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Console 2: The Windows Command Prompt Replacement

Console 2: The Windows Command Prompt Replacement
Ben Kittrell - 09/13/2006 15:29:00
Comments: 23
Last Comment: 08/11/2010 11:58:34

Console I've been searching for a long time, and I was starting to think I'd be better off looking for Sasquatch, but I finally found it.  It's a free(as in beer), lightweight, stable, configurable, transparent, tabbed, command line terminal for windows.  I previously posted about PromptPal , but after using it for awhile I found it to be flaky, and not worth paying for.

Anyway, it's called Console , and it's a SourceForge project.  It's exactly what I've been looking for, and I highly recommend if you spend any amout of time on the command line.  I downloaded the latest beta, cause I'm hardcore like that.  I wanted to make sure I got all the latest goodies.  Seems pretty stable so far.  It looks like the project is pretty active.

One of the coolest features is the ability to plug-in any shell.  So you can even configure it to run cygwin.  Between this, the transparency support, mulitple tabs, and background images, I'm pretty freakin happy right now.

Just try it out, trust me.  If you've been looking for something like this, then this is the one you've been waiting for. 

Comments: 23
Last Comment: 08/11/2010 11:58:34

Comments

1. Chris   |   09/16/2006 03:04:08

Oh this is awesome! I've been looking for something like this for *ages* - superb find!!

2. dar512   |   03/28/2007 10:54:30

Are you aware that there is a Windows native rxvt in the cygwin distrib? I haven't looked at Console, so it may be better, but the rxvt.exe in cygwin works fine. It will do background images using pixmaps. I don't know about transparency.

3. jonie   |   03/31/2007 17:14:40

It would be great if it wasn't slow as a clam

4. guest   |   05/04/2007 17:54:02

im looking for a cmd replacement that makes it easier to cut and paste and scroll without using the mouse

can console do this?

5. Ken Liu  |  my website   |   07/25/2007 21:08:37

Console is great! I just stumbled across it yesterday, and coincientally stumbled across your blog today (via del.icio.us). I use Macs at home, but am stuck with WinXP at work - Console makes command-line work on Windows much nicer.

6. Adam   |   09/21/2007 13:50:39

I would also recommend Poderosa. Not sure it can do command.exe, but it does cygwin and SSH real nicely. It is tabbed, it's even paned, and copy and paste is a breeze (Alt+C and Alt+V, or right click). But console does a good job for a windows shell replacement.

7. oneofmany   |   09/25/2007 16:12:59

console 2 is awsome. Thanks man. I saw a couple of other references to it on other sites and people seem to like it a lot. It's nice to see that there is a terminal for windows that can rival the unix ones.

8. Benjamin Wagaman  |  my website   |   12/21/2007 14:46:03

Great find! Thanks for sharing.

9. Horea Haitonic   |   07/21/2009 17:42:03

For decent completion and command history, try the PyCmd wrapper at web link

10. SafetyFirst   |   07/28/2009 08:24:10

hi, i use this great replacement "console" but i' ve one problem/question? how can i copy a console-output-line (mark, copy and paste)? It does not work, has anybody the same problem or can help me... thx

11. Paul  |  my website   |   09/09/2009 14:44:33

@SafetyFirst: By default, hold down Shift while dragging the mouse to copy text. Middle mouse button pastes it. This behavior is modifiable in the Settings, I believe.

Also thanks, Ben, for getting me inspired to check out Console!

For anyone looking to take advantage of multiple tabs in Console for a Rails environment, check out my post on the subject: web link

12. Sagar   |   10/21/2009 11:02:43

I have a problem with console2: I can resize the console using mouse but the maximization on top right does not work!!! Any help?

13. Stephen Bovy   |   03/11/2010 19:29:15

Is this 32 bit or 64 bit ???

Is there a 64 bit version ??

Will it work in the free windows 2008 hyper-v stand-alone core server (no gui)

Are there any decent windows console file-explorers that will work in windows server
2008 hyper-v ??

14. Gui   |   03/24/2010 07:41:16

I also use console with cygwin as a default shell.
Looks pretty cool but then when I use the CTRL+W key combo then console just crashes and I have to restart it all the time :(

15. GerSoft   |   03/29/2010 20:46:12

I have the same issue with CTRL+W key combo. Use it all the time to switch between vim windows. Causes Console to crash. Otherwise, love the app, but this bug removes it from the list of viable options for me.

16. GerSoft   |   03/29/2010 20:57:05

My bad. CTRL+W is a default Hotkey key combo. Simply remove this from the Hotkeys and no more problem. Sorry for the false bug accusation.

17. petrux   |   04/30/2010 05:18:53

Please, could anyone link me some doc about how to configure Console to have cygwin as a default shell?

18. Pablo   |   05/19/2010 15:28:55

Anyone knows how can I us the "up key" to get to previous commands? I'm pressing the "up key" and the console scrolls up, instead of showing past commands :/

19. Neil   |   05/27/2010 07:33:59

I have a stupid, stupid question - how do I copy/paste text? I can find the copy/paste/cancel selection options, but how do I select text? I have tried dragging the mouse over the text, this doesn't work. Once you have stopped laughing could someone give me an answer?

Neil.

20. Fred   |   05/27/2010 18:12:29

Hi Neil,

Look at #11 above Paul's comment for that.

21. SLEEPING BAG  |  my website   |   06/01/2010 11:56:50

link me some doc about how to configure Console to have cygwin as a default shell?

22. Eric   |   06/12/2010 11:09:35

Cygwin on Console2 (as default):

First you need to add Cygwin as a tab option. Under the tabs settings, add a new tab and set the shell to the Cygwin batch file (here is what I have for Shell: C:\cygwin\Cygwin.bat).

Then to make it default, just move this tab entry to the top of the list (see "Move up" button).

For icons, I use 7-Zip to extract the .ico files from the various executables (you don't need to do this for Cygwin since it provides its own .ico file) and just put them somewhere and link. That way I have CMD and PowerShell icons when I open tabs for these.

Console2 is great!

23. Payne22SUSANNA  |  my website   |   08/11/2010 11:58:34

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