4 ms·

Every time I read a story involving terminals, I am amazed that they function in the first place. The sheer amount of absurd workarounds for backwards compatibi

Every time I read a story involving terminals, I am amazed that they function in the first place. The sheer amount of absurd workarounds for backwards compatibility’s sake is mind-boggling.

olddustytrail 2y ago
Actually, what's really amazing is that the wheel has been reinvented so many times except for terminals. Seriously, make something new that works either with ssh or wireguatd and cement your name in fame.
- dietr1ch 2y ago
  There's a lot of things that could be reworked in much better ways if you drop backwards compatibility and think a bit about usability, but the real problem is the time it takes versus how "just fine" things work once you finally understand how to improve on old tools. To make things worse, tools get much better they get once you start thinking hard about re-implementing things. It seems it takes a lot of hatred to start such a project, and starting is the easy part as it only needs the first 80% of the effort.
- chungy 2y ago
  The reason terminal-land is like this, is precisely because the wheel has been reinvented a few hundred times. Basically XKCD 927, perpetually.
  - jdiff 2y ago
    Not really, because backwards compatibility with the most basic terminals has been maintained throughout it all. Instead of fragmentation, what we have is a very inconsistent soup.
- hnlmorg 2y ago
  Several options already exist: - HTTP management interfaces - RPCs such as what’s used in the Microsoft Windows ecosystem - Agent-based configuration management / IaC tools such as Puppet Each has their own strengths and weaknesses. But for all the criticisms people make about the terminal, and many of the complaints are completely justified, it’s often those weird eccentricities that also make the terminal such a powerful interface.
- notsomeuser 2y ago
  speaking of .. https://arcan-fe.com/2025/01/27/sunsetting-cursed-terminal-emulation/ https://arcan-fe.com/2025/01/27/sunsetting-cursed-terminal-e...
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
tetris11 2y ago
Idea: since most of us are looking at terminals through a framebuffer, why not just have a terminal image command that works as follows: 1. Prints a bunch of blank lines corresponding to the height of the image 2. Renders the image/video using the fbdev in the space provided. 3. Scrolling the terminal whilst viewing is handled by moving/cropping the fbdev-rendered media as appropriate?

Every time I read a story involving terminals, I am amazed that they function in the first place. The sheer amount of absurd workarounds for backwards compatibility’s sake is mind-boggling.

olddustytrail 2y ago

Actually, what's really amazing is that the wheel has been reinvented so many times except for terminals. Seriously, make something new that works either with ssh or wireguatd and cement your name in fame.

dietr1ch 2y ago
There's a lot of things that could be reworked in much better ways if you drop backwards compatibility and think a bit about usability, but the real problem is the time it takes versus how "just fine" things work once you finally understand how to improve on old tools. To make things worse, tools get much better they get once you start thinking hard about re-implementing things. It seems it takes a lot of hatred to start such a project, and starting is the easy part as it only needs the first 80% of the effort.
chungy 2y ago
The reason terminal-land is like this, is precisely because the wheel has been reinvented a few hundred times. Basically XKCD 927, perpetually.
- jdiff 2y ago
  Not really, because backwards compatibility with the most basic terminals has been maintained throughout it all. Instead of fragmentation, what we have is a very inconsistent soup.
hnlmorg 2y ago
Several options already exist: - HTTP management interfaces - RPCs such as what’s used in the Microsoft Windows ecosystem - Agent-based configuration management / IaC tools such as Puppet Each has their own strengths and weaknesses. But for all the criticisms people make about the terminal, and many of the complaints are completely justified, it’s often those weird eccentricities that also make the terminal such a powerful interface.
notsomeuser 2y ago
speaking of .. https://arcan-fe.com/2025/01/27/sunsetting-cursed-terminal-emulation/ https://arcan-fe.com/2025/01/27/sunsetting-cursed-terminal-e...

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

tetris11 2y ago

Idea: since most of us are looking at terminals through a framebuffer, why not just have a terminal image command that works as follows: 1. Prints a bunch of blank lines corresponding to the height of the image 2. Renders the image/video using the fbdev in the space provided. 3. Scrolling the terminal whilst viewing is handled by moving/cropping the fbdev-rendered media as appropriate?