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console: a great CMD.exe replacement application

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urlwolf:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/console

it's like the command prompt, with better keyboard shortcuts, tabs, and resizable. A must for any shell work on windows.

You may know about poderosa already, but I find console to be even better in a sense:
no cygwin dependency (it can be put in a usb stick), easy to add a context menu, etc

it has a pretty active forum:
http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=143117

f0dder:
Interesting idea - but it doesn't seem to be able to fullscreen, one of my favourite hex editors, hexit looks pretty weird, and the console does feel a bit laggy.

But it might be nice when I just need a shell and no "interactive" apps in it, especially tab support sounds nice. Will test more :)

app103:
I tested this one out a few months ago and it was MAJORLY buggy.

I don't know if it has improved much since September. Just be warned.

I was planning on doing a review on this one at some point and this is from my notes I made for the review. All of these issues could be fixed in the current version, I don't know.

At that time, this was my observations:


* There was no help file. Nothing to explain what any feature or setting was and how to use it. You were on your own and were meant to guess. Since this is a beta, that can be subject to change, and a help file may be included in a future release, or this one. At least I hope so.

* It needed more work on the GUI. There was still some bugs in it. Text would sometimes not show unless you resized the window slightly.

* Transparency was weird...not really transparent at all. It used the desktop as the background which can be kind of weird if there is another window under it. That will not show at all.

* Renaming tabs wasn't quite ready...it reverted back to original name.


To be fair, I'll post the good stuff too:


* Having tabs is a great idea...less clutter on your desktop, more organization.

* The idea that you can set it to 'pinned to desktop' is nice, too. That allows you to let the console window have focus while another window is on top of it. Handy for referring to data while you type into the console window.

* You can also highlight text like you would in any normal sort of Windows program by just dragging your mouse over it...no need to right click and select 'mark' first. Also if you set the hotkeys, Ctrl+C can be used to copy, just like in Windows. (anybody that has tried that hotkey combo in a normal console window knows it won't copy text there  :P)

* Hotkeys - You can assign hotkey combinations to various tasks such as copy, paste, new tab, rename tab, next & previous tab, switching to specific tabs, and close tab.

* Colors - You can decide what colors you feel like looking at. Not limited to the standard white text on a black background.

* Font options - You can select the font, size, and style most comfortable for you.

* Docking - pick any one of the 4 corners, or none at all.

* Z-order - You can choose from always on top, always on bottom, pinned to desktop, or regular.

* Transparency -  You don't have to have it solid, like in a traditional console window.

* Tray Icon - the full menu is available from an optional tray icon.

Combining settings, it is possible to get the illusion of typing directly onto your desktop, or the output of a console application right on your desktop.

This is a screenshot I did to demonstrate what I mean by that:
console: a great CMD.exe replacement application
(the output you are looking at is from my silly madlibs game)

TucknDar:
seems fine to me. Especially with the aid of lsh shell utility.

can't find lsh (for windows, that is) online, though unfortunately....

mwb1100:
I have also found Console2 to be very interesting but a bit too unstable for everyday use.

A couple of similar (non-free - each is $30) offerings that I have been meaning to look into, but haven't yet:

TCI (Tabbed Console Interface):  http://www.jpsoft.com/tcides.htm

TCI is from JPSoft, the people who produce the 4NT command processor/shell.  I used 4DOS/4NT a long while ago, but have drifted away, mostly because I have found that I can get by well enough with cmd.exe.

PromptPal: http://www.promptpal.com/

All I know about PromptPal is that it was on sale a couple weeks ago on BitsDuJour.

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