The majority of Linux administrators and some of the regular Linux users prefer to use the command line to perform daily operations. However, you may find it tedious to open the terminal over and over again. In this case, we recommend a tool called Tilda. Tilda is an open-source and highly customizable GTK-based drop-down console for Linux. Tilda runs in the background while you can show and hide it with a single keystroke. It has no border window, no title bar, no menu bar, and no maximize/minimize buttons. The classic terminals used in shooter games like Quake and Doom originally inspired the design. The best thing about Tilda is its flexibility; you can customize its behavior and appearance with simple shortcuts.
In this article, we will explain how to install and use a drop-down Tilda console.
We will explain two ways to install Tilda on Debian:
- Through the command line terminal
- About the UI-Debian Software Manager
We have run the commands and procedures mentioned in this article on a Debian 10 system.
Tilda Installation Through the Command Line
If you prefer to install Tilda via command line, here is the procedure. Note that only an authorized user can install or remove any application from the Linux system.
To launch the command-line Terminal application in your OS, go to the Activities tab in the top left corner of your desktop. Then in the search bar, type terminal. From the result that appears, click on the Terminal icon to open.
Tilda is available in the official repositories of Debian OS, so you can easily install it via apt command. In the Terminal, execute the following command as sudo in order to install Tilda:
$ sudo apt-get install tilda
When prompted for the password, enter the sudo password.
The system might prompt for confirmation with Y/n option, hit y and then Enter to confirm. After that, the Tilda will be installed on your system.
Now close the Terminal by typing the exit command:
$ exit
Remove Tilda
In case you want to remove Tilda from your system, execute the following command in Terminal:
$ sudo apt-get remove tilda
The system might prompt for confirmation with Y/n option, hit y and then Enter to confirm. After that, the Tilda will be removed from your system.
Tilda Installation Through the UI (Synaptic Package Manager)
If you are not comfortable using the command line for installation, you can use the following UI way through the Synaptic Package Manager.
Execute the following command in Terminal in order to install the Synaptic package manager in your system.
$ sudo apt install synaptic
Once installed, launch the Synaptic Package Manager. To do so, hit the super key and in the search bar that appears, type Synaptic. Then click on the Synaptic Package Manager to open it.
When the Synaptic Package Manager window opens, search for the Tilda application. To do so, click the Search icon as follows:
The following Find dialog box will appear, type tilda and click the Search button.
When the search result appears, right-click the Tilda application and select Mark for Installation.
Now click the Apply button.
A confirmation dialog box will appear, click on the Apply button to confirm.
Now the package will be installed and you will see the following message:
Remove Tilda
In case you want to remove Tilda application from your system, follow the below procedure:
From the left menu in Synaptic Manager, go to Status > Installed. It will list all the installed applications on your system. Scroll down to find the Tilda application.
Then right-click the Tilda application and select Mark for Complete Removal.
The confirmation dialog box will appear. Click on the Apply button to confirm. After that, the package will be completely removed from your system.
Launch Tilda
To launch Tilda, you can either use the command line Terminal or the GUI.
In order to launch the Tilda via command-line Terminal, use the following command:
$ tilda
To launch Tilda via GUI, hit the super key on your keyboard and type tilda in the search bar. When the search result appears, click on the Tilda icon to open it.
The following view appears when you open the Tilda application for the first time. This is Tilda configuration window, where you can do a lot of configurations related to color, appearance, font size, keybinding, scrolling and much more.
To open the configuration window later at any time, right-click anywhere in the Tilda window and select Preferences.
By default, the Tilda will appear at the top left corner. However, you can customize it as per your preferences.
Here is a list of shortcuts that you will be mostly using while operating Tilda:
| Shortcut | Purpose |
| F1 | Use this shortcut to hide/show Tilda |
| Shift+Ctrl+T | Use this shortcut to open a new tab |
| Shift+Ctrl+W | Use this shortcut to close an active tab |
| Ctrl+pageup | Use this shortcut to navigate to the previous tab |
| Ctrl+pagedown | Use this shortcut to navigate to the next tab |
| Shift+Ctrl+pageup | Use this shortcut to move the tab left |
| Shift+Ctrl+pagedown | Use this shortcut to move the tab right |
| Shift+Ctrl+C | Use this shortcut to copy text from the Tilda window |
| Shift+Ctrl+V | Use this shortcut to paste text to the Tilda window |
| <ALT>1 to <ALT>0 | Use these shortcut to go to tab 1, tab 2 and so on till tab 10 |
| Shift+Ctrl+F | Use this shortcut to search for text |
| Shift+Ctrl+Q | Use this shortcut to quit Tilda |
| F11 | Use this shortcut to toggle to full screen |
| F12 | Use this shortcut to toggle transparency |
That is all there is to it! In this article, you have learned how to install and use a drop-down console Tilda on your Debian system. Hope you found this article useful!
