My Zsh Setup¶
Quick notes on installing and customizing Zsh on Ubuntu 22.04 (or any Linux machine).
sudo apt install zsh
Oh My Zsh¶
Let’s improve its look and functionality via Oh My Zsh
Open BASH:
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"
Not
Please install git before the curl if it is not installed,
sudo apt install git
Keep default shell to BASH (my preference for other tools, just in case, like PetaLinux)
powerlevel10k¶
Do you want to change your default shell to zsh? [Y/n] n
Now let’s install powerlevel10k.
Not
If you, like me, are not planning to use Unicode in the subsequent steps of configuring powerlevel10k, you might not need this font. However, I’m not 100% sure as I haven’t conducted a well-controlled experiment.
First install the recommended font: Meslo Nerd Font patched for Powerlevel10k
Link
Download all 4 .ttf files.
Install fonts locally:
mkdir -p ~/.fonts
cp *.ttf ~/.fonts/
fc-cache
For GNOME terminal, verbatim from powerlevel10k documentation:
GNOME Terminal (the default Ubuntu terminal): Open Terminal → Preferences and click on the selected profile under Profiles. Check Custom font under Text Appearance and select MesloLGS NF Regular.
If you are not able to see that font in preferences, you might need to close all GNOME Terminal instances and relaunch a terminal window.
Then download the theme for Oh My Zsh:
git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-$HOME/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/themes/powerlevel10k
Set ZSH_THEME="powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k" in ~/.zshrc. The default one
was ZSH_THEME="robbyrussell" in my case.
Then open zsh.
When we first open zsh after installation, we will see powerlevel10k
installation wizard like that:
powerlevel10k installation wizard¶
You can modify the shell’s appearance to suit your taste, but here are my choices:
diamond y
lock y
upwards arrow y
fit between the crosses y
-
prompt style: 1 lean
character set: 2 ascii
prompt colors: 1 256 colors
Show current time?: 2 24-hour format.
Prompt Height: 1 one line
Prompt Spacing: 1 compact
Prompt Flow: 1 concise
Enable Transient Prompt?: n no
Instant Prompt Mode: 3 off
Apply changes: y yes
Run p10k configure anytime to reconfigure it.
Now we can use our new theme. Let’s add some plugins!
plugins¶
We can use Oh My Zsh plugins to enrich our shell experience:
My .zshrc:
ZSH_THEME="powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k"
plugins=(git git-prompt sudo zsh-autosuggestions you-should-use zsh-syntax-highlighting)
In action¶
My theme and plugins in action:
Published on: 2024-01-27