In the next article we are going to take a look at Hyper. Is about a terminal emulator that is built with web technologies: JavaScript, HTML, CSS. The goal of the project is to create a beautiful and extensible experience for users of the command line interface, based on open web standards. Hyper is based on xterm.js, a front-end component written in TypeScript. Hyper offers cross-platform support to run on Gnu / Linux, macOS, and Windows.
In case someone is not clear, we will be able to access the command line from the desktop using a terminal emulator. The terminal window will allow the user to access a console and all its applications, such as command line interfaces (CLI).
Recent development of the Hyper terminal emulator has focused on improving its input latency and text output speed as well as focusing on fixing many of the bugs. While I have tested it, the rendering was fast and sufficient for most of the tested cases.
Hyper offers a good range of functions, including tabs and multiplexing. By default, opening a new panel or tab resets the working directory to the home directory. To solve this, it is best to use the plugin hyper cwd for the new tab to keep the current directory.
If you are looking for a terminal emulator based on web technologies, this is a good option that is highly supported on sites like GitHub. The latest version of Hyper offers several changes that radically improve its speed. If you spend a lot of time in the terminal, this is an alternative to 'traditional' terminal emulators.
Hyper general characteristics
- This terminal emulator runs on Gnu / Linux, macOS, and Windows.
- Su extensibility This is related to the ability to customize an application according to the preferences and tastes of an individual. This flexibility is offered by plugins and themes and themes available.
- Hyper does not accept practically any command line arguments. But we can modify it to our liking through its configuration file ~ / .hyper.js.
- We will find available more than 20 accessories They are going to add additional functionalities to this terminal emulator.
- We will have the possibility to automatically select the renderer Canvas o WebGL for smooth visual performance.
- We will be able to customize this emulator to suit any workflow.
- We can use custom keymaps.
- It has emoji stand.
- It offers a good proxy compatibility.
These are just some of the characteristics, all of them can be consulted in the project website.
Installation on Ubuntu
For its installation we will find .deb packages available, but we will also have the possibility of downloading an AppImage.
If you prefer to use the .deb, you will only have download it from download section on the project page. Or you can also open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and use wget as follows:
wget -O hyper.deb https://releases.hyper.is/download/deb
Once downloaded we will have to proceed to installation:
sudo dpkg -i hyper.deb
If you prefer to use the .AppImage file, all you have to do is to do is the file, AppImage, that we can download from the same web, be executable. We can do all this by writing the following in the same terminal:
wget -O hyper.AppImage https://releases.hyper.is/download/AppImage chmod u+x hyper.AppImage
After this we can use the terminal emulator by double clicking on the .AppImage file.
Configuration
We are not going to find a sophisticated plugin manager within the application to help us install plugins. Instead, we will have toe edit the config file ~ / .hyper.js and add some lines of text. For example, to use the plugin hyper power, we will have to add the following lines to the file:
plugins: [ "hyperpower", ],
If you don't like the default theme, you will also be able to change it. We will can add a topic adding it in the plugins section of the configuration file (~ / .hyper.js), as you can see in the previous screenshot. We can see all the configuration options in the project GitHub page.