What is Alacritty terminal emulator?

According to Github’s project profile, Alacritty is a multi-platform terminal emulator with a special focus on performance and simplicity. This makes it quite comfortable to work with, especially if you have modern computers.

How does Alacritty get so fast? Well, because it relies on the computer GPU to perform slightly more complex tasks. This makes performance soar by far.

This is why the project claims that it is the fastest terminal emulator available.

Also, Alacritty is cross-platform which makes it available to many Linux distributions quickly and easily. It is also available for MacOS, BSD and Windows.

Another important aspect of Alacritty is that it’s open source released under the terms of the Apache 2.0 license so we won’t have problems using it and seeing the source code.

Installing Alacritty on Linux

Fortunately, Alacritty is available for several Linux distributions in a simple way because they include it in their repositories or there are packages already built for them.

For Linux Arch and derivatives:

:~$ sudo pacman -S alacritty

If you use Alpine Linux:

:~$ apk add alacritty

For Fedora, on the other hand, it is sufficient to use these two commands:

:~$ sudo dnf copr enable pschyska/alacritty
:~$ sudo dnf install alacritty

If you are an OpenSUSE Tumbleweed user, just run it:

:~$ sudo zypper in alacritty

In the case of Ubuntu 18.04 and Linux Mint 19 you have to add an extra repository and then install it:

:~$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mmstick76/alacritty
:~$ sudo apt update
:~$ sudo apt install alacritty

Also, you can find the binaries on Github. In my case, I downloaded the DEB file and then I installed using gdebi.

:~$ sudo gdebi Downloads/Alacritty-v0.4.1-ubuntu_18_04_amd64.deb

Whatever distribution was used, we’ll use it now

Using Alacritty terminal emulator

After you install it, don’t run it, because we have to copy the default configuration of the application. It’s in YML format and you can download it from here.

Then, you have to copy the file to the following location:

$HOME/.config/alacritty/

And there copy the file alacritty.yml

The configuration file is quite simple and explicit and you can modify it to your liking. However, be careful with spaces and syntax.

Now we can run Alacritty from the main menu.

And that is it.

Conclusion

There are no secrets with Alacritty. It’s a normal emulator like what we’ve used before. However, it is quite fast and very comfortable to use because of its impressive performance.

So you’ve got to get the most out of this program.

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Take a note that terminal emulators make the interface easier with customizations and tweaks. You have to understand the basic commands and how they work. It’s the command that is crucial, not the interface. If you run wrong commands or make any unexpected changes to the system, you’ll face serious troubles with your system, no matter what terminal emulator you use.

Well, let’s take a look at the best terminal emulators for Linux users.

• Terminator

It’s an advanced and powerful terminal emulator that supports multiple terminal windows in a single instance. For making everything a bit interesting, this emulator will allow you customize size, color, shapes, fonts etc.

There’s a profile system that allows you to set custom style preferences for multiple users. A good collection of plugins is available for advanced functionalities. Key shortcuts, splitting terminal window etc. are a few other features.

Get Terminator.

• Tilda

This is quite a stylish drop-down terminal emulator based on GTK+. You can launch and hide Tilda windows using a single key press. This one comes up with a rich selection of themes. The interface is a lot simpler and flexible than any default terminal.

Get Tilda.

• Sakura

If you’re looking for a lightweight and powerful terminal emulator, Sakura is the right choice. Unlike GNOME Terminal & Konsole, Sakura has a very few dependencies whereas Konsole & GNOME Terminal would bring in a big chunk of GNOME and KDE.

Sakura allows custom configuration of almost all the settings by right-clicking on the option, for example, tab labels, size, the default number of tabs, fonts, bells etc. If you’re an adventurous user, try personalizing the configuration file “~/.config/sakura/sakura.conf”.

Get Sakura.

• Xiki

Xiki is a nice terminal emulator developed by Craig Muth. It’s not just a terminal emulator, it also focuses on increasing the reach and speed of your CLI.

If you’re not much experienced with command shells, Xiki will make your life a lot easier. There are plenty on-screen help texts available. Using keyboard or mouse, you can navigate through Xiki a lot faster than the traditional, built-in terminal.

Get Xiki.

• ROXTerm

It’s another nice lightweight emulator. Its interface design is similar to GNOME Terminal. The original development of this terminal was to have smaller footprints and faster startup time by not using the GNOME libraries & using an independent applet. However, over the time of its course, it’s designed to support a higher range of features for power users.

It’s a good choice for an intermediate user. With more customizability than GNOME Terminal, ROXTerm is a very decent choice.

Get ROXTerm.

• LXTerminal

It’s the default terminal emulator for LXDE (Lightweight X Desktop Environment). LXTerminal is VTE-based. It includes all the common features like multiple tabs, general commands, theming etc. It’s a nice terminal emulator for both noobs and pros.

Get LXTerminal.

• Xfce4 terminal

Xfce is my most favorite desktop environment of all. The simplicity, lightweight and customizability make it a very good choice. Xfce4 terminal is a pretty handsome console choice it that sense. It’s a modern and easy-to-use terminal emulator specifically designed for Xfce desktop, but also available for Ubuntu and Fedora. Check out this link for installing Xfce4 terminal on Ubuntu and Fedora.

Its feature includes search dialog, tab color changer, drop-down console etc. Get Xfce4 terminal.

Other terminal emulators

There are tons of other terminal emulators. Each of them is unique in their own characteristics. Here’s a short list of other good emulators.

• Terminology
• Konsole
• Guake
• xterm
• QTerminal

The bottom line

These terminal emulators work pretty nice on my Ubuntu. In the web, there are tons of other terminal emulators that provide the same functionalities. If your favorite one wasn’t included, feel free to share it with the world. Looking for the best Linux distros? Check out the top 10 Linux distros of 2018.

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