
! cyan
URxvt*color6  : #06989A
URxvt*color14 : #34E2E2
! white
URxvt*color7  : #D3D7CF
URxvt*color15 : #EEEEEC

[pawRoot]

I decided to go with xterm for now, but i have a question, i remember changing xterm colors in the past already once through .Xresources, but after some time the changes were gone.

Why is that and how can i make this permanent?

Oh and can i set it up to copy and paste using SHIFT+ctrl+C & SHIFT+ctrl+V ?

Cheers all

[bw123]

I decided to go with xterm for now, but i have a question

I think that's a good place to start. xterm has a long history, and is very well-documented and tested in all kinds of situations.

The faq is long, and the author/maintainer sometimes gives so much information that it is hard to find a specific answer. There are sometimes several ways to do the same thing.

I don't use ctrl- for copying or paste myself I prefer the selection and shift-ins or middle mouse btn to paste. Select/middle mouse, very quick. If you want to paste with the ctrl- keys I think a clipboard with 'synchronise with selesction' is going to be what you want. There is a light one called qlipper that I like on fluxbox.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_selection

http://invisible-island.net/xterm/xterm ... t_problems

[pawRoot]

Same thing happened again, all my color settings gone, only fonts are normal.
How can i make this permanent? i cant find out.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

all my color settings gone, only fonts are normal

You should post your ~/.Xresources file here.

That file is only read in certain circumstances though so you should state which desktop environment (or window manager) you are using and also the display manager, if any.

Use this command to see what resources are actually loaded in your desktop:

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appres

https://packages.debian.org/stretch/x11-utils

Note that if ~/.Xresources is changed then this command must be used to make xterm aware of the differences:

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xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources

I prefer to delete ~/.Xresources and instead use ~/.Xdefaults because that file does not have to be loaded explicitly during desktop startup and xterm (and urxvt) checks it when it starts so any changes are effected immediately.

[pawRoot]

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! special
*.foreground:   #e7dfca
*.background:   #020202
*.cursorColor:  #e7dfca

! black
*.color0:       #040403
*.color8:       #a4d2d1

! red
*.color1:       #141310
*.color9:       #b6a87d

! green
*.color2:       #272520
*.color10:      #dbbdbd

! yellow
*.color3:       #403d36
*.color11:      #7eab83

! blue
*.color4:       #615d52
*.color12:      #e1b3dd

! magenta
*.color5:       #888374
*.color13:      #8ccd93

! cyan
*.color6:       #b6af9c
*.color14:      #64b86e

! white
*.color7:       #e9e2d0
*.color15:      #ccb871

xterm*loginshell: true

xterm*charClass: 33:48,36-47:48,58-59:48,61:48,63-64:48,95:48,126:48

xterm*faceName: Noto Mono Regular
xterm*faceSize: 11

xterm*selectToClipboard: true

I will try to use Xdefaults instead, thanks.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

I will try to use Xdefaults instead, thanks.

If you want to use ~/.Xdefaults then make sure that ~/.Xresources is deleted because xterm will only check ~/.Xdefaults if there are no X resources already loaded.

[pawRoot]

Ok i will, thanks.

One more thing though, i found this a minute ago:

XTerm*VT100.Translations: #override \
Shift Ctrl<Key>V: insert-selection(CLIPBOARD) \n\
Shift Ctrl<Key>V: insert-selection(PRIMARY) \n\
Shift<Btn1Down>: select-start() \n\
Shift<Btn1Motion>: select-extend() \n\
Shift<Btn1Up>: select-end(CLIPBOARD) \n\

But if i add it to .Xdefaults, i get an error "warning backslash-newline at...."

[Head_on_a_Stick]

i get an error "warning backslash-newline at...."

Post both the file and the error in full.

I am too tired to play guessing games with you

EDIT: please also use code tags for posting file content, quote tags are almost unreadable.

