Microsoft's New Windows Terminal Is Now Available (howtogeek.com) 115
You can now download a preview version of the new Windows Terminal app from the Store on Windows 10. From a report: Microsoft released this application on the evening of June 21 after a listing showed up earlier that day. After downloading the Windows Terminal app from the Store, you can take advantage of all the new features-- including tabs, finally! You can combine tabs from the traditional Command Prompt, Linux Bash instances, and PowerShell in the same window. It's a deeply customizable environment, too.
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You perhaps read this in the National Enquirer?
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Re:LOL DOS! (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, I'll give it credit. It's giving me what I've had in *nix terminal software for decades now! Way to go Microsoft. Welcome to the 1980s.
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It's obvious you don't use Linux, which has always had a terminal, and at least in the versions I've used features it quite prominently. For that matter so does the Mac, although I'm not familiar enough with it to know how obvious it is. And Windows has always had a command prompt (and an installable Linux terminal for several years now).
But perhaps you can name a modern operating system (or any operating system, for that matter) which doesn't have a command prompt? No? I didn't think so.
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Not to worry, an MS shill will come along to tell us how wonderful Powershell is because "objects"...
Powershell is bash designed by people that don't get shell scripting. If I want a full language to automate tasks, I'll write in Python or Perl. The Bourne shells and the toolkit, like everything in *nix, is a finally honed tool built on the premise that commands should have a very limited purpose, and the shell script is the glue. Powershell is a verbose grab bag that tries to do everything. It's a horrible
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TempleOS [templeos.org]. It's not that it doesn't "have a command prompt", it's that the command prompt is part and parcel of the GI. But it's an OS based on God, so I think it's a commandment prompt.
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iOS
Re: LOL DOS! (Score:1)
Given the fact Windows is going modular, that's exactly what is going to happen.
The graphical shell will be an optional installable component, so they need to push towards text based interfaces more.
It is also very well possible that in the future you'll have "Microsoft Linux". With the nt kernel giving enterprise access to tools like active directory, and a software layer handling Linux based containers.
Dang! (Score:2)
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Microsoft, now with Linux, blackjack, and hookers! In fact, forget the Microsoft.
Now that Microsoft has embraced Linix, and extended it with blackjack and hookers, what comes next?
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If you want MC on windows, MobaXterm has it as an installable package.
Does this totally replace Cygwin? (Score:2)
I've not used Windows for some time so I am not sure what the current UNIX utility scene is like there - does this Windows Terminal app running Bash mean that most other UNIX utilities are already installed as well?
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UNIX is the trademark of The Open Group [opengroup.org] for operating systems that conform to the Single UNIX Specification. Unix is a generic term for multitasking, multiuser operating systems descended from AT&T Unix.
Re:Does this totally replace Cygwin? (Score:4, Informative)
No, it's part of support for Linux Subsystem for Windows, which lets you run Linux programs on Windows (initially through emulating the Linux syscall interface, now through a VM with a real Linux kernel). Thus to run bash and all that you needed to install a Linux distribution that ran on Windows, like Ubuntu. This gave you the entire Ubuntu command line userland (complete with apt-get), minus some features like init/cron and other daemon support.
So yes, you would replace Cygwin with this - I did on all my Windows 10 machines because the Ubuntu environment is better supported and easier to update. It also requires some thinking at times because it works at the syscall level, so things that might not work usually don't because they're some oddball syscall they use. Linux networking tools, for instance, syscall into the kernel to do things, so most of them don't work.
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This article isn't about Linux on Windows. Windows is trying to shift more toward how Linux handles terminals. Windows has traditionally had GUI apps and console apps which determined if the app had a console window opened and stdout displayed in it. Linux just treats all apps the same and only displays console text if the app is already attached to a terminal. The latest Windows 10 allows for this Linux-like terminal model meaning you can officially have a non-conhost app hosting a console (unofficially th
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I think Cygwin will be quite at home under this new console subsystem and Terminal app. There is still a place for cygwin, especially among folk who want to use bash and script Windows, but don't want to install a full Linux distro in a mini-vm, which is what WSL2 is.
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I'm not clear on the implications of this new terminal thing, but I switched from CygWin to Microsoft's Linux subsystem several years ago. I've installed lots of things via appget, mostly command-line based, but some gui-based (with the help of an XWin program). I've not had any problems with it, except that I can't copy-paste with the keyboard. I'm told that's coming. There are some limitations, but none that affect what I use it for.
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No. In fact Cygwin would run nicely inside of this new terminal and console subsystem.
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The Windows Bash shell isn't fully integrated with the OS, it's more like running a Linux VM from Windows. You can access files from your Windows drives from within Bash, but it's clunky.
Finally? (Score:3)
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When MS takes out the unnecessary telemetry
The forced updates dont also keep you away?
Forced updates is a show-stopper regardless of the state of "telemetry." I like my computer to work whenever I want it to, to never install things when I dont want it to, to never surprise me with a fucking reboot while I'm doing something.
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The forced updates dont also keep you away?
You can turn off forced updates (and all updates) if you want to. I had the displeasure of installing Win10 on a pet box for testing, and here's how you do it:
To permanently disable automatic updates on Windows 10, follow these steps:
1) Open Start.
2) Search for gpedit.msc and select the top result to launch it.
3) Navigate to the following path:
Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update
4) Double-click the Configure Automatic Updates policy o
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Please excuse the jump in; Isn't the problem that you cannot trust MS not to reset that field the next update? Sure, you can check, but should you need to, if you remember to?
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Please excuse the jump in; Isn't the problem that you cannot trust MS not to reset that field the next update?
