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Never understood why people use iTerm. I know back in the day it was because of the lack of tabs in Terminal.app, but tabs were added long ago and tmux was alwa

by ghusto 2y ago

Never understood why people use iTerm. I know back in the day it was because of the lack of tabs in Terminal.app, but tabs were added long ago and tmux was always a better option for that kind of functionality anyway. Genuinely curious because I feel like I'm missing something. I tried it again a while ago and still couldn't see anything I couldn't already do.

jamesponddotco 2y ago
My Neovim color scheme doesn’t work on Terminal.app. That’s, literally, the only reason I chose iTerm.
conceptme 2y ago
Can it split windows too and have some simple way to select the content?
atombender 2y ago
Tons of features. - Multiple profiles - Logging of terminal output to files - Regexp search - Search marks matches in the scrollbar - Quick jump between prompts — it knows where prompts are in the output, so you can quickly scroll to each position - Window splitting - Filtering — like find, but filters the window to only show matches - Triggers: Do an action such as bouncing the app icon or playing a sound when a text string occurs) - Status bar: Show the Git branch, current directory, etc. — better than custom prompts - Preserves windows/tabs on restart/reboot, even current directory and window contents - Cmd-Click to open files and URLs I bet Terminal.app has gained some of these features over the years , but it certainly doesn't have have all of them.
- runjake 2y ago
  Yes! Also: - Minimal theme mode for a more simplified window appearance.
- ghusto 2y ago
  There are a couple of things here making it worth me checking it out again, thanks :) But yes you're right, most of these are in the Terminal+Tmux combo already.
soneil 2y ago
For me, it's some very simple things. Like being able to set the alt behaviour separately for left/right alt (so I can have the meta behaviour while still being able to type funky characters)
YetAnotherNick 2y ago
I use it for `tmux -CC`.
thiht 2y ago
> tmux was always a better option for that kind of functionality anyway Not sure a lot of people would agree. Tmux is way less intuitive than tabs/split panes directly supported by the terminal emulator. Also tmux is dog slow compared to native tabs.
- mostlysimilar 2y ago
  iTerm split panes use such intuitive keybinds I find myself changing other software with similar functionality to match, e.g. split pane vertical: cmd + D split pane horizontal: cmd + shift + D focus pane left: cmd + [ focus pane right: cmd + ] Just gold standard imo. tmux is great software and very useful on remote machines but its keybinds don't come close.
- ErikBjare 2y ago
  Less intuitive? Sure, but those who learn it tend to agree it's the better option. Not sure what "dog slow" means, but it's really fast for me, at least when using a fast terminal emulator.
  - thiht 2y ago
    As an example Alacritty+tmux feels wayyy slower than iTerm for tabs/splitting. Tmux also comes with some limitations that make it annoying (to me) to use 100% of the time : - scroll back is painful compared to native terminal emulator scrollback, so is mouse support - rendering gets slowed down by tmux because it parses the output itself, the fastest terminal emulator with tmux will feel slower than iTerm without tmux - some TUIs work badly in tmux, neovim for instance. I’ve also had issues with htop in the past Tmux is a great tool, but I can’t conceive using it by default, it’s too janky for that.
porridgeraisin 2y ago
Truecolor. Already a deal breaker.
ericrallen 2y ago
I’m not sure if other terminals support this feature[0] because iTerm was the first one I discovered with it and I haven’t tested all of them yet, but I use it for the global, Quake-style[1] terminal that slides down from the top of my screen as an overlay on top of whatever I’m doing. [0]: https://babbagefiles.xyz/quake-drop-down-terminal-history/ https://babbagefiles.xyz/quake-drop-down-terminal-history/ [1]: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1838042997179758032/879B93D9350FD019DCA37D833E469D4AE46AB786/ https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/18380429971797580...

by ghusto 2y ago

jamesponddotco 2y ago

My Neovim color scheme doesn’t work on Terminal.app. That’s, literally, the only reason I chose iTerm.

conceptme 2y ago

Can it split windows too and have some simple way to select the content?

atombender 2y ago

Tons of features. - Multiple profiles - Logging of terminal output to files - Regexp search - Search marks matches in the scrollbar - Quick jump between prompts — it knows where prompts are in the output, so you can quickly scroll to each position - Window splitting - Filtering — like find, but filters the window to only show matches - Triggers: Do an action such as bouncing the app icon or playing a sound when a text string occurs) - Status bar: Show the Git branch, current directory, etc. — better than custom prompts - Preserves windows/tabs on restart/reboot, even current directory and window contents - Cmd-Click to open files and URLs I bet Terminal.app has gained some of these features over the years , but it certainly doesn't have have all of them.

runjake 2y ago
Yes! Also: - Minimal theme mode for a more simplified window appearance.
ghusto 2y ago
There are a couple of things here making it worth me checking it out again, thanks :) But yes you're right, most of these are in the Terminal+Tmux combo already.

soneil 2y ago

For me, it's some very simple things. Like being able to set the alt behaviour separately for left/right alt (so I can have the meta behaviour while still being able to type funky characters)

YetAnotherNick 2y ago

I use it for `tmux -CC`.

thiht 2y ago

> tmux was always a better option for that kind of functionality anyway Not sure a lot of people would agree. Tmux is way less intuitive than tabs/split panes directly supported by the terminal emulator. Also tmux is dog slow compared to native tabs.

mostlysimilar 2y ago
iTerm split panes use such intuitive keybinds I find myself changing other software with similar functionality to match, e.g. split pane vertical: cmd + D split pane horizontal: cmd + shift + D focus pane left: cmd + [ focus pane right: cmd + ] Just gold standard imo. tmux is great software and very useful on remote machines but its keybinds don't come close.
ErikBjare 2y ago
Less intuitive? Sure, but those who learn it tend to agree it's the better option. Not sure what "dog slow" means, but it's really fast for me, at least when using a fast terminal emulator.
- thiht 2y ago
  As an example Alacritty+tmux feels wayyy slower than iTerm for tabs/splitting. Tmux also comes with some limitations that make it annoying (to me) to use 100% of the time : - scroll back is painful compared to native terminal emulator scrollback, so is mouse support - rendering gets slowed down by tmux because it parses the output itself, the fastest terminal emulator with tmux will feel slower than iTerm without tmux - some TUIs work badly in tmux, neovim for instance. I’ve also had issues with htop in the past Tmux is a great tool, but I can’t conceive using it by default, it’s too janky for that.

porridgeraisin 2y ago

Truecolor. Already a deal breaker.

ericrallen 2y ago

I’m not sure if other terminals support this feature[0] because iTerm was the first one I discovered with it and I haven’t tested all of them yet, but I use it for the global, Quake-style[1] terminal that slides down from the top of my screen as an overlay on top of whatever I’m doing. [0]: https://babbagefiles.xyz/quake-drop-down-terminal-history/ https://babbagefiles.xyz/quake-drop-down-terminal-history/ [1]: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1838042997179758032/879B93D9350FD019DCA37D833E469D4AE46AB786/ https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/18380429971797580...