Schirm

A Linux compatible terminal emulator which exposes additional HTML rendering modes to client programs.

Installing

Requires Python 2.7 and PyQT4 (and ClojureScript for development).

Get the source:

$ git clone https://github.com/hoeck/schirm.git

Optionally install xsel (https://github.com/kfish/xsel or apt-get install xsel) to be able to paste the current X selection using Shift-Insert. Middle-click selection works without additional programs.

Run:

$ cd schirm
$ python -m schirm

or install and then run it:

$ python setup.py install
$ schirm

Runs all your favorite commandline applications, including:

mc, htop, vim, grep --color ...

Example Programs

See the demos in support/

• they use the schirmclient.py lib to show HTML documents in the terminal

• add them to your PATH:

  $ PATH="$PATH:<path-to-schirm>/support"
  

  or invoke them with <path-to-schirm>/support/<sXXX>

• get and view some html:

  $ curl news.ycombinator.com | sview
  

• preview a Markdown document:

  $ markdown README.md | sview
  

• show a tree of a directory (uses d3.js, slow/crashing for large directories):

  $ stree .
  

  or

  $ stree --circle
  

• view an image:

  $ sview schirm-logo.png
  

  with interactive rescaling buttons:

  $ sview -i schirm-logo.png
  

• edit text using codemirror:

  $ sedit README.md
  

Styling

Place your own styles into ~/.schirm/user.css and restart the terminal. See schirm/resources/user.css for the default stylesheet.

In the terminal window, right click for the context menu and select inspect to open the webkit devtools. Right-click on the very left of the terminal window to open a context menu containing the reload item to restart the terminal

Client API

Escape-sequence based, works with every programming language which can write bytes to stdout. See support/schirmclient.py.

Missing Features/Defects

• no terminal mouse click support
• only 16 colors
• only UTF-8
• slow Application mode (e.g. fullscreen ncurses apps)
• cat <1G file> will bring everything to a halt
• emulation glitches (e.g. when resizing htop)

Similar Programs

• https://github.com/mitotic/graphterm: terminal emulator supporting HTML iframes and serving files, server written in Python
• https://github.com/breuleux/terminus: terminal emulator allowing inline HTML and javascript
• https://github.com/unconed/TermKit: not an emulator but a completely new terminal, built on WebKit and Node.js
• https://github.com/liftoff/GateOne: HTML5 Terminal emulator
• http://code.google.com/p/shellinabox/: a complete browser terminal emulator with server
• http://www.enlightenment.org/p.php?p=about/terminology: nextgen Terminal Emulator of the Enlightment Project
• http://www.logilab.org/project/pyqonsole: QT python terminal emulator
• https://github.com/selectel/pyte: beautiful VTXXX compatible terminal emulator library
• http://www.masswerk.at/termlib/ (referenced by Fabrice Bellard on his tech details page. Bellard uses his own proprietary terminal emulator though)
• https://github.com/chjj/tty.js (actual terminal emulator here)
• http://mister-muffin.de/scriptreplay/VT100.js (Frank Bi's unmaintained terminal emulator, outdated by now)
• https://github.com/s-macke/jor1k/blob/master/js/terminal.js (from jor1k, the JavaScript OpenRISC emulator)
• https://github.com/shockone/black-screen: built on electron, blends shell features (e.g. autocompletion) into the terminal, aims to be VT100 compatible
• https://github.com/substack/exterminate: nodejs, runs in chrome, VT100, web features such as image and html display
• https://github.com/CGamesPlay/hterminal: electron, alpha, augments commands such as ls and git status, uses fish shell, special HTerminal protocol for extensions
• https://github.com/sedwards2009/extraterm: electron, typescriptm codemirror for displaying, solid emulation based on term.js
• https://github.com/PerBothner/DomTerm: terminal emulation in JS, Server or GUI in Java, extension via escape sequences
• https://github.com/zeit/hyperterm: electron, focus on emulation and plugin-like extensions
• https://github.com/vshatskyi/black-screen: electron, integrates with the actual shell to e.g. provide an autocompletion popup

Licence

Copyright (C) 2012 Erik Soehnel

Licenced under the GPLv3.

Client library is BSD licenced.