5 ms·

Every 4-6 months, after reading some articles about tmux, I get the urge to try it again. And I always come back to screen for many of the same reasons (and th

by jzawodn 12y ago

Every 4-6 months, after reading some articles about tmux, I get the urge to try it again. And I always come back to screen for many of the same reasons (and the fact that it's not on a lot of systems by default). The session/window/pane/instance thing is definitely confusing and not well explained. I think it's even worse if you already have a lot of screen experience.

weitzj 12y ago
I agree with you that if you have to work with multiple systems where you do not have control over installing packages, you might be better off to use pre-installed screen and vi with default configs so you can get right to work. But if you have your own workstation and do most of the work with this workstation, tmux + customized configs might be a viable option. It just depends how good your muscle memory will keep up. :)
blueblob 12y ago
From my experience screen isn't on a lot of systems either. Usually the admins that I work with are willing to install both/either at request. screen has the equivalent to sessions as well `screen -ls` will show them whereas `tmux list-sessions` will show the tmux ones. A window is composed of panes (analogy from physical windows, pane of glass). An instance is one user on a session.
- gradstudent 12y ago
  > From my experience screen isn't on a lot of systems either. Can you name one distro that doesn't include it by default? In my experience you can rely on just about every system having a core set of utilities: bash, vim, screen, ssh etc.
  - karlshea 12y ago
    I swear I've had to install it before on Ubuntu. This would have been awhile ago though.
  - colordrops 12y ago
    It's not on Ubuntu, and IIRC not on CentOS.
  - phil21 12y ago
    Debian Wheezy (and all Debians I've ever worked on prior). Not installed with a bare-bones server install.
  - dagw 12y ago
    I'd cross both vim and screen off that list. I know Debian doesn't come with vim installed by default, and uses nano as it's editor. Sure it's trivial to install, and many admins install it the first thing they do, but it's not there by default.
    - robinson-wall 12y ago
      vi is present in Debian by default (though not the default $EDITOR)
- emiunet 12y ago
  Very much depending on what sort of installation (not the distro itself) you've got. Most of Minimal installation doesn't come with screen nor tmux by default.

by jzawodn 12y ago

weitzj 12y ago

I agree with you that if you have to work with multiple systems where you do not have control over installing packages, you might be better off to use pre-installed screen and vi with default configs so you can get right to work. But if you have your own workstation and do most of the work with this workstation, tmux + customized configs might be a viable option. It just depends how good your muscle memory will keep up. :)

blueblob 12y ago

From my experience screen isn't on a lot of systems either. Usually the admins that I work with are willing to install both/either at request. screen has the equivalent to sessions as well `screen -ls` will show them whereas `tmux list-sessions` will show the tmux ones. A window is composed of panes (analogy from physical windows, pane of glass). An instance is one user on a session.

gradstudent 12y ago
> From my experience screen isn't on a lot of systems either. Can you name one distro that doesn't include it by default? In my experience you can rely on just about every system having a core set of utilities: bash, vim, screen, ssh etc.
- karlshea 12y ago
  I swear I've had to install it before on Ubuntu. This would have been awhile ago though.
- colordrops 12y ago
  It's not on Ubuntu, and IIRC not on CentOS.
- phil21 12y ago
  Debian Wheezy (and all Debians I've ever worked on prior). Not installed with a bare-bones server install.
- dagw 12y ago
  I'd cross both vim and screen off that list. I know Debian doesn't come with vim installed by default, and uses nano as it's editor. Sure it's trivial to install, and many admins install it the first thing they do, but it's not there by default.
  - robinson-wall 12y ago
    vi is present in Debian by default (though not the default $EDITOR)
emiunet 12y ago
Very much depending on what sort of installation (not the distro itself) you've got. Most of Minimal installation doesn't come with screen nor tmux by default.