There are plenty of different terminal programs out there for all different desktops. Yakuake is one such KDE-based terminal emulator with a difference.
It basically gives you a Quake-style drop-down terminal at the top of the screen, which you can access with a single keystroke. Installing Yakuake is extremely simple, especially if the application is your repositories. In the case of my Kubuntu system, a simple:
$ sudo apt-get install yakuake
was sufficient to get up and running. If not, you can download the sources or a static .deb from the Downloads page.
Once you’re installed, start the application by pressing Alt-F2 and entering yakuake. You’ll get a quick notification that it’s up and running.
By default, the key you need to press is F12. The terminal area slides down from the top of the screen and then you can use it like any other terminal. Pressing F12 again will hide it - it’s a toggle key.
The benefit of this system is you can start off a task in your Yakuake terminal and hide it. The task will stay running and you can check its status again with another keypress.
Yakuake also features multiple tab support; clicking the small plus button at the bottom and on the left allows you to open multiple tabs and therefore run multiple terminal sessions.
A drop-down terminal can prove useful for anyone (like me) who always wants a command line interface at their fingertips and really can’t be beaten for speedy access. Yakuake is of course, designed for KDE and you can find out more on the official website.
Screenshot taken from the Yakuake screenshots page.
UPDATE: links updated to new website and capitalisation of Yakuake corrected.
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TBerben wrote:
Yakuake is one of my favorite KDE Apps… I’ve been using it since the first time I tried Linux (PCLinuxOS 0.9x)… On any distro it is the first additional package that I install, can’t live without it anymore. I still use Konsole/vt though, I just prefer to use the entire screen when editing large scripts with vim…
# Posted on 02-Oct-07 at 2:27 pm
Jabapyth wrote:
Wow! Ive been looking for something like this for a long time!
# Posted on 02-Oct-07 at 3:58 pm
George wrote:
How is this different than shading the terminate window?
# Posted on 03-Oct-07 at 2:21 am
kris wrote:
silly george, this is hotkeyed!
anyway, things link this have been around for a while, kuake for instance.
# Posted on 03-Oct-07 at 11:13 am
Joel wrote:
Just installed. I knew such things were available, but I didn’t see the benefit of this over just a shortcut to bring up Konsole — I didn’t know that it was loaded into memory. So far I’m loving it. Thanks for the heads up.
# Posted on 03-Oct-07 at 11:25 am
Nat Budin wrote:
“tilda” does a similar thing for GNOME.
# Posted on 03-Oct-07 at 11:27 am
Andrew Min wrote:
There are tons more of them. I wrote an article a while back detailing a few:
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/blogs/how_to_use_quake-style_terminals_on_GNU_Linux
# Posted on 03-Oct-07 at 11:40 am
Computer Roadmap wrote:
Okay, am going to have to test out this KDE now.
# Posted on 03-Oct-07 at 12:37 pm
Brian Smith wrote:
Yeah this was way cool, but I liked it better back when it was just Kuake
http://freshmeat.net/projects/kuake/
# Posted on 03-Oct-07 at 12:43 pm
Sean wrote:
I feel ripped off.
http://www.obsidianprofile.com/index.php/blog/entry/1187930894
# Posted on 03-Oct-07 at 2:51 pm
Sean wrote:
BTW, the new URL is http://yakuake.kde.org and the correct capitalization is Yakuake.
The owner contacted me shortly after my article was published about the errors. Makes me think this article was copied from my own.
# Posted on 03-Oct-07 at 2:54 pm
Jonathon Zone » Blog Archive » YaKuake - a drop-down terminal for KDE wrote:
[...] drop-down terminal at the top of the screen, which you can access with a single keystroke.read more | digg [...]
# Posted on 03-Oct-07 at 6:07 pm
droid wrote:
You know that RISC OS for acorn computers had this way before quake was released F12 brought up the command line from the bottom and scrolled the whole screen up as you used it.
# Posted on 03-Oct-07 at 8:01 pm
Eike Hein wrote:
As the current maintainer and developer of Yakuake within the KDE project, I’d like to confirm Sean’s statements that the current web address for the project is indeed http://yakuake.kde.org/ and that the correct capitalization of the application name is indeed “Yakuake”. The old website has been obsolete for quite some time (and yes, that it’s still being served is an unfortunate problem).
# Posted on 04-Oct-07 at 9:35 am
Quick Drop-Down Terminal With Yakuake at SoftSaurus wrote:
[...] From there, Ubuntu users can add Yakuake to their auto-start applications by hitting the System menu, choosing Preferences, Sessions and then selecting “New” in the Startup Programs tab. KDE users use System Settings from the K menu, choose KDE Components and then click “Add” in Autostart Applications. Yakuake [via FOSSwire] [...]
# Posted on 12-Oct-07 at 5:19 am
Usersky Daily News Network » Linux Tip: Quick Drop-Down Terminal With Yakuake wrote:
[...] Linux only: Loading a terminal session doesn’t seem to take all that long—until you have to do it many, many times each day. Luckily, the program Yakuake offers up a lightning-quick terminal that rolls down, gets the job done and packs away, all with a tap of F12 (or any other hot key). Yakuake is KDE-based and a snap to install for Kubuntu users, but GNOME-based systems such as Ubuntu can add it with very little fuss (transparencies might require more work, however). Install Yakuake through the Ubuntu repositories with the terminal command: sudo apt-get install yakuakeFrom there, Ubuntu users can add Yakuake to their auto-start applications by hitting the System menu, choosing Preferences, Sessions and then selecting “New” in the Startup Programs tab. KDE users use System Settings from the K menu, choose KDE Components and then click “Add” in Autostart Applications. Yakuake [via FOSSwire] [...]
# Posted on 12-Oct-07 at 9:09 am