iTerm as a slide-out terminal from the top of the screen

Question

I have installed iTerm2 and was hoping I'd have something like guake (Yes I just switched from Ubuntu). I mapped the hotkey to a button of my choice and it works fine, but I miss the slide-down-from-top animation like I had in Ubuntu.

Answer 1

You can use iTerm2's system-wide hotkey with the Hotkey Window profile to do this.

In iTerm2 preferences, click on the "Keys" tab. In the bottom left, under "Hotkey", check "Show/hide iTerm2 with a system-wide hotkey" and assign the hotkey you'd like to use.

Check the "Hotkey toggles a dedicated window with profile:" option and choose "Hotkey Window" in the popup menu below (should be selected by default).

With default settings, the Hotkey Profile window will stretch across the top of the screen, and the hotkey will drop the window down from the top, complete with animation.

You can customize the settings for the "Hotkey Window" profile under the "Profiles" tab.

Answer 2

Turn on multiple desktops, have 2, one on top one on bottom. Assign a hotkey to switch to the TOP desktop. Open iTerm2 and put it in the top desktop and open all other apps on the bottom desktop. Either make the terminal maximized or full screen (lion) and it should give you something similar to what your're looking for.

Answer 3

If you're not married to iTerm2, you could try TotalTerminal. The slide down window is always a keystroke away.