Gnome Terminal – Execute a Specific Command on Opening

The content of your desktop file should look like (see how to create a .desktop file using a text editor):

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=Test        
Comment=Test the terminal running a command inside it
Exec=gnome-terminal -e "bash -c 'echo hello;$SHELL'"
Icon=utilities-terminal
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Application;

Or:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=Test        
Comment=Test the terminal running a command inside it
Exec=bash -c 'echo hello;$SHELL'
Icon=utilities-terminal
Terminal=true 
Type=Application
Categories=Application;

In the first case, the Terminal field is set to false (perhaps contrary to your expectations) and in second case is set to true, but the result is in both cases the same.

I would recommend using tmux with tmuxinator, it will does the job for you, and you can rely on terminator layouts too!

For terminator layout checkout mhnagaoka's answer here askubuntu too:

1. After setting up your layout, right-click on any terminal background and choose Preferences → Layouts tab and click on Add button.

2. Give it a name and hit Close.

3. This should create the mentioned ~/.config/terminator/config file.

4. Now you can start terminator using the saved layout using: terminator -l yourLayout (replace yourLayout with whatever you chose on step 2).

5. (optional) Edit the ~/.config/terminator/config file so that where it says [layouts] and nested below it [[yourLayout]], rename yourLayout to default and remove/rename the previous default layout. Now, when Terminator starts without any parameters, it will load your custom [[default]] layout!