Preferences Window¶

Behaviour¶

Window state (default: Normal)

This will determine what happens on startup normally.

• Normal - Window opens as normal.
• Hidden - Window does not open. Useful at login, so it is already available with a shortcut.
• Maximised - Window opens maximised in the standard window manager frame.
• Fullscreen - Window opens fullscreen with no window manager frame.

Always on top (default: off)

Window attempts to remain on top.

Show on all workspaces (default: off)

The focused window will follow if you switch to a different virtual desktop.

Hide on lose focus (default: off)

This is a quake console like feature, where the user want the window to vanish when clicking elsewhere.

This is rather buggy at the moment as it is very easy for the main window to lose focus and disappear.

Hide from taskbar (default: off)

The first window opened will not be displayed in the taskbar. Subsequent windows will show in the taskbar (bug?).

Window geometry hints (default: off)

If this is checked, then when resizing Terminator will attempt to step the sizing by the current font, and display a small box with the dimension of the window in characters.

Warning

If you have problems with Terminator windows shrinking in an uncontrollable way, then turning this option off will usually fix the issue. It is not clear why, but it seems Terminator and the window manager get into an argument over what size the window should be.

Mouse focus (default: Click to focus)

By what method the mouse pointer sets the focus on a terminal.

• GNOME Default - Act as per the system settings.
• Click to focus - You must click with in a terminal to make it the focus.
• Follow mouse pointer - Moving the pointer over a terminal makes it the focus.

Broadcast default (default: Group)

Which broadcast mode should be selected at startup:

• All - All terminals receive keystrokes.
• Group - Only terminals in the same group as the current terminal receive keystrokes.
• None - Only the current terminal receives keystrokes.

PuTTY style paste (default: off)

Make the right mouse button operate like in PuTTY, so right-click will paste the Primary selection, and middle-click will open the Context Menu. (For ex-PuTTY users).

Re-use profiles for new terminals (default: off)

When creating a new terminal with splitting or new tabs, if this is enabled, then the profile from the previously focussed terminal will also be used for the new one.

Use custom URL handler (default: off)

If this is enabled then Ctrl+click on a URL will try to use the command defined in Custom URL handler to open the link. If not enabled, Terminator will attempt to open the link with its internal logic.

Custom URL handler (default: inactive, empty)

If active and set, then URL’s will be passed as a command-line parameter to the given command.

DBus server (default: on)

If a Terminator DBus server is not already on the session bus, try to start one.

Appearance¶

Terminator seperator size (default: -1)

This is the width in pixels, and can range from -1 to 5. The value of -1 will take the default size from the system theme.

Unfocused terminal font brightness (default: 0.8)

Terminals that do not currently have the focus will can be dimmed to aid focus. The value can range from 0 (invisible) to 1 (full brightness)

Window borders (default: on)

The window manager frame can be removed from your windows.

Tab position (default: Top)

Where the tabs will be located within the window

• Top
• Bottom
• Left
• Right
• Hidden - Tabs still work, you just can’t see them.

Tabs homogeneous (default: on)

Tabs will have equal widths

Tabs scroll buttons (default: off)

When there are more tabs than can fit within the window buttons will be drawn for moving left and right.

Terminal Titlebar¶

There is a table of the colours for the titlebars on the left. These are modelled on those used in a utility I used to use called ClusTerm. The three sets (Focused, Inactive and Receiving) will make more sense after reading the section about The Grouping Menu.

	Focused	Inactive	Receiving
Font colour	#FFFFFF	#000000	#FFFFFF
Background	#C80003	#C0BEBF	#0076C9

Hide size from title (default: off)

At the end of the label in the titlebar the size of the terminal is given in characters, i.e. (80x24). Enabling this item will disable the size text.

Use the system font (default: on)

By default the system defined proportional font will be used for the text in the titlebar. Turning this off allows you to use a custom font.

Font (default: inactive, system proportional font)

If active and set, then the custom font to be used in the titlebar.

