Transparent Terminal Windows

While most tasks can be conveniently accomplished using the graphical user interfaces of the Linux desktop, experienced users often find it more efficient to go back to the "command line". That is, they use a "terminal window", or "console" to type in commands and start up programs. Unfortunately, the default terminal windows are usually set to a boring black on white or white on black. But this can be easily changed to look much cooler.

For example, if you don't want to cover up your nice background image you may want to switch the display setting of the terminal window to transparent, so that the desktop background image is also the background of the terminal window. The degree of transparency can be adjusted.

Depending on the version of the terminal window you are using you can find these display options in one of the pull down menus of the terminal window tool bar. In KDE's Konsole, for example, you can find it under Schema in the Settings menu, whereas in Gnome and Ubuntu you look for the Effects tab under Edit -> Profiles. In KDE you can select Save as Default for the changes to apply very time you launch a terminal. In Gnome or Ubuntu you can create a new profile to make the changes permanent.