I've tried kitty, alacritty, ghostty, wezterm, and konsole (all on X11), but I keep coming back to xfce4-terminal because it opens near instantly and has the least input latency of any of the other terminal emulators I've tried. It also uses very little memory in comparison (with 6 windows open and a fair bit in each scrollback buffer):
Private + Shared = RAM used Program
31.2 MiB + 10.7 MiB = 42.0 MiB xfce4-terminal
I would bet it's from AI upscaling. The dark edges around high contrast borders, plus the pronounced and slightly off-colour antialised edges (especially visible on the right side of the J) remind me of upscaling models.
Qalculate <https://qalculate.github.io/> is my favourite REPL-like calculator, although it unfortunately lacks an iOS app. It feels similar to using an HP 48-series calculator.
Numbat <https://numbat.dev/> is similar, but more CLI/REPL-focused, and with more of an emphasis on being a programming language.
Notes: This system is running Arch, with kernel 7.0.3, scx_bpfland, and i3 on X11. Primary GPU is an integrated Intel GPU.
Using picom:
Using picom --realtime:
No picom:
Running on the NVIDIA GPU just for fun:
Slightly surprised that xterm doesn't top the chart on the picom category.