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Terminal emulators are used to access the command-line interface.
A good terminal emulator for Windows will be customizable both in its utility and aesthetics, offer lots of functionality and integrate well with Windows.
Some common things to expect from a modern Windows terminal emulator include tabs, split panes, theming, transparency, quake-style dropdown graphic mode, content re-flow when resizing the window, integration with jump lists and context menu and other applications.
Pro Extends the powerful ConEmu
Cmder builds on ConEmu console emulator, by adding enhancements from clink (such as bash-style completion in cmd.exe and PowerTab in powershell.exe) and optionally extending it with msysgit, that brings Unix tools to Windows.
Pro Minimal and portable version available
There is a portable version of cmder available which is just 10 MB in size. It can be put on an external device, like a USB stick, and run off it. There's no installation required.
Pro Works nicely with command line applications
Such applications include CMD, Powershell, and MinTTY.
Con Issues with non-unicode characters
'ls' command can have issues with non-unicode characters such as cyrillic. As of 1.1.2, 'dir' can be used as a substitute that will properly display non-unicode characters. Unfortunately, it's an issue with msysgit that isn't being officially addressed (a workaround is avai...
Con Not as portable as advertised
Even though cmder is advertised as a "portable terminal emulator for Windows", it's not adequately minimalistic to be considered truly portable. In fact, one of the dependencies required to use it is the Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015.
Pro Explorer integration
ConEmu integrates well with Explorer.
Pro Highly customizable
You can configure a plethora of settings, including shortcuts and aesthetics (background image, transparency, colors, and fonts) per software.
Con Bad scrolling support
The mouse wheel scroll doesn't transfer to terminal applications by default. It moves to the blank space instead of scrolling actual text content. This is especially true for ConEmu where there doesn't seem to be a way to make it work better.
Con Default look is somewhat unpleasant
In order to get a more pleasant look and feel, you may need to customize ConEmu yourself.
Pro Automatic SFTP
With MobaXterm, there's no fiddling with multiple apps: simply connect and everything is available.
Pro Flexible
MobaXterm can connect to practically anything.
Con Not completely freeware
If you use MobaXterm at work, they hope you will pay for it. This isn't horrifying, but it's not providing any new features in Linux to warrant the outlay. Its integration with Putty in Windows as an X client may make it worth the funds.
Con Can have some performance issues
MobaXterm can have some occasional performance issues. These happen rarely but it's worth mentioning that they exist, especially since this is a paid tool.
Pro Tabbed interface and shortcuts
Simple to setup and use on multiple remote or local sites with well designed shortcut/favourite/F key implementations.
Con There's no free version
Xshell only offers a trial version, no free version.
Pro Comes with bash and zsh out of the box
Babun comes with both bash and zsh out of the box. This gives both beginners and advanced users the choice of which shell to run.
Pro Extends Cygwin functionality
Babun is built on top of Cygwin, meaning that Unix or Linux applications can be compiled and run on a Windows operating system from within a Linux-like interface.
Con No tabs
Babun has no support for tabs.
Con Cannot exit node.js programs
When trying to exit a node program using Ctrl-C, the process doesn't actually exit.
Pro Supports splitting tabs into views
In ConsoleZ, the user can split a tab into different views either horizontally or vertically.
Pro Input sent to one view can be sent to all
ConsoleZ allows for grouping of open views (panes) so that if an input is sent to one of them, it can be sent to all views grouped with it automatically.
Con No way to open pre-created tabs on startup
If you want to setup a certain number of tabs to automatically run pre-defined scripts in ConsoleZ or Console 2, you can't. You have to open everything manually every time you start the application.
Pro Support for Cygwin and MSYS
Mintty is a native Windows wrapper around Cygwin but with added customization features like changing background color, font, transparency, etc.
Pro Xterm-compatible terminal emulation
Xterm is the standard terminal emulator for the X Window System.
Con Win32 console API performs poorly
Classic Windows console applications don't work well.
Pro Bare terminal frame
After connecting, Putty looks like a native command shell, with no buttons or menu bar. The corner icon menu accesses all of its features.
Pro Dependable and easy to use
Once set up, it just works. It provides quick and easy access to the remote OS.
Con Lacking terminal emulator features
It is used as a ssh client, but PuTTY doesn't emulate any Linux-specific feature on the Windows machine.
Pro Supports tabs, making for easier navigation
z/Scope supports tabs and tab-based navigation.
Con Not free
z/Scope is not free.
Pro Customizable aesthetics
Console2 comes with multiple window styles out of the box and allows the user to configure fonts, colors, and transparency to their liking.
Pro Can run any existing shell
Console2 facilitates the running of CMD, PowerShell, Cygwin, PuTTY, etc.
Con Not maintained
The development of Console2 has been abandoned. The latest change was made in 2013.
Con Stopping a script closes the tab
Usually when a script is running and you try to stop it with Ctrl-c, it stops and shows the empty command prompt waiting to get a new command. In Console2 this does not happen: instead the whole tab where the script is running is closed.
Pro Scriptable
Zoc provides complete automation of the client using its macro scripting.
Pro Hideable UI
Zoc allows for every UI component except the title bar to be hidden. All features are accessible through the context menu.
Con Not free
Zoc requires a commercial license in order to use it, implying that it's not free.
Pro Supports modern shells
Whether you prefer zsh, bash, or fish, Linux will support it.
Pro Runs Pre-configured virtual machines
Allows you to run your virtual machines pre-configured by you or others. Virtual Box versions for: -- Windows 7/8/10 -- All Linux installations -- MAC OS x -- Solaris 10/11 Virtual OSs include: -- Oracle Linux 5/6/7.x (RHEL clones) -- Solaris10/11 -- Occassionally a Windows Beta Oracle...
Con Install a whole operating system for one program
You would need to install the entire Linux distribution just for one single program.
Con Slightly slower than just running Linux
The Windows + VirtualBox layer introduces some overhead that wouldn't be present if Linux were installed directly on the machine.
Pro Freeware
WinSSHTerm is free for anyone to use.
Pro Supports X Server
There is easy, automatic integration with X Server and starts/stops can take place with the launch/exit of WinSSHTerm.
Con Not a true terminal emulator
It's a PuTTY interface and it's mostly used to access remote machines through ssh, so it may not be very suitable for working on a local machine.
Pro Sophisticated auto-completion
FireCMD supports command auto-completion. Once you start typing a command, you can press the tab key to auto-complete it.
Pro Recursive and persistent aliases
FireCMD allows users to create up to 500 aliases.
Con Not free
Although there's a free trial available, FireCDM is not free and costs $29.
Pro Auto-reconnect
If you restart a server you connected, it will automatically reconnect when the server comes up.
Pro Putty+
It has everything Kitty has, and much more.
Know any negative aspects of this option?
Pro Persistent, editable command history
You can mark most used commands in PromptPal as favourites.
Pro Multiple shells supported
PromptPal supports several shells (including Powershell) and it allows you to choose which shell to run through the preferences.
Con Not free
Although there's a free trial available, PromptPal is not free to use.
Con Not free software
Though there are discounts available when more than 5 are purchased.
Pro Transforms cmd.exe into something bearable
Cmd.exe is still irreplaceable for many tasks on Windows. This makes the experience less painful.
Pro Can easily search in history
The user can search in history by simply pressing Ctrl+R.
Con Supports cmd.exe not the successor platform
It's for cmd.exe which was abandoned by Microsoft in the favor of PowerShell. Using PowerShell is more effective than cmd.exe even with CLink, unfortunatelly.
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