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TermKit - a graphical terminal replacement

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Re: TermKit - a graphical terminal replacement

#41

Post by unconed »

wladimir wrote: post #27
unconed wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And on another note... it's been hilarious how people have been questioning my professional credentials just because I want to make something more usable. I've implemented over a dozen RFCs, can match regexps with the best of them and do know which end of a pipe does what ;).

I'm also a bit disappointed on how most people here react. I personally think your idea is great and pretty futuristic. I would certainly use a tool like this. Also it's open source so if a specific detail (such as the font) bugs them it can simply be changed. I've had similar ideas (based on Python) but never got around to executing them. Keep up the good work and don't let the angry bearded UNIX dinosaurs get to yo…

Regarding your quote problem: the idea is that the highlighted token signifies "quoted string". I plan to add regexp tokens, user@host tokens, etc. each with appropriate autocomplete.

I thought the current minimalistic approach was ok, but it might be worth to add subtle quotes around the edges to reinforce the idea. That's why it's made out of HTML/CSS...

Re: TermKit - a graphical terminal replacement

#42

Post by hmottestad »

wladimir wrote: post #27
unconed wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And on another note... it's been hilarious how people have been questioning my professional credentials just because I want to make something more usable. I've implemented over a dozen RFCs, can match regexps with the best of them and do know which end of a pipe does what ;).

I'm also a bit disappointed on how most people here react. I personally think your idea is great and pretty futuristic. I would certainly use a tool like this. Also it's open source so if a specific detail (such as the font) bugs them it can simply be changed. I've had similar ideas (based on Python) but never got around to executing them. Keep up the good work and don't let the angry bearded UNIX dinosaurs get to yo…

I agree. I haven't actually tried your terminal, but so far it looks very nice.

Considering that when the interface for the terminal was created it was all about being able to do everything and anything without breaking a sweat. Simple things like automatic source code highlighting, animated progress bars, being able to view (now common) files like pdf and jpeg that were not common back in the old days. Popup tab complete, I can't believe that that isn't standard on all terminals already (especially since tab complete is all about being lazy, a popup makes a lot of sense).

I'll download the source and poke around it later this evening (right now I need to work on my exam of implementing the go-back-n protocol).

Cheers and keep up the good work.

PS: RDF support would be great (since you have json). RDF is the standard for sharing data (often statistics) openly online, check out http://data.gov.uk/linked-data

Re: TermKit - a graphical terminal replacement

#43

Post by bernardwilson »

I had a similar idea about 10 years ago, but never got around to implementing it.

I'm amazed at the amount of hatred directed towards this - as if the terminal could in NO WAY be improved?!. But clearly it can. For example - wouldn't it be nice to have a terminal status bar with your CWD / git branch / etc in, without cluttering up space before $? Yep, you can use screen, and that destroys your ability to use the scrollbars.

Or, consider filename completion. Wouldn't it be nice to show the intended completions in a popup as you're typing (like web browsers do) ?

Why, when I do 'ls', can I not drag & drop one of the files to another finder window? Why is the terminal forever isolated?

Why when I run 'mvn install', which generates umpteen bazillion lines of output, can the result not be folded into a single line showing the summary, that I could expand if I wished?

There's lots of scope for this kind of thing. My main concern would be whether a single WebKit control is the right way to go - it'd be nice to, for example, embed custom controls within the shell (but this might also be possible).

So I think it's an awesome idea.

Re: TermKit - a graphical terminal replacement

#44

Post by sudonim »

unconed wrote: post #36
wladimir wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also a bit disappointed on how most people here react. I personally think your idea is great and pretty futuristic. I would certainly use a tool like this. Also it's open source so if a specific detail (such as the font) bugs them it can simply be changed. I've had similar ideas (based on Python) but never got around to executing them. Keep up the good work and don't let the angry bearded UNIX dinosaurs get to yo…

I'm having a blast and interpreting all the flak as a sign I must be doing something right...

Absolutely! Don't lose that attitude. You won't win over everyone and the fact that anyone cares enough about something you made to share their opinion with you is awesome.

