E2term

E2term is a lightweight, open‑source terminal emulator designed primarily for Unix‑like operating systems, with particular emphasis on embedded Linux distributions. The project was initiated in 2013 as a fork of the older Eterm emulator, incorporating modern code practices and extended compatibility with contemporary terminal features. It remains actively maintained by a small core team and a community of volunteers, with releases distributed through popular package managers such as apt, yum, and pacman, as well as source tarballs on its GitHub repository.

Key features of E2term include native support for Xterm-compatible mouse behavior, UTF‑8 text rendering, and true color (24‑bit) displays. The emulator offers configurable keybindings and a simple configuration file in the user’s home directory, enabling quick personalization of colors, fonts, and shortcut keys. E2term also provides support for modern terminal protocols like Application Window Title (WM) and local echo control. Advanced users can tap into its scripting interface, allowing custom actions to be bound to specific key combinations or terminal events. Security is addressed with optional OpenSSH integration for secure shell (SSH) sessions directly from the emulator, as well as the ability to drop privileges after establishing a network connection.

Performance-wise, E2term consumes minimal system resources, making it suitable for low‑end hardware and headless environments. Its user interface is intentionally minimalist: a single window with a resizable text area, optional scrollbar, and no pre‑configured menus. Documentation is available on the project’s website and within the source tree, covering installation, configuration, and common troubleshooting steps. E2term’s design philosophy centers on simplicity, reliability, and compatibility, offering a viable alternative to more feature‑laden terminals such as xterm, urxvt, or Alacritty.