Install Terminator Terminal emulator in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

Tutorial to learn the steps involve in how to install the Terminator Terminal emulator app on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy Jellyfish Linux.

Terminator is an open-source terminal multiplexer written in Python that allows you to use multiple terminals within a single window and switch between them using keyboard shortcuts. This is similar to the tiling mode of window managers. So you can keep several shells open at the same time without tabs or other terminal windows.

Originally developed for GNOME, the program can now be used with any desktop environment. In contrast to programs such as Screen or tmux, however, an XServer (graphical desktop) is explicitly required.

If you are looking for a great Terminal emulator for the GNOME desktop environment, the Terminator Terminal emulator is the best one for you. Among other features of the Terminator emulator, Terminator solves the problem associated with opening multiple tabs in a single Terminal window. You can seamlessly arrange the Terminal tabs with Terminator.

Terminator basically comes with a lot of customization options, which can help you arrange the Terminals in a grid-shaped arrangement, besides support for multiple tabs. With the number of key bindings, you can carry out the most common activities, and you can easily drag and drop tabs for the purpose of ordering them and enjoy a streamlined workflow. Terminator has support typing the same text in multiple Terminal instances at the same time, which can also be useful in certain situations.

Steps to install Terminator Terminal on Ubuntu 22.04 Linux

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Commands given here are not just limited to Ubuntu 22.04, we can use them on Ubuntu 20.04 Focal, Linux Mint, Elementary OS, Debian, POP OS, and more…

1. Open Default Ubuntu 22.04 Terminal

First of all run the default Gnome terminal of your Ubuntu 22.04 or any other you are using. For the default system terminal, we can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+T.

2. Run System Update

Next, execute the general update command on your Ubuntu Linux that installs the latest security updates and versions of packages.

sudo apt update

3. Install Terminator Terminal on Ubuntu 22.04

Installation of the Terminator Terminal emulator on Ubuntu 22.04 is quite easy. Because we don’t need to add any third-party binary or repository. The packages to install this application are available through the default system repository. Hence, simply run the given command:

sudo apt install terminator

4. Running Terminator Terminal

After following the above-given steps your system will already have Terminator, an open-source terminal application. Now to run it, click on the Activities link given on the top-left side of your Ubuntu Taskbar and search for Terminator. Soon you will see its icon in the search result, click it to run.

5. Terminator Preferences or Settings

To change the Terminator look and feel, Windows state, Layouts, profiles, and more, we can use the Preferences option. To open it just on the Terminal screen right-click and select Preferences.

Now, as per your requirements tweak the Terminal using the available setting options.

6. To Split the screen horizontally or vertically

If you have enough large display to fit multiple small screens of Terminator terminal then it definitely boosts your productivity. To split your screen, just right-click on the Terminal display area and select between Split horizontally or Split Vertically.

7. Keyboard Shortcuts

The Terminator terminal can only be controlled via key combinations. The most important combinations are listed in the following table:

Keys Combination	Effect
Ctrl + Shift + O	Divide the terminal horizontally
Ctrl + Shift  + E	Divide the terminal vertically
Ctrl + Shift + S	Hide the scroll bar
Ctrl + Shift + W	Close the current terminal
Ctrl + Shift + Q	Quit program
Ctrl + Shift+ T	Open a new tab
Ctrl + Shift + N	Go to the next terminal
Ctrl + Shift + P	Switch to the previous terminal
Ctrl + Shift + X	Full-screen display of the active terminal
Q11	Full-screen mode
“Drag & Drop”
Ctrl +	Record terminal for positioning
Ctrl release	Display position
release	Position terminal in position

8. Configuration

Terminator optionally offers the possibility to make an individual configuration. To do this, open the file ~/.config/terminator/config with an editor. If the file does not yet exist, create a new document under this name.

Now you can enter the desired parameters in the form in the configuration file. A small selection of options can be found in the following table: option = value

Parameter
Option	Values	Standard	Effect
allow_bold	Boolean	true	Allows applications to output bold text.
enable_real_transparency	Boolean	false	Terminator tries to use true transparency.
silent_bell	Boolean	true	Lets the terminal flash in case escape sequences are sent to the terminal bell.
force_no_bell	Boolean	false	All escape sequences to the terminal bell are ignored.
use_theme_colors	Boolean	false	Instead of the preconfigured colors, the theme colors are used.
background_color	HTML color code	#000000	The default background color is set.
background_type	solid, image, transparent	solid	The type of terminal background is set.
font	Pango Font Name	Mono 8	Sets the font.
borderless	Boolean	false	Terminator starts without window decoration.
extreme_tabs	Boolean	false	Additional tabs can be opened within one tab.

A complete list of possible options can be found on the Man page of this Terminal.

9. How to update

We have used the default system repository and APT package manager to install the Terminator Terminal on Ubuntu 22.04. Hence, if in the future there are some updates for it, then to install the same, just run the system update and upgrade command.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

10. Change the Default Terminal

Do you want to change the default Ubuntu Terminal to Terminator or some other than run the given command:

sudo update-alternatives --config x-terminal-emulator

Enter the Selection number of the Terminal that you want to set default and then hit the Enter key.

11. Uninstall Terminator Terminal from Ubuntu 22.04

Even though, this open-source Terminal offers better features than the system’s default one, if you want to remove Terminator completely from your Ubuntu 22.04 system then anytime just run the given command:

sudo apt autoremove --purge terminator

FAQ

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