Geek Posted May 19, 2011 Posted May 19, 2011 <div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/termkit-screenshot-images.jpg" alt="TermKit is a GUI Terminal" title="termkit-screenshot-images" width="620" height="485" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-16208" /></p> <p>If you’re tired of the <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/01/27/the-ultimate-retro-terminal-cathode/">antiquated</a> (retro?) text-only appearance of the <a href="http://osxdaily.com/category/command-line/">command line</a> and Terminal.app, check out the fascinating new TermKit project.</p> <p>TermKit aims to bridge aspects of the GUI with the command line, allowing this re-imagined terminal to see anything from icons to images, with progress bars and indicators that commands have executed successfully or failed, displaying anything that a modern web browser can (including HTML5 content), meaning there’s even fancy transitions and animations too. The developer cautions that TermKit is not a full terminal emulator, but it’s definitely very compelling even with its current limitations.</p> <h2 style="font-size:1.2em;">TermKit Installation Requirements and Steps</h2> <p>If you want to try TermKit out yourself, you’ll need some familiarity with compiling apps in the command line since TermKit is very much alpha and is somewhat of a hassle to install. Here’s a more accurate list of things you’ll need and steps to take to get the app running, I found the initial instructions on the projects homepage vague and missing some elements:</p> <ul> <li>Install XCode 4 – registered developers can install Xcode 3 from a Mac OS X Installer DVD and upgrade manually to 4 or <a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=uO47tEUahH8&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Fapp%252Fxcode%252Fid422352214%253Fmt%253D12%2526uo%253D4%2526partnerId%253D30" target="itunes_store">anyone can download Xcode 4 from the Mac App Store for $5</a></li> <li>Install HomeBrew:</li> <p><code style="font-size:90%;">ruby -e "$(curl -fsSLk https://gist.github.com/raw/323731/install_homebrew.rb)"</code></p> <li>Install Node.JS:</li> <p><code>brew install node git</code></p> <li>Install NPM (Node Package Manager):</li> <p><code>curl http://npmjs.org/install.sh | sh</code></p> <li>Install MIME using the newly installed NPM:</li> <p><code>npm install mime</code></p> <li>Use git to grab the TermKit source (note: if you run into permissions errors, pull off the –recursive flag):</li> <p><code>git clone git@github.com:unconed/TermKit.git --recursive</code></p> <li>Run Nodekit daemon:</li> <p><code>cd TermKit/Node; node nodekit.js</code></p> <li>Unzip TermKit.zip:</li> <p><code>unzip Build/Termkit.zip</code></p> <li>Launch TermKit.app:</li> <p><code>open Build/TermKit.app</code> </ul> <p>The usefulness is debatable at this point, and as the developer humorously says “nothing works yet” but there’s no doubt that TermKit is beautiful. Here are some more screenshots of TermKit in action:</p> <p><span id="more-16198"></span> <img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/termkit-screenshots-source.jpg" alt="TermKit using cat to view source code" title="termkit-screenshots-source" width="620" height="455" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-16210" /></p> <p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/termkit-git-mv-ls-etc.jpg" alt="TermKit screenshot showing git mv ls and more" title="termkit-git-mv-ls-etc" width="620" height="595" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-16211" /></p> <p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/termkit-screenshot.jpg" alt="" title="termkit-screenshot" width="530" height="418" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-16209" /></p> <p>You can <a href="http://acko.net/blog/on-termkit">read more about TermKit on the developers blog</a> or <a href="https://github.com/unconed/TermKit">check out the source on GitHub</a>, the developer has some interesting ideas and opinions on the concept of the command line and it’s inadequacies with modern computing and those alone are a good read. </p> <p>This is a pretty exciting project, and definitely something we’ll keep an eye on.</p> </div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/22646161Lj_iXe6ZhquNYzWXDHk/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/22646161Lj_iXe6ZhquNYzWXDHk/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/22646161Lj_iXe6ZhquNYzWXDHk/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/22646161Lj_iXe6ZhquNYzWXDHk/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=3JBKZIuKOVs:CWDl4GDG7wg:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=3JBKZIuKOVs:CWDl4GDG7wg:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?i=3JBKZIuKOVs:CWDl4GDG7wg:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=3JBKZIuKOVs:CWDl4GDG7wg:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?i=3JBKZIuKOVs:CWDl4GDG7wg:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=3JBKZIuKOVs:CWDl4GDG7wg:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=3JBKZIuKOVs:CWDl4GDG7wg:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/osxdaily/~4/3JBKZIuKOVs" height="1" width="1"/> View the full article
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