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For a person who is comfortable with Tmux, is there any significant benefit that iTerm offers over the Terminal.app? I believe Terminal.app is better than other

For a person who is comfortable with Tmux, is there any significant benefit that iTerm offers over the Terminal.app? I believe Terminal.app is better than other consoles when it comes to power consumption.

ed 7y ago
For sure. iTerm makes tmux feel more native by, for example, giving tmux panes their own native tab: https://www.iterm2.com/documentation-tmux-integration.html https://www.iterm2.com/documentation-tmux-integration.html
jakear 7y ago
I also see little benefit over Terminal.app. Plus Terminal.app has much better performance with infinite scroll back, especially when dumping large streams
kccqzy 7y ago
If you like tmux, you should try the tmux integration feature in iTerm. It makes tmux windows native windows, and tmux panes native panes.
- juandazapata 7y ago
  And what's the advantage of a native pane over a tmux pane? Could you clarify?
  - WD-42 7y ago
    Being able to copy and paste using the OS native cursor over multiple lines, for one.
    - spraak 7y ago
      That's possible in tmux, though
      - buraktamturk 7y ago
        not on remote sessions with local clipboard
        wincent 7y ago
        Clipper makes that possible (shameless plug). https://github.com/wincent/clipper https://github.com/wincent/clipper
        ksaj 7y ago
        How much stuff does one need to keep adding just to make it work like iTerm does already?
      - gravity_123 7y ago
        Is it possible to copy and scroll over multiple pages using mouse in tmux?
  - kccqzy 7y ago
    Being able to use native macOS shortcuts like Command-` to move between windows. Native copy–paste. Focus-follow-mouse behavior for panes. Or just the ability to see multiple tmux windows (not panes) at once. And perhaps most importantly, the tmux windows actually look any any other window on macOS.
    - spraak 7y ago
      Huh, all those are features of tmux itself. I can copy/paste to/from system clipboard, I can easily movie between windows (and could set in my tmux.conf to use Command-` if I wanted), I can focus panes with the mouse, etc.
    - ksaj 7y ago
      > Native copy–paste This was a big one for me. Cut/Paste between applications and whatever is running in the terminal with tmux can be a real pain. Not so much with iTerm. And the consistency goes a long ways when you're trying to get stuff done.
  - soraminazuki 7y ago
    The major advantage is performance. With tmux, high volume output from a single pane makes the whole session unresponsive, because it locks up the pty that tmux is running on. Native panes, on the other hand, don't have such a problem because it operates on different ptys.
- Lio 7y ago
  A big advantage of tmux for me is consistent keyboard shortcuts across OSs. I really like iTerm but never use the native windows feature because you loose that as far as I know. Once you’re using iterm integration you’re back to macOS shortcuts.
- wyclif 7y ago
  I must be confused. From your description I thought you were not describing my setup. Then I opened iTerm Preferences and saw that Native Windows are in fact turned on. I must have been doing it this way for a while, and I can't remember what the functionality looks like when it's toggled to "Native Tabs in a New Window."
wincent 7y ago
For me it's the little things like being able to hide all window chrome (and there are a lot of little things...)

ed 7y ago

For sure. iTerm makes tmux feel more native by, for example, giving tmux panes their own native tab: https://www.iterm2.com/documentation-tmux-integration.html https://www.iterm2.com/documentation-tmux-integration.html

jakear 7y ago

I also see little benefit over Terminal.app. Plus Terminal.app has much better performance with infinite scroll back, especially when dumping large streams

kccqzy 7y ago

If you like tmux, you should try the tmux integration feature in iTerm. It makes tmux windows native windows, and tmux panes native panes.

juandazapata 7y ago
And what's the advantage of a native pane over a tmux pane? Could you clarify?
- WD-42 7y ago
  Being able to copy and paste using the OS native cursor over multiple lines, for one.
  - spraak 7y ago
    That's possible in tmux, though
    - buraktamturk 7y ago
      not on remote sessions with local clipboard
      - wincent 7y ago
        Clipper makes that possible (shameless plug). https://github.com/wincent/clipper https://github.com/wincent/clipper
        ksaj 7y ago
        How much stuff does one need to keep adding just to make it work like iTerm does already?
    - gravity_123 7y ago
      Is it possible to copy and scroll over multiple pages using mouse in tmux?
- kccqzy 7y ago
  Being able to use native macOS shortcuts like Command-` to move between windows. Native copy–paste. Focus-follow-mouse behavior for panes. Or just the ability to see multiple tmux windows (not panes) at once. And perhaps most importantly, the tmux windows actually look any any other window on macOS.
  - spraak 7y ago
    Huh, all those are features of tmux itself. I can copy/paste to/from system clipboard, I can easily movie between windows (and could set in my tmux.conf to use Command-` if I wanted), I can focus panes with the mouse, etc.
  - ksaj 7y ago
    > Native copy–paste This was a big one for me. Cut/Paste between applications and whatever is running in the terminal with tmux can be a real pain. Not so much with iTerm. And the consistency goes a long ways when you're trying to get stuff done.
- soraminazuki 7y ago
  The major advantage is performance. With tmux, high volume output from a single pane makes the whole session unresponsive, because it locks up the pty that tmux is running on. Native panes, on the other hand, don't have such a problem because it operates on different ptys.
Lio 7y ago
A big advantage of tmux for me is consistent keyboard shortcuts across OSs. I really like iTerm but never use the native windows feature because you loose that as far as I know. Once you’re using iterm integration you’re back to macOS shortcuts.
wyclif 7y ago
I must be confused. From your description I thought you were not describing my setup. Then I opened iTerm Preferences and saw that Native Windows are in fact turned on. I must have been doing it this way for a while, and I can't remember what the functionality looks like when it's toggled to "Native Tabs in a New Window."

wincent 7y ago

For me it's the little things like being able to hide all window chrome (and there are a lot of little things...)