4 good alternative to the built-in OS X Terminal

I think it is not necessary to repeat once again how valuable tool is the Terminal in OS X. On the pages of MakRadara, we have repeatedly raised this issue, and I want to believe that you, dear readers, have become at least a little to use it in their everyday work. Many users ample opportunity it offered standard terminal, while others want more. In fact, there are many alternatives, and if you close using the command line, you will be helpful to know its other emulators.

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Cathode (329r).

This is the only replacement of the terminal, which can be downloaded from the Mac App Store. The main advantage of Cathode, a large number of application appearance settings.

You can customize the application interface as you wish - Cathode comprising a plurality of the most different themes, which change the fonts, sizes, colors and backgrounds. Fans of old school will appreciate the convex screen imitation of the old CRT monitors - here it is implemented is surprisingly realistic.

Another important function of Cathode - is the ability to work the text, that is, you can use it as a text editor. With that, you can simply drag and drop text from any application in Cathode window to start working with him. Of course, you can not treat it as a full-fledged text editor, but if you just need to write some text without being distracted by extraneous stimuli - Cathode help you in this.

As for the rest, Cathode is an emulator of the console, with flexible interface options and will be useful to those for whom it is important not only functionality, but also a visual component.

iTerm2 (free)

iTerm2, in contrast to the Cathode, focuses on functionality. If the native terminal does not give you all the necessary functions - worth a look in the direction iTerm2.

Using iTerm2 setting, you can assign different hotkeys to access important functions. For example, my favorite shortcut - a quick show / hide iTerm2, working in the background (reminiscent of the opening of the console in Quake).

iTerm2 supports Expose and you can always quickly switch between open windows. With hotkey ⌘⌥E or using the menu Window — Expose All TabsYou get access to the interface similar to Mission Control. Here you will see all of your windows, you are working on and the search box. When you move the cursor, in this mode, each open window will increase.

Another useful function iTerm2 (both for beginners and for advanced users), is autofill. iTerm2 stores all the commands that you type and then the next time you enter a command, just press ⌘; to display a pop-up menu with the right results. It will be very useful when you need to enter a lot of duplicate entries.

As you can see, in iTerm2 it is only those functions that will improve the efficiency and usability of the terminal. Therefore, it can recommend to people who work with it every day.

download iTerm2

Terminator (free)

The successful name for the command-line emulator, is not it? Terminator is a cross-platform tool that works like on a Mac, and Linux, and Windows (for the condition that the computer is running Java 6).

Working in Terminator, you do not need to worry about data loss. The app automatically keeps a safe place logs all commands that you enter. If desired, this feature can be disabled. As in the Cathode, in Terminator, you can drag text and links from other applications. It is convenient to use this feature to move text between different windows.

Terminator is already quite an old project, and there are now more new analogues Terminal (same Iterm2), but it does have one advantage - Terminator distributed free of charge.

download Terminator

MacTerm (free)

At this point, the application is under active beta-testing, but it still has a couple of interesting features, so I included it in this list.

For example, to find something very difficult in standard Terminal, but is deprived MacTerm this problem. Thanks to the search function, we can use the usual shortcuts ⌘FWhich instantly displays the matching keyword in all windows (they will be highlighted and you can conveniently switch between them).

Another interesting feature MacTerm - this macros. In the macro, you can specify settings for any action, which in the future will help to save your time. you can assign a hot key for each to create a macro that will make it even more convenient to use.

MacTerm very simple and lightweight console emulator, and is valuable in the first place, the ability to work with macros. Besides, it is completely free.

download MacTerm

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And you use the native Terminal, dear readers? Tell us in the comments about their preferences, which application for use with the command line?