Warning

With newer versions of some of the underlying libraries, using a bitmap font can cause the Preference window to crash. If you find this happening, you will need to either remove the configuration from the Terminator configuration file or you will need to change your system settings. Please see LP#1294699 for more information.

General¶

One key difference is that we have a sidebar to the left listing the available Profiles, as opposed to GNOME Terminator, where the list is a separate window launched from the menu bar.

Use the system fixed width font (default: on)

By default the system defined proportional font will be used for the text in the terminal. Turning this off allows you to use a custom font.

Font (inactive, system fixed width font)

If active and set, then the custom font to be used in the terminal.

Allow bold text (default: on)

Allows you to disable the use of bold fonts in the terminal.

Anti-alias text (default: on) †Not in GNOME Terminal

In Terminator you can turn the font smoothing off. This is no longer possible in GNOME Terminator.

Show titlebar (default: on)

The titlebar strip across the top of each terminal can be turned off.

Copy on selection (default: off)

This puts the selection into the copy/paste buffer, as well as being available on middle-click.

Select-by-word characters (default: -A-Za-z0-9,./?%&#:_)

Using double-click to select text will use this pattern to define what characters are considered part of the word.

Command¶

Run commands as a login shell (default: off)

Force the command to run as a login shell.

Update login records when command is launched (default: on)

Updates login records when a new shell is opened.

Run a custom command instead of my shell (default: off)

Enable the use of a custom command instead of the users default shell.

Custom command (default: inactive, empty)

If enabled and set, the users default shell will be replaced with the command specified here.

Note

If you place an entry here note that there is no bash or other shell underneath it. When the command ends, there is no chance to drop to a shell or other program. This can be worked around by using the shell line seperator ; and a following bash command.

When command exits (default: Exit the terminal)

When the running command exits (default or custom) what action should be taken.

• Exit the terminal - Terminal closes, causing layout to adjust.
• Restart the command - Original command restarts immediately.
• Hold the terminal open - The terminal and scrollback will remain visible and accessible until the user explicitly closes the terminal, or closes the window.

Warning

If you are using Restart the command and your command is broken and exits immediately, then you can end up in a resource hungry loop.

Colours¶

There seems to be some mild quirks and differences (palettes available or selected from the system theme) between Terminator and GNOME Terminal.

Background¶

Solid colour (default: active)

Background of terminal is set to the solid colour set in previous Colours tab.

Background image (default: inactive)

Background will be an image. There is no scaling done.

Image file (default: inactive, None)

If Background image is set, then the image to use can be selected here.

Background image scrolls (default: inactive, on)

If the Background image is set, then setting this to on will cause the background image to change as the window moves. This is a for of fake transparency.

Transparent background (default: inactive)

This will attempt true transparency where the windows below are partially visible through the terminal.

Note

This option requires a compositing desktop.

Shade transparent or image background (default: 0.5)

For Background image and Transparent background this is how much the solid colour should be blended in, giving a tinting effect.

Scrolling¶

Scrollbar is (default: On the right side)

If and where the scrollbar should appear.

• On the left side
• On the right side
• Disabled

Scrollback (default: 500 lines)

How many lines to keep before discarding.

Infinite Scrollback (default: off)

Lines are never discarded, and all lines since the session began are available.

Note

Data is placed onto the disk by the underlying VTE component, so even after a long time, the memory footprint and performance of Terminator should be OK.

Scroll on output (default: on)

Moves terminal to end of scrollback buffer when any output occurs.

Scroll on keystroke (default: on)

Moves terminal to end of scrollback buffer when any keypress occurs.

Use keystrokes to scroll on alternate screen (default: on)

Ummmm... I don’t know. Alternate screens are a bit of a mystery to me.

Compatibility¶

Backspace key generates (default: ASCII DEL)

Change behaviour of the Backspace key.

• Automatic
• Control-H
• ASCII DEL
• Escape sequence

Delete key generates (default: Escape sequence)

Change behaviour of the Delete key.

• Automatic
• Control-H
• ASCII DEL
• Escape sequence

Reset Compatibility Options to Defaults

Sets the two previous items back to their defaults.