Re: TermKit - a graphical terminal replacement

#45

Post by davidw »

maratd wrote: post #22
telemachos wrote: post #18

After seeing something about this yesterday, I said on Rstat.us/Twitter that I thought it was pretty but disagreed with the whole premise. I still do, I think, but I'm very impressed with how reasonable Steven's response was. He wrote me and asked pretty much "Why?" I said essentially "Unix philosophy" and attached the link that ended up in his blog post.[1] He wrote back and at some point he wrote this post, probabl…

That's all fine. There's probably a ton of other things it can't do. I certainly can't use it for my work and I spend a ton of time behind a terminal. At the same time, don't you see the potential? It probably won't be "production ready" for years, but I would hate to think that 20 years from now we're still typing into a dinky terminal that has been around since the 70s! We won't get the next-best-thing down the roa…

It's a first step. Maybe it's not in the right direction, maybe it is, but it looks well-polished, and like good work. My instinctive reaction was not a positive one, but the more I read, the more I liked it, and you have to applaud a good effort like this in any event. People have to get out there and try for things to improve.

Re: TermKit - a graphical terminal replacement

#46

Post by tezza »

bernardwilson wrote: post #43

I had a similar idea about 10 years ago, but never got around to implementing it. I'm amazed at the amount of hatred directed towards this - as if the terminal could in NO WAY be improved?!. But clearly it can. For example - wouldn't it be nice to have a terminal status bar with your CWD / git branch / etc in, without cluttering up space before $? Yep, you can use screen, and that destroys your ability to use the scr…

I also think this is a great implementation of a useful idea.

Why all the haters? Surely the next step is a MIXED-MODE console where you can have both the power features shown, and a simple mode for the die-hard traditionalists.

Again... stirling work and I'm looking forward to it.

Re: TermKit - a graphical terminal replacement

#47

Post by rglover »

As a UI designer, even though I've just begun working with terminal, I can't say I like this too much. Don't get me wrong, it looks GREAT, but much as I expected, it goes against a lot of ideas and based on some of the comments, strips a bit of functionaity (a huge no no). I think Steven's intentions are solid, but he's sort of playing with fire on this one. Cool idea, though.

Re: TermKit - a graphical terminal replacement

#48

Post by djhworld »

perlgeek wrote: post #34

I love the idea of experimenting with graphical output on the console. I've seen images and vidoes running on the terminal (not a terminal emulator) using "framebuffer" consoles. Sadly that typically only worked in full-screen mode. If somebody wrote an ordinary terminal emulator that allowed pixel graphics as part of the normal text flow, and created an easy API for programs to use it, I'd be very happy. TermKit loo…

I think this guy should look into implementing something like this as a compromise.

Re: TermKit - a graphical terminal replacement

#50

Post by timtadh »

unconed wrote: post #21
telemachos wrote: post #18

After seeing something about this yesterday, I said on Rstat.us/Twitter that I thought it was pretty but disagreed with the whole premise. I still do, I think, but I'm very impressed with how reasonable Steven's response was. He wrote me and asked pretty much "Why?" I said essentially "Unix philosophy" and attached the link that ended up in his blog post.[1] He wrote back and at some point he wrote this post, probabl…

To address some of your concerns: - Monospace fonts for code is definitely in. Try catting a .js file, it will get syntax highlighted. Most likely, it doesn't recognize the mime type of your file. It's using the old mime.types DB + some custom additions... also, the highlighter I'm using only has so many languages defined. I looked for the most comprehensive / least fail one. - Regarding vim... I admit I just don't l…

While, I understand your dislike of Vim, Vi, Nano, Emacs, etc. (I can't work in them for extend periods of time either do to hand problems) They remain essential tools for many programmers and system administrators. Sometimes, you don't want to have the file pulled down and edited in a local edit and pushed back even if it is seamless. The benefits of inplace editing on remote machines is invaluable.

I think this is a cool idea. I think it needs to be cross platform. However, it must be fully backwards compatible with the full unix toolchain to be useful. If it isn't I can't use it, and a lot of other potential users will also be unable to use it.

I love the idea thanks for rethinking the terminal.

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