How to Install Guake Drop Down Terminal Emulator in Ubuntu 11.04, 10.10 and 10.4?

Although GNU/Linux has come a long way since the users had to rely on the command-line interface to interact with their PC... but still with distributions like Ubuntu for instance, we can still get a lot of things done with ease and fast by using the awesome (not always though :D) Command-line interface.

So if you deal with GNU/Linux commands, say for installing and removing applications, reseting settings to default values, to launch applications with administrative privileges, etc in daily basis, then wouldn't it be nice if we could have a bit "unconventional Terminal emulator"?

What I meant by saying "unconventional" was that, what if we had a Terminal emulator that always runs in the background and launches using a drop-down (also called top-down) window that creates less "distractions"?.

What are the benefits?

Well, personally I find it extremely easy to launch (usually using a short-cut key, which can also be set for the usual Terminal emulator that comes with your desktop too but...) but most importantly, unlike with the standard terminal emulator windows, you don't have to deal with a separate window thus you can access the GNU/Linux command-line like lightning fast and it's certainly less distracting if you usually have filled your screen with running programs or windows.

In that sense, Guake is an excellent little tool that serves the exact purpose I've mentioned in the above paragraph!.

Main Features...

*. The GUI is written in GTK+ toolkit and comes especially designed for the classic Gnom desktop but since it runs in the notification area rather than as an applet on the panels, although I haven't tested, but it should also work under the Unity desktop interface too.

See that Green icon thing with the arrow, yup that's Guake :). And you can access its "preference" window by right clicking on that ...

*. You can launch it using the "F12" keyboard short key and then Guake will open a terminal emulator (somewhat cool slider animated way) that takes about half of your screen and and displays on top of other windows.

Once you're done playing with it :), simply push the "F12" key again and it'll be "hidden" into the notification area immediately.

*. Although I said it takes half of your window, but yes you can change the window size with ease (it has a separate "preference" section for that).

*. Chane themes/colors according to your needs.

*. Open more than one Terminal windows as tabs.

The "Preferences" window...

*. Show/Hide tray icon.

*. Change transparency. 

*. Once run, it'll automatically run on each desktop start-up.

*. Notifications (notifies you about what it's up to, etc :) ).

*. Run in full-screen by using the "F11" key.

You can install Guake in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal, 10.10 and 10.04 by using the below command in your current Terminal window :D.

sudo apt-get install guake

That's about it geeks :). Enjoy!.