Multi-windows Linux-like terminal on Windows

The frustration of having a Linux-like terminal with bash environment for development purpose has been lingering for a while. There are currently many terminal softwares such as HyperTerminal, ConEmu, Cmder, Cygwin and console application such as git bash, WSL, msys, powershell.

As a fan of terminator, bash, and oh-my-zsh stack in Linux, I had problems switching to Windows. For Windows, WSL provide a real Linux bash environment, however, its integration with oh-my-zsh library has some font and background problems.

For the moment, I prefer using git bash as my favorite console, which satisfies my need for git commands and some vim editing. I particularly like the Ctrl+Insert keyboard shortcut for pasting texts. However, it lacks multi-windows functionality and multi-tabs. This moment, ConEmu comes into play.

This guides provide an instruction on how to integrate git bash with ConEmu to have a multi-view window and a multi-tab environment.

Procedure

Install git bash

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choco install git

Add configuration to .bashrc: TBD

Add z for fast navigation

There are many directory navigation tools around, fasd, z, autojump, wd (oh-my-zsh plugin), posz. Many of them are optimized for Linux environment. In git bash, the appropriate tool for an easy integration is z.

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cd ~
git clone https://github.com/rupa/z
echo '# jump around directories' > ~/.bashrc
echo '. /c/Users/$(whoami)/z.sh' > ~/.bashrc
echo 'set $_Z_MAX_SCORE 100 # default 9000' > ~/.bashrc

Install ConEmu using chocolatey

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# Run the command in Windows command prompt
choco install conemu

ConEmu settings:

• TL-DR: import the XML setting file
• General -> Font: choose Consolas size 12 if integrating git bash
  • If WSL bash environment is also integrated, install powerline font and choose Droid Sans Mono Slashed for Pow

• General -> Confirm: uncheck all checkboxes in Close confirmations section

• Startup -> Tasks:
  • Add a new task Git Bash
  • Assign a hotkey Ctrl+Shift+T
  • Check Default task for new console, check Default shell
  • Add launch command: "C:\Program Files\Git\bin\sh.exe" --login -i

• Startup: ensure Specified named task to be {Git Bash}

• Keys & Macro: keys are expected to comply with Linux’s terminator
  • Ctrl+Shift+W: Close active console
  • Ctrl+Shift+E: split the view vertically (already default)
  • Ctrl+Shift+O: split the view horizontally (already default)

• General:
  • Choose {Git Bash} in Choose the startup task or even a shell with arguments
  • Choose <Babun> color scheme