Glass CMD Enables Aero Transparency For The Command Prompt

@sir_pantsalot: 3 things...

1) Powershell is far from worthless
2) Most Windows functions and applications can be run from a command line with additional switches which aren't available by simply clicking an icon or adding a snap-in.
3) I guess you meant to say if Windows had something like Bash (or similar).

Back to Failsville Sir_trollsalot, this isn't 1994 anymore.

Doesn't work if the background color of CMD is white but works great after changing it back to black :-)

singularity0821

@JiltedCitizen: Excellent post, I was looking for something like this.

spcomputing

@YatimaMeiji: < ETERM

W@rondalescott: It comes with Windows 7 RC - the first one in "Characters"

singularity0821

Wow. There's a lot of hatin' going on in here today.

Must've been a lot of pissy cornflakes for breakfast.

Xander

What wallpaper is that?

rondalescott

Eye candy? Yeah, it's nice. For practicality's sake, though...personally I find it a little bit harder to read anyways.

Though, I've never been a huge fan of the glass design trend when it comes to desktop environments. Glass is flashy and reflection intensive. Reflections (read: glare) have long been the enemy of computer screens. It still seems somewhat off to me.

That and going into the terminal (command prompt) always carries with it a little bit of geek cred. I like it to stick with ugly characters on a solid color background. It helps say to people looking over your shoulder, "I know what I'm doing, and you should never try to do this." :-)

I think this would be a lot more nice if it would show the desktop and if it gave you an option of adding it to startup instead of having to put into your startup directory yourself or running it every time you boot your computer.

I love when something in Windows is made to look prettier but it is still just as worthless. Make command prompt more useful like Unix or Linux and then we have something useful.

sir_pantsalot

[sourceforge.net] wins over this. Since you can run other shells in it, like Powershell or cgywin or whatever.

Meh the windows command line isnt very fascinating nor do I use it much if at all. But for some really nice terminal flashy-ness, YaKuake(KDE) I think wins.

YatimaMeiji

This is really awesome, but im not in CMD enough to have it on all the time.

Dilpickle1

@OCEntertainment:
Just launching a command prompt makes the non-technically informed observer think I'm a hacker.

nitrous9200

@Thermopyle:
To be able modify it in a language you're more accustomed to would be my guess. Though I think the time it would be faster to just look up AHK's transparency function and do it from scratch. If I'm not mistaken, NirCMD can do transparent Windows also.

@YatimaMeiji: Yea it was a total pig, but was just so damn cool. ;)

@UnderLoK: this is very true. there are windows programs i use all the time that are ONLY available by using CMD.

sti25impreza

@JiltedCitizen: +1 Me loves console, though this kinda looks better.. oh well console2 still rocks

kingoftaintedhearts

The application is written in the AutoIT scripting language, but an enterprising reader could convert it to AutoHotkey or simply include the source in an existing script.

Why exactly would you want to convert it to AHK? It works as is...

Nearly Unrelated Nitpick: It has always annoyed me that transparent or translucent windows (and window frames) cast /shadows/.

@JiltedCitizen: Big ol' stinky heart; that's what you get for this post!

Thank you muchly sir!

Mykie Gunderson

Pretty... useless, but pretty.

wiedzmin

@sir_pantsalot: Not everyone using a computer is a techie. Doing work on a computer doesn't necessarily entail using the command line -- it may speed up the work with proper training, but that's not always feasible.

Leszek

@JiltedCitizen: Console at sourceforge is a fine program, but the transparency settings manipulate the entire window, including the frame. The entire windows can be set to invisible.

I'm all for seeing a glass enabled Powershell.

rpattis

@UnderLoK: I'm not talking about launching applications. I work with lots of data and files. Just being able to to use ls and grep to find all files on the system that contain a certain string is priceless. I have never used Powershell and my IT group would probably have a stroke if I asked to install it.

@IBoris: WOW! I feel bad for you. Hopefully someday you will move beyond just using a computer to surf and do some actual work. If this happens a good command line is incredible.

sir_pantsalot

@UnderLoK: I forgot about that one, yea I loved E

YatimaMeiji

@sir_pantsalot: Tried Cygwin? Regardless, window's command line is awesome. I prefer *nix over it, but cmd isn't dead yet.

Won't it be much harder to read information if it's in the Aero effect?

pvtryan3

I wonder how exactly this works. It would be neat to patch it into cmd.exe directly, if that's possible.

WB3000

Some programmers just have WAY too much time on their hands...

pale_blue_eyes

@sir_pantsalot: I disagree, remove the command prompt from Unix or Linux and then we will have something useful. Regardless, this software sucks.

@carlthorpe: Because "pretty" can impede usability. I'm more interested in being able to read/write my text then sit there and go "oooo shiny!"

