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Cool Retro Terminal

github.com

21–30 of 90 posts

Re: Cool Retro Terminal

#21

I get the nostalgia appeal, it would be neat for a few minutes, but it doesn't seem like something you could use as your daily driver terminal. If someone has, what's your experience with it?

That's exactly the experience I had with a similar app a few years ago. It was fun for the throwback, but most of my terminal use is meant to be productive (which isn't mutually exclusive from fun), and the neat features this had become more of a distraction.

Re: Cool Retro Terminal

#22

I get the nostalgia appeal, it would be neat for a few minutes, but it doesn't seem like something you could use as your daily driver terminal. If someone has, what's your experience with it?

I think it's a bit overdone for a solid first impression but maybe a bit too much in the long run? Maybe if it could be toned down a bit for just a slight glow and amber warmth, haha.

Re: Cool Retro Terminal

#24
I always loved over-the-top, somewhat impractical visual effects like this. Reminds me of growing up playing with Compiz Fusion.

For a retro Android game I maintain, I use the term "Gratuitous Eye Straining Effects" in the settings page. It needs to be toggleable, because I can only tolerate it for a short period. My naming was inspired by k9mail's settings called "Gaudy visual effects". May as well have some fun with words when implementing such effects.

Re: Cool Retro Terminal

#25

I love this and I used it for fun occasionally. On my MacBook I also used Cathode before, but after I learned about Cool Retro Term the thought crossed my mind that the former might be a rip-off of the later. I do not wish to make any false accusations but the effects are pretty similar and maybe other commenters can confirm or dispel the suspicion. What I am looking for since some time now is a way to create these e…

> the former might be a rip-off of the later

If you're suggesting Cathode might be ripping off Cool Retro Term, I think Cathode[1] (Jan 25, 2011) predates Cool Retro Term[2] (Nov 22, 2013) by almost three years.

[1] https://www.macstories.net/mac/cathode-is-a-vintage-terminal...

[2] https://github.com/Swordfish90/cool-retro-term/commits/maste...

Re: Cool Retro Terminal

#26

I love this and I used it for fun occasionally. On my MacBook I also used Cathode before, but after I learned about Cool Retro Term the thought crossed my mind that the former might be a rip-off of the later. I do not wish to make any false accusations but the effects are pretty similar and maybe other commenters can confirm or dispel the suspicion. What I am looking for since some time now is a way to create these e…

> the former might be a rip-off of the later If you're suggesting Cathode might be ripping off Cool Retro Term, I think Cathode[1] (Jan 25, 2011) predates Cool Retro Term[2] (Nov 22, 2013) by almost three years. [1] https://www.macstories.net/mac/cathode-is-a-vintage-terminal... [2] https://github.com/Swordfish90/cool-retro-term/commits/maste...

Oh, cool. I'm a bit surprised, but it makes sense since I've known Cathode well before.

Re: Cool Retro Terminal

#27
post #2

The effects are great! However, these feel like old-old terminals, as in terminals from 80s after decades of use. Good quality phosphor monitors are a lot crisper than the screenshots.

Can confirm. Source: the gently used VT420 on my desk that is hooked up to a RPi for retro-vibe goodness. Text is crisp and clear, no "smearing" like in the screenshots.

(Can also confirm that heavily used terminals definitely show degradation.)

Re: Cool Retro Terminal

#28

I get the nostalgia appeal, it would be neat for a few minutes, but it doesn't seem like something you could use as your daily driver terminal. If someone has, what's your experience with it?

Turn off some of the effects like the moving scan line or noise and it's fine in my experience.

Sometimes I like to have a process like htop running and easily find the window on my desktop by making it look different than other terminals--this works great for a use case like that, it's unmistakeable what terminal is running the process you want to monitor.

Re: Cool Retro Terminal

#30
post #20

Very cool! Windows Terminal will let you use hlsl files to define post-processing shaders so you could achieve this as a plug-in to windows terminal as well!

Windows Terminal already has something similar built in (not as good as TFA) https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/terminal/custom-te...

There's another shader floating around somewhere that includes the wraparound effect along with the phosphor effect (it can also be configured for full color support; doesn't have to be black/green)
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