Lets Customize Our Linux Terminal

Posted by Pubudu Kodikara on Mar 3, 2010 in Customizations, Linux, Linux, Tips and Tricks (Hacks) | 9 comments

Actually in Linux, you need to use the Terminal more frequently. At lease some people prefer to do their work through the terminal because its easy! So, when you use the Terminal, didn’t you thought of customizing it a bit? Without staring at the same interface everyday?

I don’t know about you, but I have seen hackers in some movies use some fancy transparent terminals! That’s in movies. But is it possible in real world? Of-course its possible in your Linux system! You can do some customizations to your Linux terminal, so today we are going to show you how to do this on Ubuntu Linux! (it also works in most of the other versions of Linux)

• First, open the terminal (in the main menu, Applications > Accessories > Terminal)
• Now, in the Terminal, go to Edit > Profile Preferences

First we are going to change the title :

• Go to the “Title and Command” tab

Title and Command

• Now, in the initial title field, give your own title.
• Sometimes, this might not been shown in the title bar if the terminal sets its own title. To correct this problem, in the “When terminal commands sets their own title” field, select, “Keep initial title”

Next we’ll change the colors :

• Now, go to the “Colors” tab

Colors

• To use your own colors, first un-tick “Use colors from system theme”
• Next, if you want, you can select a built in color scheme from “Built in schemes” field. Or if you want to give your own ones, set this field to “Custom”
• Now, give your own “Text color“, and the “Background color”

Now we are going to edit the background and make it transparent :

• To do that go to, “Background” tab

Background

• Now, in here, if you want you can keep the default “Solid background” option.
• Or, you can give your own background image by selecting, “Background image”
• Or, you can make the default background, transparent by selecting “Transparent background”. After you select transparent, at the bottom, you need to adjust the transparency!

Finally, you’ll get something like this :

Final Terminal

Well…. What do you think now? Do you like the new look? Do you know about more cool customizations? Please feel free to share your ideas with us!…. Enjoy!