cool-retro-term

If you like old computer stuff, you should definitely give cool-retro-term a try. I first was made aware of it thanks to Dave Plummer, a retired Microsoft software engineer whose YouTube channel I watch. It's probably the nerdiest thing I watch, and sometimes he gets over my head, but he's very affable and knowledgeable and he lives the sort of life I would like to lead had I applied myself and been successful at programming.

cool-retro-term simulates the look and feel of old monochrome displays, but not just with a color change and some scanline overlay turned to 20% opacity. Oh no. It's much more than that. The edge of the terminal warps in the same way a tube monitor does. There's a slow trailing burn of color when you type, and a faint but visible scanline travels down the screen with the refresh rate. The font itself is softened and blurred, depending on what theme you're using.

Yeah, it has themes. I prefer classic amber, but there is IBM DOS, Apple ][, and more. And they all look so good and perfect.

There are a ton of customization parameters, too. It's hard to really get a good understanding of how awesome and authentic it is without seeing it in action.

If you're running Linux, and chances are you're not, it's actually pretty easy to install. If you're on a Mac it's kind of a pain. But it's totally worth it if you use your terminal at all, because it just looks so damn cool and feels so authentic. The only thing missing is a dull 60hz hum and a mildly-concerning amount of heat.

Here are instructions to install cool-retro-term on Mac. You're gonna need to google a few things, the instructions there aren't great. Like it neglects to tell you how you need to install brew first. 

Anyway, I love it and I hope you do, too.