Are Terminal Multiplexers a Fad?
Are Terminal Multiplexers a Fad?
Despite their questionable utility, terminal multiplexers have skyrocketed to fame in the tech world over the last decade.
No. They are an invaluable tool. I also use a tiling WM. I feel they work better with larger screens that offer more real estate.
Not a fad, a niche.
I spend 80% of my work day on Terminator, so I'm going to vote "nope".
I'll take higher bandwidth on a single ssh session over multiple ssh sessions any day. Plus terminal multiplexers also provide persistent sessions.
Hey, just wondering, how using a terminal multiplexer adds "more bandwidth" to your ssh session? What do you mean by more bandwidth?
Mostly just the terminal commands to draw the tmux borders and move the cursor around for vsplits. For long running commands with lots of output tmux saves bandwidth, especially if I switch to a different screen.
If they're a fad, they've been a fad for over 35 years, so no longer a fad. Get it?
I don't understand articles like this. Terminal multiplexers are tools that help people. And they're great tools especially when you work in environments where persistent sessions save your ass.
There is a saying from when the newspaper world that when a headline asks a question the answer is no.
Multiplexers are critical to my workflow due to bandwidth limitations and intermittency. mosh+tmux saves my butt daily.
Sorry you're getting downvoted to hell, good article. Just so people know, the guy in the article uses a terminal multiplexer too, and is simply talking about some limitations. The titles clickbait and it starts off quite critical but that's to be expected in this day and age
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You're conflating the OS with desktop managers. And I disagree, terminals are an extremely useful tool - on any OS you'll eventually get into situations that you can only solve using a terminal (even on windows) because that's how these systems work internally (which is a good thing, because it's easy to automate).
Microsoft PowerToys has a pseudo-tiling wm for Windows. There are loads of new options on Linux so while few people from the total population are using them, I think they're growing.
I'm sure you could get by without a terminal on modern desktop oriented distros. Windows has it's own weirdness, like having to manually edit the registry. Just because there's a GUI for that doesn't make it a better user experience. A ton of issues are basically unfixable by users on Windows and Mac. I'm not decompiling their kernel to figure out why sleep is so flakey. Linux is much more reliable.