{"id":3830,"date":"2023-06-26T12:18:10","date_gmt":"2023-06-26T11:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pmortensen.eu\/world2\/?p=3830"},"modified":"2024-11-04T16:56:32","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T15:56:32","slug":"setting-up-alacritty-to-be-usable-e-g-on-arcolinux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pmortensen.eu\/world2\/2023\/06\/26\/setting-up-alacritty-to-be-usable-e-g-on-arcolinux\/","title":{"rendered":"Setting up the terminal\/console program Alacritty to be usable (e.g., on ArcoLinux)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The default setup of the terminal program in ArcoLinux<\/a> is not OK. In particular, the opacity<\/em><\/strong> makes it practically unusable. Here is a description of how to configure it to get it into a usable state.<\/p>\n

Introduction<\/h2>\n

Under the surface, the default terminal program chosen by ArcoLinux is Alacritty<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The most obvious problem: Transparency<\/h2>\n

By default, the window and\/or the desktop underneath bleeds through. This is useless, unnecessary, and makes it unusable! Like for blinking RGB lighting on a mechanical keyboards or the HTML blink<\/em> tag, it may work for demos, but not for any serious use.<\/p>\n

Change it to be opaque:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Edit file alacritty.yml<\/em>: <\/em>\n
    \r\n        vi ~\/.config\/alacritty\/alacritty.yml\r\n\t<\/pre>\n
            (It assumes proficiency with vi<\/a> or Vim<\/a>. If not, use some other editor, like Geany<\/a>).<\/li>\n
  2. Change the setting ‘opacity’ from 0.8 to 1.0. It is about line 70, near “Background opacity”<\/li>\n
  3. Save and quit:\n
    :wq<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    Note: It takes effect immediately. There isn’t any need to restart anything.<\/p>\n
    Zoom<\/h2>\n
    The initial font size\/zoom level may be too small to comfortable.<\/p>\n
    Temporary: Use keyboard shortcut Ctrl<\/em> + ‘+’<\/em> (and Ctrl<\/em> + ‘-‘<\/em> to zoom out). Note: This does not work for URxvt (see below)<\/p>\n
    <\/p>\n
    Default folder<\/h2>\n
    It starts in <\/home\/embo\/Desktop> (for a user named “embo” and in the ArcoLinux default configuration), a fairly useless place to start.<\/p>\n
    As for transparency, change setting working_directory<\/em> in file alacritty.yml<\/em> (for a user named “embo”):<\/p>\n
    \r\nworking_directory: \/home\/embo\r\n<\/pre>\n
    Note that “~” does not work. It must be an absolute path.<\/p>\n
    <\/p>\n
    Other notes<\/h2>\n
    There isn’t a global clipboard, so copied content must be pasted before the source application is closed, in this case Alacritty.<\/p>\n
    Confusion caused by two different terminal programs<\/h2>\n
    Alacritty is available directly from the Alt + Esc menu: “Open Terminal Here”<\/em><\/p>\n
    Whereas there is a similar one in the “Applications” sub menu:<\/p>\n
    Alt<\/em> + Esc<\/em> → “Applications” → “Terminal Emulator”<\/p>\n
    But it is crippled, e.g., zoom (using keyboard shortcuts Ctrl<\/em> + ‘+’<\/em> and Ctrl<\/em> + ‘-‘<\/em>) does not work. Under the surface it is the terminal program URxvt<\/a>.<\/p>\n
    <\/p>\n
    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
    The default setup of the terminal program in ArcoLinux is not OK. In particular, the opacity makes it practically unusable. Here is a description of how to configure it to get it into a usable state. Introduction Under the surface, …<\/p>\n
      Setting up the terminal\/console program Alacritty to be usable (e.g., on ArcoLinux)<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17,23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmortensen.eu\/world2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3830"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmortensen.eu\/world2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmortensen.eu\/world2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmortensen.eu\/world2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmortensen.eu\/world2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3830"}],"version-history":[{"count":50,"href":"https:\/\/pmortensen.eu\/world2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5474,"href":"https:\/\/pmortensen.eu\/world2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3830\/revisions\/5474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmortensen.eu\/world2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmortensen.eu\/world2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmortensen.eu\/world2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}