GNOME Console Could Be Ubuntu 22.10's GNOME Terminal Replacement

[reba]

FWIW, Fedora developers looked at this before -> https://pagure.io/fedora-workstation/issue/261 looks like it has functionality gaps including lack of profiles.

Thanks, that was a good read.

Funny to see Fedora guys a bit stumped of how feature-lacking the replacing program Console to Terminal is that suddenly gets shoved down their throats by Gnome upstream.

And they created a "priority list" some months ago which included (my words): "talk to upstream (Gnome) about what they want Console to become, so we can make an educated guess if we adopt it or keep Terminal and patch it ourselves. Also, we (Fedora) miss features".

Boy, I wonder if they ever even get a response to their pain points, not even mentioning an action. They're simply just Fedora, after all.

[sinepgib]

I wonder: who is a "casual terminal user"? The Average Joe, if at all using Linux, is afraid of the terminal anyway.

I think it's meant to deal with the fact pretty much all tutorials out there to do stuff focus on the terminal, so a casual user would be "I just want to run this command because <blogger I for some reason trust> told me so". Much like most people only use nano if they are not vim/emacs users and their GUI borked, so they follow some guide to fix it in single user mode. nano is simple almost to the point of the absurd (by default, a friend of mine did mod it to a point it was somewhat useful for programming) so casual users that only want it for emergencies don't need to go through a steep learning curve.

Having tabs and whatnot doesn't make something complicated, it's essential functionality.

Just use tmux I guess.

It's just average and for the average user - so make it default! Gnome logic. So Gnome users are average users?

They probably aim for average users. We won't have any if we don't make it easier for them to migrate. And, really, all this fuss about defaults catering to them makes me wonder how much of a power user is your typical """power user""" that is annoyed at just having to remove an app and replace it with a different one. I mean, I understand that from an average user (thus targeting default in user friendly distros to their needs), but allegedly power users? How hard is it to use apt-get?

NOTE: I'm assuming from the first comment that both terminals are intended to coexist, rather than one replacing the other in terms of maintenance.

And I want my terminal to be readable, so the last thing I want is transparency.

I always wondered at why people liked terminal transparency so much. Just like you, I find it makes stuff unreadable. I like my eye candy as much as any other guy, but I wouldn't put it above functionality.

It is recommended for the casual terminal user, not "power users" according to gnome-console's gitlab page:

I came here precisely to ask about what the main differences were that made it worth making yet another terminal. So this aims at having a newbie friendly version? I like the concept and consider we do need newbie friendly tools, but I can't imagine how you'd make a newbie terminal specifically.

[direc85]

I tried gnome-console and boy is it light and sleek! I still want at least colors to be configurable, so that's a no-go for me. There's zero configurability whatsoever..!

I had a look at the repo and found out about Tilix - just what I need!

About the user-friendliness: how is "open terminal and be presented a shell prompt" friendlier with Console than Terminal? Just where the user friendliness arise from? Can someone enlighten me?

Edit: I do love the idea of having a (modern) lightweight terminal emulator as default - to reduce bloat is reason enough! Power users can always install tmux or tilix or kitty or whatever they wish, that's the beauty of choice in action

[RahulSundaram]

Funny to see Fedora guys a bit stumped of how feature-lacking the replacing program Console to Terminal is that suddenly gets shoved down their throats by Gnome upstream.

Upstream can only provide default recommendations. They can't force distributions to do anything at all here. If the features don't fit the requirements as Fedora workstation developers see it, they can still stick to GNOME terminal (with their custom patches) just fine or patch Console (which in theory might be easier because it's a newer better maintained codebase) and send those patches upstream if the maintainer is open to it.

[oleid]

It's just average and for the average user - so make it default! Gnome logic. So Gnome users are average users?

Yes, some of my > 70 years old family members use GNOME on their computer.
They only need the terminal once in a while if I tell them via phone to launch a script.

A minimal console which is available by default is good enough for most cases. Elite users should have enough knowledge to install their favorite terminal.

[uxmkt]

It's just average and for the average user - so make it default! Gnome logic. So Gnome users are average users?

Naturally - the pros have all wandered off (about the time gnome3 landed) to something else because of the CADT development model (mentioned earlier here).

[Snaipersky]

To those wondering about transparency, lots of programs "require" a certain terminal size, but don't necessarily use a rectangle. I can have something under it giving me other useful info, or if I'm following a guide, I can keep it under the terminal as I work.

[Vistaus]

I think it's meant to deal with the fact pretty much all tutorials out there to do stuff focus on the terminal, so a casual user would be "I just want to run this command because <blogger I for some reason trust> told me so". Much like most people only use nano if they are not vim/emacs users and their GUI borked, so they follow some guide to fix it in single user mode. nano is simple almost to the point of the absurd (by default, a friend of mine did mod it to a point it was somewhat useful for programming) so casual users that only want it for emergencies don't need to go through a steep learning curve.

You don't have to tell *me* about Nano. I've been using Linux for years and am quite experienced with the terminal, but I use Nano all the time. Actually, not all the time anymore since I discovered Micro earlier this year, which is even more straightforward to use, but I do still love and sometimes use Nano as well.

[Kayden]

Fedora has had patched versions of vte3 and GNOME Terminal that provide notifications and real transparency for quite some time now. On Archlinux, you can get gnome-terminal-fedora and vte3-notification from the AUR. They're both really nice, honestly I'm not sure why they've been maintained separately from upstream for so long...

[kpedersen]

I have just installed it from the latest git sources and it is SO pretty and modern compared to the old GNOME Terminal. Can't wait to replace it when it's stable.

Amazing how something that is effectively emulating ancient typewriters can be so "modern".