TERM39

A modern terminal multiplexer with classic MS-DOS aesthetic, built with Rust. Full-screen interface with window management and complete terminal emulation. ( Linux / Windows / MacOS / Android-Termux )

Screenshots

Click on any image to view full size

Features

General

• Retro DOS Aesthetic: Classic blue-and-white color scheme with box-drawing characters, ~60fps rendering
• Multiple Terminal Windows: Create, drag, resize, minimize, and maximize windows with mouse or keyboard
• Window Management: Automatic tiling, snap to corners, focus management with ALT+TAB
• Session Persistence: Auto-save/restore of window layouts and terminal content between sessions
• Command Launcher: Quick command palette with Ctrl+Space
• Clipboard Support: System clipboard integration with drag-to-select, Ctrl+Shift+C/V, right-click menu
• Lockscreen: System-authenticated lockscreen with Shift+Q, supports PAM (Linux), Directory Services (macOS), and Windows Security
• Customizable Themes: Classic (default), Dark, Monochrome, Green Phosphor, Amber, Dracu, NDD, QBasic, TurboP, NCC, XT, WP, dB, System (via --theme flag)
• Battery Indicator: Real-time battery status display in the top bar
• Cross-Platform: Linux, macOS, Windows with full VT100/ANSI support and true color
• ASCII Compatibility: --ascii flag for maximum terminal compatibility

Linux Only

• Framebuffer Mode: Direct /dev/fb0 rendering with DOS text modes (40x25, 80x25, ... , 320x200)
• Console Mouse: Native mouse support on Linux TTY via raw /dev/input devices

Installation

From crates.io (Recommended)

# Standard installation
cargo install term39

# Linux with framebuffer support
cargo install term39 --features framebuffer-backend

Requires Rust (Install)

Linux Packages

Homebrew:

brew tap alejandroqh/term39
brew install term39

Or download from Releases:

• Fedora/RHEL:

  sudo rpm -i term39-*-1.x86_64.rpm
  # or: sudo dnf install term39-*-1.x86_64.rpm
  

• Arch (AUR): yay -S term39-bin or yay -S term39
• Tarball:

  tar xzf term39-v*-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
  sudo mv term39 /usr/local/bin/
  

macOS

Homebrew (Recommended):

brew tap alejandroqh/term39
brew install term39

Or download from Releases:

Option 1: PKG Installer

• Intel: term39-v*-macos-intel.pkg
• Apple Silicon: term39-v*-macos-apple-silicon.pkg

Right-click the PKG file and select "Open" to install (macOS will show a security warning for unsigned apps). The binary will be automatically placed in /usr/local/bin/.

Option 2: DMG Installer

• Intel: term39-v*-macos-intel.dmg
• Apple Silicon: term39-v*-macos-apple-silicon.dmg

Right-click the DMG file and select "Open", then drag the app into the Applications folder.

Option 3: Manual Installation

# Intel (x86_64)
tar xzf term39-v*-macos-64bit-x86-binary.tar.gz
sudo mv term39 /usr/local/bin/

# Apple Silicon (ARM64)
tar xzf term39-v*-macos-64bit-arm-binary.tar.gz
sudo mv term39 /usr/local/bin/

Windows

Download from Releases:

# Option 1: Run the installer (x86_64)
.\term39-v*-windows-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc-installer.exe

# Option 2: Portable - Extract ZIP
Expand-Archive term39-v*-windows-x86_64.zip
# Add to PATH (optional)
$env:Path += ";$PWD\term39-v*-windows-x86_64"

Runtime Requirement: If you see errors about MSVCP140.dll or VCRUNTIME140.dll, install the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable (x86 version for 32-bit systems).

From Source

git clone https://github.com/alejandroqh/term39.git
cd term39
# Add --features framebuffer-backend for Linux framebuffer
cargo build --release
./target/release/term39

Android/Termux

For Android/Termux, install or build without the clipboard feature:

# Install Rust in Termux
pkg install rust

# Option 1: Install from crates.io (disable clipboard for Android compatibility)
cargo install term39 --no-default-features

# Option 2: Build from source
git clone https://github.com/alejandroqh/term39.git
cd term39
cargo build --release --no-default-features
./target/release/term39

Note: The --no-default-features flag disables system clipboard integration (which is not supported on Android). Copy/paste will still work within the app using an internal buffer.