It won't ever update again unless you explicitly ask it to.
But yes, should you decide to manually allow an update I'd check it again afterwards to make sure it hadn't reverted the setting.
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..but unless I'm missing something, ...
Yes, you are missing something. This comes standard on the system.
Did you even read TFS? You have to download it from the Windows store. It isn't standard on Windows.
Re:Finally? (Score:4, Informative)
Christophe Bucher forked Console when it was abandoned, and made it work better on modern versions of Windows. They've also been fixing bugs and adding features: https://github.com/cbucher/con... [github.com]
The new Windows terminal looks like it might end up OK, but it's missing a lot (a LOT) of features, including a settings dialog.
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If youâ(TM)re commandline-heavy, also look into the guy who invented 4DOS:
https://jpsoft.com/ [jpsoft.com]
Thereâ(TM)s also a free version called TCC/LE that will extend the CMD functionality.
Finally! (Score:2)
GPU accelerated text rendering engine
Really? Is this the breakthrough feature to finally bring countless administrators and users to the windows command line? Has rendering text without a GPU been slowing down our systems?
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Has rendering text without a GPU been slowing down our systems?
Yes. Where commands wait to proceed until output has been printed, it actually does that.
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A fun exercise is to disable your video driver, open a console window, and display a big text file. I know you cant believe your eyes after doing it. Its unbearable.
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Has rendering text without a GPU been slowing down our systems?
Emoji's and Unicode are both supported and utilized in the new terminal too.
It renders emoji's as images. Unicode has a bit more in it than just a 24 million character lookup table these days too.
Technically yes it would use CPU resources that could be doing other things, which is what "a slow down" means, although it's doubtful it would be a noticeable slowdown to a human.
Still, it makes some sense to have your graphics processor doing the work for processing graphics even if your general processor is cap
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In my opinion, Emoji's are a point against it, not for it.
Oh mine too.
Even Unicode I have my doubts about, although if they end up doing it properly I guess that's better than the a(TM)a(TM) thing slashdot does :P :/
I'd like to think it would be used as high-ascii or ansi glyphs in the BBS days, but chances are slim it won't end up looking like a typical twitch chat box instead
Copy and Paste (Score:1)
Does it finally allow Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V instead of having to use the alt menu?
Re: Copy and Paste (Score:1)
Bzzzt! Wrong! Ctrl+C has always been an interrupt key. Why do you think on Linux the terminals all break UI conventions and use Ctrl-Shift-C for copy? Ctrl-V in cmd.exe has always inserted this character. Mac users are consistency winners here because their UI conventions of Cmd+C do not interfere with Ctrl+C to kill a command.
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Well, the good news is they seem to know their selection model is messed up and plan to work on it more.
The bad news is that for now, they have yet another selection/copy/paste set of behaviors.
-If you click once while focused, it will select a single character.
-Paste is right click
-Copy is also right click (if text selected, copy, if not selected paste, combine with the 'click selects a single character and I lost a pastebuffer because it copied when I wanted to paste).
-There are no working keyboard shorcu
Who asked for this? (Score:2)
I mean did people actually want this? Why did MS spend time and money on this?
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I mean did people actually want this? Why did MS spend time and money on this?
Yes people did ask for this. Server administrators and devops asked for this. Microsoft has been moving to powershell commandline administration for years. We have also enjoyed using linux utilities while managing AD systems with the WSL.
It's pretty great to have them in the same place just like its pretty great to use the same commands on all your servers in a mixed environment.
ANSI sequences (Score:2)
With a 30 year late update to this, does anyone know if it has ANSI sequence support activated by default at least?
Re:ANSI sequences (Score:4, Interesting)
Yup, ANSI, full RGB color, and even emoji's - no I'm not joking :P
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That is good. I will care to make my toy "unicode graphics for the terminal" Windows compatible then. https://github.com/jsbueno/ter... [github.com]
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No, it nags you like hell to sign in, but if you say no, and close enough dialogs, you can download through the store.
A quick review... (Score:3, Interesting)
It needs a lot of work and at least they seem to recognize that, but at a glance:
-The window drag behavior is very odd, you just have a very small target to work with.
-The keyboard shortcuts look promising, but a lot of them don't work yet
-It is generally a bit glitchy and crashy
-The acrylic effect strangely toggles between active and solid based on being active/inactive (evidently a windows wide thing, calculator does the same thing but it's acrylic is so subtle it's hard to notice anyway).
-There are some general rough UI design issues (e.g. things just don't look very clean and when maximized it cuts off text).
-The acrylic effect is pleasant for eye candy, though as others have pointed out, less functional. I am surprised that the MS team says they don't know how to do non-acrylic transparency, despite the standard conhost being able to do that. Of course conhost transparency also impacts the foreground (whole window) so maybe they have a real limitation.
-Line rewrap on resize is good (better than mintty for example)
It's no where near Konsole or Gnome Terminal yet. It represents a good step in the right direction in a platform where all the terminals suck in various ways. Either it will be a good terminal or the underlying reworks to allow Terminal to work well will help enable a good third-party alternative.
Historic announcement (Score:1)
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Whoops, accidentally posted as AC.
Re: Does it work with WSL (Ubuntu for Windows)? (Score:1)
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Yes, it works with WSL, however it's not half decent yet. It might get there but it's pretty rough right now.
MinTTY is my go to in general if forced in microsoft environment:
https://github.com/mintty/wslt... [github.com]
Though I generally use git for windows bash instead of wsl.
Welcome to 1989, Microsoft. (Score:2)
Next, they'll "invent" the third mouse button.