[pawRoot]

I wanted to post full error, but i don't know how to copy text from Xterm

[Head_on_a_Stick]

i don't know how to copy text from Xterm

Left-click & drag to select and then middle click to paste.

Only Windoze foolz use SHIFT+ctrl+C & SHIFT+ctrl+V

[pawRoot]

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debian@debian:~$ xrdb ~/.Xdefaults
/home/debian/.Xdefaults:47:37: warning: backslash-newline at end of file
 XTerm*VT100.Translations: #override \
                                      
/home/debian/.Xdefaults:48:49: warning: backslash and newline separated by space
 Shift Ctrl<Key>V: insert-selection(CLIPBOARD) \n\
                                                  
/home/debian/.Xdefaults:49:47: warning: backslash and newline separated by space
 Shift Ctrl<Key>V: insert-selection(PRIMARY) \n\
                                                
/home/debian/.Xdefaults:50:35: warning: backslash and newline separated by space
 Shift<Btn1Down>: select-start() \n\
                                    
/home/debian/.Xdefaults:51:38: warning: backslash and newline separated by space
 Shift<Btn1Motion>: select-extend() \n\

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! special
*.foreground:   #e7dfca
*.background:   #020202
*.cursorColor:  #e7dfca

! black
*.color0:       #040403
*.color8:       #a4d2d1

! red
*.color1:       #141310
*.color9:       #b6a87d

! green
*.color2:       #272520
*.color10:      #dbbdbd

! yellow
*.color3:       #403d36
*.color11:      #7eab83

! blue
*.color4:       #615d52
*.color12:      #e1b3dd

! magenta
*.color5:       #888374
*.color13:      #8ccd93

! cyan
*.color6:       #b6af9c
*.color14:      #64b86e

! white
*.color7:       #e9e2d0
*.color15:      #ccb871

xterm*loginshell: true

xterm*charClass: 33:48,36-47:48,58-59:48,61:48,63-64:48,95:48,126:48

xterm*faceName: Noto Mono Regular
xterm*faceSize: 11

xterm*selectToClipboard: true

XTerm*VT100.Translations: #override \
Shift Ctrl<Key>V: insert-selection(CLIPBOARD) \n\ 
Shift Ctrl<Key>V: insert-selection(PRIMARY) \n\ 
Shift<Btn1Down>: select-start() \n\ 
Shift<Btn1Motion>: select-extend() \n\ 
Shift<Btn1Up>: select-end(CLIPBOARD) \n\

[Head_on_a_Stick]

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debian@debian:~$ xrdb ~/.Xdefaults
/home/debian/.Xdefaults:47:37: warning: backslash-newline at end of file

The error is on line 47, column 37 in ~/.Xdefaults

[bw123]

I wanted to post full error, but i don't know how to copy text from Xterm

select the text with the mouse, then move the cursor to where you want it to go and shift-ins or click the middle mouse button.

It's not funny to waste people's time, this thread could help oters in the future if you can get it back on track.

I don't understand what colors you need to set, xterm by itself supports color? All I use is a very simple ~.Xresources for a couple of things. This file is read by default by debian when X starts. (see /etc/X11/Xsession.options)

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!xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources ----------------------------------------
!xterm settings ---------------------------------------------------

xterm*font: -misc-fixed-bold-r-normal--18-120-100-100-c-90-iso8859-1
xterm*background:               black
xterm*foreground:               white
xterm*VT100.geometry:     80x25

[pawRoot]

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debian@debian:~$ xrdb ~/.Xdefaults
/home/debian/.Xdefaults:47:37: warning: backslash-newline at end of file

The error is on line 47, column 37 in ~/.Xdefaults

Line 47:

XTerm*VT100.Translations: #override \

But it tells me nothing

[Head_on_a_Stick]

All I use is a very simple ~.Xresources for a couple of things. This file is read by default by debian when X starts

Not if there is a file at ~/.xinitrc

@pawRoot, remove the line, perhaps?