6 ms·

I know you're not being serious, but there are some other terminal apps that are better than the basic DOS prompt. Check out ConEmu, for example. Now, once you

I know you're not being serious, but there are some other terminal apps that are better than the basic DOS prompt. Check out ConEmu, for example. Now, once you've got ConEmu or something like it that will resize nicely and do other things, you'll still be stuck on the crappy DOS-style prompt though. :)

mands 12y ago
Also checkout Cmder (http://bliker.github.io/cmder/ http://bliker.github.io/cmder/) for a pre-customised ConEmu that bundles several useful UNIX commands. Plus ConEmu supports Quake-style dropdown that has radically improved my work-flow on Windows. Also Powershell is pretty awesome if you take the time out to learn it.
- stinos 12y ago
  This. ConEmu combined with cmd/msys/cygwin/powershell is as close to a proper unix terminal app one can get. I actually find ConEmu itself better than the corresponding Gnome/KDE/Xfce/OsX applications.
- sixothree 12y ago
  Why does the default prompt have {git} and {lamb}? Is there any intro documentation?
bcbrown 12y ago
I feel similarly, and seriously. It's not so much just the usability of the command prompt, but that it would be a symbol of a change in priorities towards adding functionality for developers, and welcoming non-Windows technical audiences. If I'm using a non-built-in terminal, and a non-built-in Unix compatibility layer, why am I using Windows?
- TazeTSchnitzel 12y ago
  See, this is why I like Linux and OS X. The built-in Terminal is practical. The built-in text editor (well, at least on Linux) is practical. On Windows, I have to replace both from the get-go to get anything done.
- vertex-four 12y ago
  Why are you using Windows if you want it to behave like Unix?
  - TylerE 12y ago
    For me, personally: Visio and Photoshop
  - jevinskie 12y ago
    Most developers don't have a choice in the supported platforms of the product they work on. If your product targets Windows (and it will if the customers demand it), you don't have much choice!
  - bcbrown 12y ago
    I'm not, in that at work I use a Mac. I write Java server code for web servers and batch data-analysis, deployed on Linux boxes. A significant portion of my time is spent either ssh'ed into a Linux machine, or using the various Unix utilities as well as git and mvn in the terminal. My point, perhaps poorly stated, was this: I prefer a terminal-heavy development environment because that is the most efficient way of interacting with remote servers for the work that I do. I can't consider using Windows without a sense that they've made it a priority to address my use cases and scenarios, and the single lowest hanging fruit possible in that regard is to spend half a dev team (2-3 devs) on modernizing the terminal to the point where when I'm at home and want to check something on a server, I use my Windows desktop instead of switching to my Mac laptop. Even better would be dedicating one or two dev teams to supporting a Unix environment natively, so Cygwin isn't necessary. For what it's worth, I much prefer the Windows GUI to either Mac or Linux. I was a test developer at Microsoft for Windows 7 and part of 8, and I wrote this comment on my home PC running Win7. I would like to be able to use Windows for the UI and the familiarity I have with it, but those two things, a good terminal and a Unix-like environment, are requirements for my job. And I know from experience that this scenario is absolutely the furthest thing from the minds of the people working on Windows.
TylerE 12y ago
The thing is, if you actually look at how those programs work, they're still actually running cmd.exe and then wrapping that. This leads to all kinds of weirdness...sometimes resizes don't work quite right, color support is iffy and requires yet another wrapper, etc. It's better than nothing, but it's a FAR cry from something like konsole or even generic tabbed xterm.
jimmahoney 12y ago
Another is Git Bash (http://git-scm.com/downloads http://git-scm.com/downloads) which gives a reasonable terminal/shell on Windows including many of the standard utilities (e.g. ssh).
- TazeTSchnitzel 12y ago
  Git Bash is just cmd.exe
  - clone1018 12y ago
    Not if you launch bash.exe, then it's GNU bash, version 3.1.0
jevinskie 12y ago
Is it as slow as cmd? I found that running `readelf -a` in cmd will take, say ~5 seconds while running the same command under Cygwin+PuTTY, the command completed in well under a second. The text output is just plain slow and to a baffling degree. Anyone know why that is?

