> What's wrong with extending ReGIS, Sixel, or Tektronix (just kidding on that one) protocols? Or, maybe, PostScript/Display PostScript? Nothing is wrong with

> What's wrong with extending ReGIS, Sixel, or Tektronix (just kidding on that one) protocols? Or, maybe, PostScript/Display PostScript? Nothing is wrong with them: Sixels for example work perfectly for all the tasks I throw at them in my terminals, from showing pixel perfect images to playing videos with mpv. > Can't we define what behavior should a modern terminal have with these already existing tools instead of inventing a brand new wheel? Actually, something is wrong with these already existing tool: they are preexisting, and therefore someone else idea. If you don't invent a new wheel (on which you can take credit for), you have to recognize that 40 year old technology is now perfectly adequate. I think it wasn't ideal in the 1980s due to the bandwith requirements, but in 2023, if I can play videos with mpv, I think that's enough for most use. I think the tech has been adequate for some time (at least about 15 years), and I can freely recognize that both because I have no horse in the game, and I care more about actual use than having/creating a shiny new tech. Inventing a better wheel is the perfect way to avoid confronting such issues: you can argue your new wheel is better, and technically it will be true, even if in practice it's no different that the old wheel, in the sense it allows your vehicle to go forward for all the practical measures you care about. There may also be a loss-aversion effect: if what you invented that was great is no longer needed, it may be painful to recognize it. You may not want to go for what's technologically not as nice as your invention, but that can now do the job just as well as your invention did, thanks to Moore's law. Some people also just want to see their favored pet idea to win - unfortunately, they pet idea is only theoretical, or if it exists, it has a very small install base: since sixel is "adequate" or "sufficient", blocking/sabotaging sixel support is the logical action to prevent it from becoming established through network effects. Put all these people together, add a little handwaving about how old formats can't work, and you get the current situation. BTW here's a project I'll try to resurect: rending X applications ... in sixels: https://github.com/csdvrx/xorg-sixel https://github.com/csdvrx/xorg-sixel So you could have graphical applications in your terminal! I've just up. I've only uploaded the picture as I'm still fighting with the code but what you see is Xeyes show inside wezterm thanks to the sixel output of Xorg. For terminals that don't support sixels (yet), sixel-tmux will convert them "in flight" into derasterized graphics: see https://github.com/csdvrx/sixel-tmux/ https://github.com/csdvrx/sixel-tmux/ I'm sure this tech stack (X apps -> Xsixel -> sixel-tmux -> text) will make many people cringe, but in terms of functionality, it works (latency, bandwidth etc are sufficient for my uses) and if you have sixel support in your terminal, you get pixel perfect results. FWIW I use and love Hyprland, but I want to use portable graphics apps more than I care about the underlying tech being better.