
Dangerous Prototypes
Whilst Dee and Jules play videogames downstairs, I sit in a beanbag in my makerspace and contemplate the various hardware projects that I would like to complete over the next couple of years.
This is fun: using Alfred to show or hide a Quake-like iTerm console, even if iTerm isn’t running.
iTerm
Ever since using Tilda on GNOME, I’ve loved having a terminal within easy reach, preferably a key-combo away ala the original Quake console. Once I started using a Mac, I missed it greatly — but after a little messing around it’s back!
First, you need iTerm, a full-featured (and free!) Terminal replacement. Set this up the way you like and save it as the default profile AND default window arrangement:
I prefer “Style: Top of Screen” and some transparency, and I also set iTerm to quit on close on the General tab, because I’m going to use Alfred to do both the initial launch and the show/hide toggle:
Once it looks the way you want, save the window arrangement and set it as default:
Cool, so now you should have everything setup so that, when launched, iTerm looks the way you want it to. Launch and quit a few times to make sure, then add a simple Alfred workflow:
If you’re not familiar with Alfred, you can use the little “plus” icon at the bottom left-hand pane on the Workflows tab to see examples and templates. I created the above with “Templates > Files and Apps > Launch file group from hotkey”.
⌘⌥` (cmd-alt-tilda, see?) seems a good one-hander, and close enough to force-quit (⌘⌥ESC) to seem native, but the real trick is in the iTerm action — “Toggle visibility for apps”:
At the end of all this, and with no Applescript in sight, it means a single key combination for bringing up a Quake-like iTerm_ **console **_that works no matter what_:_
Whilst Dee and Jules play videogames downstairs, I sit in a beanbag in my makerspace and contemplate the various hardware projects that I would like to complete over the next couple of years.
I guess I should update the ‘blog?1 Not an easy thing to do these days, since even finding the time to do something as self-indulgent as public journaling probably just means there’s something else I could be doing instead, but maybe it’s an experiment I would like to continue?
It’s 8am on the first day of the month, and despite the usual late night, I’ve been up for hours. Jules has been an early riser for years now, and it has had the effect of training me to wake up at 6am each morning — for no good reason, since he’s pretty independent in the morning these days — and so here I am.