Usage

./term39                 # Run with Unicode (recommended)
./term39 --ascii         # ASCII mode for compatibility
./term39 --theme dark    # Themes: classic, dark, monochrome,
                         #         green_phosphor, amber, dracu,
                         #         ndd, qbasic, turbo, nc, xt,
                         #         wp, db, system

Keyboard Shortcuts

General

Window & Session

Copy & Paste

Dialog Controls

Mouse Controls

• Title bar: Drag to move | Ctrl+Drag: Move without snap | ╬ handle: Resize
• [X]/[+]/[_]: Close/Maximize/Minimize | Click window: Focus
• Bottom bar: Switch windows | Drag text: Select | Right-click: Context menu

Keyboard-Only Mode (Window Mode)

Press ` (backtick) or F8 to enter Window Mode for full keyboard control of windows. Press again to exit.

Navigation

Snap to Half Screen

Numpad-Style Snap Positions (1-9)

7 Top-Left     8 Top-Center     9 Top-Right
4 Middle-Left  5 Center         6 Middle-Right
1 Bottom-Left  2 Bottom-Center  3 Bottom-Right

Window Actions

Move Mode (press m to enter)

Resize Mode (press r to enter)

Tip: Double-press ` quickly to send a literal backtick to the terminal.

Command-Line Options

General Options

Linux Console Options

Note: Linux console options require --features framebuffer-backend at compile time and running on a physical console (TTY1-6), not in terminal emulators or SSH.

Themes

NDD	Qbasic	TurboP
NCC	Dracu	Dark
XT	WP	dB

Lockscreen

System-authenticated lockscreen using PAM (Linux), Directory Services (macOS), or Windows Security.

Features: Opaque background, progressive lockout (5s→120s after 3+ failures), auto-fill username.

Note: Disabled with warning if authentication system unavailable.

Architecture

Core: Double-buffered video system, window manager (Z-order/focus), VT100/ANSI parser (VTE), PTY integration (portable-pty) Rendering: Front/back buffers with dirty tracking, save/restore regions, shadow system for depth

Development

Prerequisites: Rust 1.70+ (Install)

cargo build --release                     # Build optimized binary
cargo run -- --ascii                      # Run in ASCII mode
cargo test && cargo clippy && cargo fmt   # Test, lint, format

Configuration

Configuration files are stored in ~/.config/term39/:

Available themes: classic (default), dark, monochrome, green_phosphor, amber, dracu, ndd, qbasic, turbo, nc, xt, wp, db, system

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines on how to contribute to this project.

Dependencies

Core: crossterm (terminal I/O), chrono (clock), portable-pty (PTY), vte (ANSI parser), clap (CLI args), serde/toml (config)

Optional: arboard (clipboard, default), framebuffer (Linux FB mode)

Cargo Features

clipboard (Default: ON)

System clipboard integration with Ctrl+Shift+C/V.

• Enable: Desktop usage, copy/paste between apps
• Disable: Android/Termux, headless servers → --no-default-features

framebuffer-backend (Default: ON for Linux)

Direct Linux framebuffer rendering with DOS text modes (40x25, 80x25, ... , 320x200).

• Modes: 40x25, 80x25, 80x43, 80x50, 160x50, 160x100, 320x100, 320x200
• Platform: Linux only (automatically disabled on macOS/Windows)
• Disable: To opt-out on Linux → --no-default-features --features clipboard
• Requires: /dev/fb0 access (root or 'video' group), physical console only

# Build/Install
# Standard (includes framebuffer on Linux)
cargo build --release

# Without framebuffer
cargo build --release --no-default-features --features clipboard

## Minimal (no clipboard, no framebuffer)
cargo build --release --no-default-features

# Standard (includes framebuffer on Linux)
cargo install term39

# Without framebuffer
cargo install term39 --no-default-features --features clipboard

# Run framebuffer
sudo ./target/release/term39 -f --fb-mode=80x25

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file.

Support

Issues | Discussions | Wiki