As far as tech newbies being "afraid" of cmd. It's just because they're unfamiliar. But yeah, some things aren't pretty. If you teach a new driver to drive, do you shield them from the dirt under the hood when they check the oil? Or dirt on the wheels when they check tire pressure?

@OCEntertainment: I agree that it seems to somewhat take away from usability as there's lower contrast between text and background. Wouldn't be so bad if the backdrop of the terminal wasn't THAT transparent, but maybe ~5%?

Personally I'm a big one for usability, but people like shiny. Look at how popular Glossy laptop screens are. Screens that make it impossible to use with a window behind you. Why not add additional glare to the original image?

@sir_pantsalot: It's amazing what power is available in the built in CMD command prompt, and it can also be extended. First few thing I add to %path%:

Sysinternalsuite:
[technet.microsoft.com]

DiamondCS utilities:
[tds.diamondcs.com.au]

Nircmd:
[www.nirsoft.net]

And since you're so horny for grep:
[gnuwin32.sourceforge.net]

Here's how I found it:
[lmgtfy.com]

and we have this command, "dir" that will list files. "dir c:\*.* /s/b" will list all of them recursively in "bare" format. Myself I'm not so horny for Regex, and am happy with "find" CLI tool for text processing.

You can extend the command prompt functionality a lot. If you prefer you can use Cygwin *shudders* or Powershell.

Now if you're so excited to find files in your system, over here in the Windows world we use Everything search. By the time you composed your RegEx expression, I found the file already.
[www.voidtools.com]

@Posco Grubb: That happens in real life, though. Hold a piece of frosted glass above a table and notice the light underneath.

I do this in Ubuntu's terminal (It's an option in GNOME and I believe KDE). I'm in Terminal alot (mainly because I like to cut to the chase and dispense with graphical installers) and it makes me feel like a non-robot when I use a nice font and transparent background.

LegoAddict

@gronne: I guess. I think the reader would be better off learning AutoIT as it's easier to develop automation scripts in than AHK, yes it's similar enough that an AHK'er will be able to pick it up easily.

I'm thinking someone with some AutoIT or Autohotkey knowhow could put together a script that loads the transparency effect, then starts CMD, and then unloads the effect once you close CMD.

As for the usefulness of CMD, it could be better but that's what we are stuck with. Why not make it as pretty as we can? Although I do understand the "geek-cool" aspect of using the plain, cold, uninviting black and white console. It does prevent less tech savvy people from trying to emulate your actions and making a mess of things. I do it often when working with students and I want to ensure that they don't know the locations of server files and other bits of info.

carlthorpe

@sir_pantsalot They did - it's called powershell

FrasierIke

Agree 100% with sir_pantsalot

MiaGoddard

Oh I gotta say it. What the hell for? The command line was never meant to be bling. It's supposed to be stark (though functional).

paintbox

@smith134:
Depends on the wallpaper :-)
But I understand your concerns, so I am using the mentioned "Console": With that program I am using the transparency only if the shell (I am using Powershell) is inactive. When I am working with PS the transparency is set to ZERO, so I can work "concentrated".

chabis

@rpattis:
I am using Powershell "inside" Console with transparency! So where is the problem?

chabis

I love command prompt it's originally black window. When you use to command prompt you have to continuously concentrate on appear text into the window.
Images could be make you difficult to see text on command prompt window.

@sir_pantsalot: Cygwin! Cy.gwin.

*Nix command line emulator - pretend you're on *nix, but in a work environment :D

now we need to have it embedded to the desktop..

Handonam

@Phoshi: Cygwin lets you also enjoy all the separate packages that must be downloaded via a package manager (so you can't just get it in one lump sum) AND you can get dependency errors if you have two applications running at once that need different versions of Cygwin!

If they could degrade the performance of your drivers it'd be just like Linux!

@JiltedCitizen: I still haven't found a way to completely replace cmd with console.

I have my terminal window on my Linux box transparent/-lucent all the time; I really find it nice to be able to read stuff beneath it when I'm working in the terminal. I don't understand why people bash it so much, it's an *option*.

As an aside, I'd love it if gedit had the same transparency/-lucency option, but everyone gets on my ass whenever I suggest it...

Oh god I need this.

@paintbox: Oh I forgot. Damn I forgot. And I'm late. Here is why the prompt should not use any visual effects except the perceived one...... that of starkness, cruelty. It has to remain forbidding and unforgiving to noobs. Also, as others have pointed out, geek power is largely based on the techonophobe/luddite/computer illiterate's perception of you. They see you at a miserable gray or white-on-black prompt, they stand back and look in awe and fear. Just as good, they go away and leave you alone!! This is KEY. KEY!!!! If you put anything pretty into the command line, you loose the mystique, the power that urban myth bestows upon the geek. You are warned.

paintbox