Cool Retro Term

> Default Amber	C:\ IBM DOS	$ Default Green

Description

Cool Retro Term (CRT) is a terminal emulator which mimics the look and feel of the old cathode tube screens. It has been designed to be eye-candy, customizable, and reasonably lightweight.

This fork of the original abandonned project introduces ergonomic improvements. But is developped for my personal use. Not accepting contributions.

CRT works under Linux and macOS and requires Qt5. (Mac support not maintained in this fork, might work)

Settings such as colors, fonts, and effects can be accessed via right-click.

Screenshots

Features

User-friendliness

• Modern keyboard shortcuts (enabled by default)
  • Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V for copy/paste (Ctrl+Q sends interrupt signal)
  • Shift+Enter for line continuation (inserts \ + Enter)
  • Ctrl+Backspace to delete previous word
• Drag and drop support - Drop files/folders with automatic path quoting
• Window geometry persistence - Options to remember size and position
• Right-click context menu - Quick access to settings and actions
• Profile import/export - Share your custom configurations
• Configurable scrollback history - Custom limit or unlimited

Visual Effects

• CRT screen curvature - Authentic curved screen effect
• Scanlines and flickering - Adjustable retro display artifacts
• Screen glow and bloom - Phosphor-style light emission
• Burn-in effect - Simulated screen ghosting
• Jitter and static noise - Random display imperfections
• Customizable frame - Monitor bezel with adjustable color and size

Customization

• Multiple built-in profiles - Apple ][, IBM DOS, Futuristic, and more
• Font selection - Vintage bitmap and modern fonts, system fonts
• Adjustable font scaling - Fine-tune text size
• RGB color customization - Custom text and background colors
• Ambient light simulation - Adjustable room lighting effect
• Window opacity - Make the terminal semi-transparent
• Dark theme for settings - Material Design dark theme for better visibility

Other

• Unicode support - Display characters from any language
• Session management - Maintains terminal state
• Full xterm compatibility - Built on the robust Konsole engine

Install

This fork of CRT is not available in official Linux distributions app libraries to my knowledge.

For the latest version, go to the Releases page and grab the latest AppImage (Linux) or DEB (Ubuntu and variants).

Alternatively for nerds:

Building

Prerequisites

Ubuntu/Debian

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y \
  build-essential \
  qt5-qmake \
  qtdeclarative5-dev \
  qml-module-qtquick-controls \
  qml-module-qtgraphicaleffects \
  qml-module-qtquick-dialogs \
  qml-module-qtquick-localstorage \
  qml-module-qtquick-window2 \
  qml-module-qtquick-controls2 \
  qtquickcontrols2-5-dev \
  qmlscene \
  git

Fedora/RHEL

sudo dnf install qt5-qtbase-devel qt5-qtdeclarative-devel \
  qt5-qtquickcontrols qt5-qtquickcontrols2 \
  qt5-qtgraphicaleffects gcc-c++ make git

Arch/Manjaro

sudo pacman -S base-devel qt5-base qt5-declarative \
  qt5-quickcontrols qt5-quickcontrols2 \
  qt5-graphicaleffects git

Build Instructions

1. Clone the repository and initialize submodules:

git clone https://github.com/Swordfish90/cool-retro-term.git
cd cool-retro-term
git submodule update --init --recursive

2. Build the application:

For release build:

qmake CONFIG+=release PREFIX=/usr
make -j$(nproc)

For debug build:

qmake CONFIG+=debug
make -j$(nproc)

3. Run the application:

./cool-retro-term

4. (Optional) Install system-wide:

sudo make install

Troubleshooting

• If qmake is not found, try qmake-qt5 instead
• If you get "Unknown module(s) in QT: quickcontrols2" error, install the Qt Quick Controls 2 packages listed in prerequisites
• If the build fails with missing qmltermwidget, ensure you've initialized git submodules with git submodule update --init --recursive

For more detailed instructions, check the wiki for Linux and macOS.