3 ms·

What's the advantage of tmux over something like terminator with pane splitting?

• paulddraper 10y ago
  I can SSH to a machine and connect to a tmux session. Tmux's competition is not terminator, but screen.
  • dozzie 10y ago
    screen + dvtm, as I hear tmux has sensible way to manage split windows, while screen's way is atrocious.
    • paulddraper 10y ago
      Hm, true.
• bigtunacan 10y ago
  Terminator is an alternative to something like iTerm. Tmux is server based so the sessions persist after disconnecting from ssh for example and allow multiple users to connect to the same terminal
  • bostand 10y ago
    Out of curiosity, would you still use terminator/iterm if you used tmux in every shell? I understand term* provides some additional functions, but would you still consider it worthwhile?
    • rocqua 10y ago
      I personally would, because learning less tools is great. I've had some problem applying this principle when using tmux locally on a system with i3. You kinda need to be consistent in which of the 2 you use to create new shell windows.
      • bostand 10y ago
        Funny you mention that. I tried i3 last year but quickly realized I already have the good parts in tmux. I am now trying to simplify my workflow by only using tmux and emacs. It's minimal and works on almost any system I log into.
        • hyperhopper 10y ago
          Isn't the emacs philosophy to never leave emacs? Doesn't using tmux go against that? Or do you run tmux inside of emacs? I use spacemacs and coming from vim, its taking some getting used to but I'm still always trying to do more things in emacs and not switch to my terminal workspace.
          • bostand 10y ago
            Yeah, but I don't like the emacs terminal. I feel spacemacs is just a vim clone with really bad cpu and ram utilization. If I am going that road, why not use an ide like eclipse or visual studio instead?
        • rocqua 10y ago
          If chrome ran within tmux, that would totally be my approach. Sadly, there remain GUI's that are better than TUI's (or rather: sadly tmux can only multiplex TUIs).
    • bigtunacan 10y ago
      Yes. I use both myself. I usually use multiple terminal panes and then have a separate tmux session running in each long lived pane.
• guitarbill 10y ago
  There's subtile difference between terminal emulators (terminator) and terminal multiplexers (tmux, screen), mentioned elsewhere [0]. IMO the main difference: With tmux, your sessions can be separate from your terminal instance. Meaning that if your terminal dies for any reason (e.g. X dying), and you've set tmux up correctly, your session will still be there and all you have to do is (re)connect. The other reasons are probably more personal. The initial tmux learning curve is steep, but once you've got it, it rewards you with a super fast workflow that suits you. I know this sounds extremely stupid, but the "hacker cred" is large with tmux. I got hooked on tmux by a coworker who used it and ruled. I've never seen that with terminator, although it should be equally possible. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13338592#13341184 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13338592#13341184 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13342341#13348007 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13342341#13348007 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11995816#11998921 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11995816#11998921