mands 12y ago

Also checkout Cmder (http://bliker.github.io/cmder/ http://bliker.github.io/cmder/) for a pre-customised ConEmu that bundles several useful UNIX commands. Plus ConEmu supports Quake-style dropdown that has radically improved my work-flow on Windows. Also Powershell is pretty awesome if you take the time out to learn it.

stinos 12y ago
This. ConEmu combined with cmd/msys/cygwin/powershell is as close to a proper unix terminal app one can get. I actually find ConEmu itself better than the corresponding Gnome/KDE/Xfce/OsX applications.
sixothree 12y ago
Why does the default prompt have {git} and {lamb}? Is there any intro documentation?

bcbrown 12y ago

I feel similarly, and seriously. It's not so much just the usability of the command prompt, but that it would be a symbol of a change in priorities towards adding functionality for developers, and welcoming non-Windows technical audiences. If I'm using a non-built-in terminal, and a non-built-in Unix compatibility layer, why am I using Windows?

TazeTSchnitzel 12y ago
See, this is why I like Linux and OS X. The built-in Terminal is practical. The built-in text editor (well, at least on Linux) is practical. On Windows, I have to replace both from the get-go to get anything done.
vertex-four 12y ago
Why are you using Windows if you want it to behave like Unix?
- TylerE 12y ago
  For me, personally: Visio and Photoshop
- jevinskie 12y ago
  Most developers don't have a choice in the supported platforms of the product they work on. If your product targets Windows (and it will if the customers demand it), you don't have much choice!
- bcbrown 12y ago
  I'm not, in that at work I use a Mac. I write Java server code for web servers and batch data-analysis, deployed on Linux boxes. A significant portion of my time is spent either ssh'ed into a Linux machine, or using the various Unix utilities as well as git and mvn in the terminal. My point, perhaps poorly stated, was this: I prefer a terminal-heavy development environment because that is the most efficient way of interacting with remote servers for the work that I do. I can't consider using Windows without a sense that they've made it a priority to address my use cases and scenarios, and the single lowest hanging fruit possible in that regard is to spend half a dev team (2-3 devs) on modernizing the terminal to the point where when I'm at home and want to check something on a server, I use my Windows desktop instead of switching to my Mac laptop. Even better would be dedicating one or two dev teams to supporting a Unix environment natively, so Cygwin isn't necessary. For what it's worth, I much prefer the Windows GUI to either Mac or Linux. I was a test developer at Microsoft for Windows 7 and part of 8, and I wrote this comment on my home PC running Win7. I would like to be able to use Windows for the UI and the familiarity I have with it, but those two things, a good terminal and a Unix-like environment, are requirements for my job. And I know from experience that this scenario is absolutely the furthest thing from the minds of the people working on Windows.

TylerE 12y ago

The thing is, if you actually look at how those programs work, they're still actually running cmd.exe and then wrapping that. This leads to all kinds of weirdness...sometimes resizes don't work quite right, color support is iffy and requires yet another wrapper, etc. It's better than nothing, but it's a FAR cry from something like konsole or even generic tabbed xterm.

jimmahoney 12y ago

Another is Git Bash (http://git-scm.com/downloads http://git-scm.com/downloads) which gives a reasonable terminal/shell on Windows including many of the standard utilities (e.g. ssh).

TazeTSchnitzel 12y ago
Git Bash is just cmd.exe
- clone1018 12y ago
  Not if you launch bash.exe, then it's GNU bash, version 3.1.0

jevinskie 12y ago

Is it as slow as cmd? I found that running `readelf -a` in cmd will take, say ~5 seconds while running the same command under Cygwin+PuTTY, the command completed in well under a second. The text output is just plain slow and to a baffling degree. Anyone know why that is?