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HOWTO: usable xterm configuration

    UPDATE: if you’re using xterm in place of gnome-terminal due to speed, you aren’t any longer. The 2.14 version of Gnome sports a much faster gnome-terminal; it beats xterm for display by allot, and log startup is 20x faster than before! Wow, they did some work on tuning there!

Ok, this is a cheap HOWTO seeing as how I just found it, cut/pasted it and restarted X - but hey, it rocks. I’ve always used Gnome-terminal when in Gnome, but I also tend to when I’m in Openbox or Xfce I use it since I can control the fonts to make it usable, unlike xterm. Last night after installing Xfce4 (recommended) on my iBook I hit their FAQ to do some tweaking where I came across this, and now I can use xterm! It’s right in time to since Gnome-terminal loads very slowly when you’re not in Gnome, and that’s especially annoying when you’re playing in a ‘lighter’ window manager/desktop environment. Xterm, on the other hand, just pops up like it was waiting for you. So, to try out this config yourself, hit this page on their documentaion page, or read more on this post for the quick HOWTO and code.

Edit or create an .Xsessions file in your user’s home directory:

vi ~/.Xsessions

Copy code from the URL above, or the code below and paste it in there. Now save:

:wq!

Have xrdb source the .Xresources file:

xrdb -merge .Xresources

and finally, launch xterm:

xterm

That’s it! Now xterm will look like that anytime you launch it, and this even works in Windows when using Cgywin, same steps as above. Sure as heck beats Cgywin’s shell…don’t get me wrong, I appreciate Cgywin, but installing X just to get a useable term is a necessary when you’re forced to use Windows.

Here is the code to copy:

! this are Xresources to make xterm look good
! put into ~/.Xresources
! after changing contents, run xrdb -merge .Xresources
! gentoo has a bug so that it doesnt read it when X starts, so add above
! command to /etc/xfce4/xinitrc (top) and be happy.

!xterm*background:  Black
!xterm*foreground:  Grey
xterm*font:     -Misc-Fixed-Medium-R-Normal--20-200-75-75-C-100-ISO10646-1
!xterm*font:        -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--18-*-*-*-*-*-iso10646-1
!xterm*iconPixmap: ...
xterm*iconPixmap:       /usr/share/pixmaps/gnome-gemvt.xbm
xterm*iconMask:         /usr/share/pixmaps/gnome-gemvt-mask.xbm
!XTerm*iconName: terminal
!Mwm*xterm*iconImage: /home/a/a1111aa/xterm.icon
XTerm*loginShell: true
XTerm*foreground: gray90
XTerm*background: black
XTerm*cursorColor: rgb:00/80/00
XTerm*borderColor: white
XTerm*scrollColor: black
XTerm*visualBell: true
XTerm*saveLines: 1000
!! XTerm.VT100.allowSendEvents: True
XTerm*allowSendEvents: True
XTerm*sessionMgt: false
!XTerm*eightBitInput:  false
!XTerm*metaSendsEscape: true
!XTerm*internalBorder:  10
!XTerm*highlightSelection:  true
!XTerm*VT100*colorBDMode:  on
!XTerm*VT100*colorBD:  blue
!XTerm.VT100.eightBitOutput:  true
!XTerm.VT100.titeInhibit:  false
XTerm*color0: black
XTerm*color1: red3
XTerm*color2: green3
XTerm*color3: yellow3
XTerm*color4: DodgerBlue1
XTerm*color5: magenta3
XTerm*color6: cyan3
XTerm*color7: gray90
XTerm*color8: gray50
XTerm*color9: red
XTerm*color10: green
XTerm*color11: yellow
XTerm*color12: blue
XTerm*color13: magenta
XTerm*color14: cyan
XTerm*color15: white
XTerm*colorUL: yellow
XTerm*colorBD: white
!XTerm*mainMenu*backgroundPixmap:     gradient:vertical?dimension=400&start=gray10&end=gray40
!XTerm*mainMenu*foreground:          white
!XTerm*vtMenu*backgroundPixmap:       gradient:vertical?dimension=550&start=gray10&end=gray40
!XTerm*vtMenu*foreground:             white
!XTerm*fontMenu*backgroundPixmap:     gradient:vertical?dimension=300&start=gray10&end=gray40
!XTerm*fontMenu*foreground:           white
!XTerm*tekMenu*backgroundPixmap:      gradient:vertical?dimension=300&start=gray10&end=gray40
!XTerm*tekMenu*foreground:            white
!XTerm Profiles (idea from dag wieers)
XTerm*rightScrollBar: true
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Comments »

  • Monkey Critic said:

    Fak3r’s blog makes monkey’s brain hurt.

    - 20 June 2006 at 10:16 pm
  • fak3r (author) said:

    I hear ya monkey - while I don’t think I’ll ever be able to completely appease you, I will try harder. For now I’ve uncovered a shocking development in Hawaii, but of course you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you? http://fak3r.com/articles/2006/02/24/banana-thefts-increasing Yeah, I’m not afraid to ask the hard hitting questions.

    - 20 June 2006 at 10:17 pm
  • David Roussel said:

    > but installing X just to get a useable term is a necessary when you’re forced to use Windows. What’s wrong with putty?

    - 20 June 2006 at 10:17 pm
  • fak3r (author) said:

    PuTTY is awesome, I use it daily, but I use that for connecting to remote boxes, not working on my local one. Whether I’m mv’ing files around or using vim, I *need* a good term to use; even when I’m in Windows. Plus, while I use PuTTY allot, I’m actually just connecting to other boxen via my pretty xterms now - just to keep things standard. Oh, and the highlight, center click paste of xterm brings me back home; with PuTTY it’s highlight, right click paste. Again, sticking with one way. Ah hell, I just need to find another job that let’s me use Linux on the Desktop as I used to in my last few gigs.

    - 20 June 2006 at 10:18 pm
  • Nico57 said:

    PuTTY can be configured to use xterm-like copy and paste.
    See configuration/window/selection.

    - 25 August 2006 at 9:38 am

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