> Cmd.exe is an abomination though

Agreed, but I don't think Cygwin defaults to it any more. It uses mintty now, which understands Cygwin ptys and has a native Windows interface.

I guess you could also use an X11 terminal emulator in this project.

> Cmd.exe is an abomination though - and Cygwin defaults to using it for terminal use. I see that this project also does that.

Use http://mridgers.github.io/clink/

It is not an alternative terminal, but injects itself into every cmd process to allow completion, better key handling etc. I was skeptical at first, but it's a really, really great tool.

Cmd.exe isn't a terminal emulator, it's a shell. Conhost.exe (and before Windows 7, csrss.exe) is the process behind the terminal window.

Can't you use cygwin with PowerShell?

cmd.exe is _not_ the console subsystem. It's just another program running in it. If you run bash, there's no cmd to be found anywhere. Just as your shell is not your terminal emulator the same holds true on Windows.