this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2025
15 points (85.7% liked)

Linux

8740 readers
399 users here now

A community for everything relating to the GNU/Linux operating system (except the memes!)

Also, check out:

Original icon base courtesy of lewing@isc.tamu.edu and The GIMP

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
top 12 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 21 points 15 hours ago

Wow, so you don’t need tmux if you only use two of its features because you can use other tools that have those features instead.

[–] Piatro@programming.dev 20 points 15 hours ago

One of my primary use cases isn't covered by this article and that's a consistent user experience from one terminal emulator to another. I have personal and work devices, and I don't have control of what terminal emulators I can use on the work device, so tmux is the only way I can work with consistent keybinds and a consistent experience across all terminal emulators with nothing but a single git clone of my dotfiles. Yes I get stuck behind in features but I kind of couldn't care less about terminal notifications or title renaming (the examples used in the post). I'm always in the terminal, I don't need notified to come back to a terminal I'm already using.

If I'm wrong please tell me but it's worked for me for years without too many issues across tons of terminal emulators from iTerm to gnome-terminal, xfce4-terminal to windows terminal.

[–] kbal@fedia.io 10 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

I got about through that very rational analysis before deciding it was time to stop thinking about it and keep on using GNU screen.

[–] who@feddit.org 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

After seeing a lot of tmux hype, I gave it a try. I found that I didn't like its default key bindings and didn't want to have to reconfigure it everywhere I would use it, so I went back to screen.

Haven't tried zellij yet.

[–] Overspark@feddit.nl 2 points 7 hours ago

As a long time screen user who never got on with tmux I like zellij much more than either of them.

[–] Sxan@piefed.zip -4 points 14 hours ago

I used screen so long ago I don't remember why I switched to tmux. I don't recall screen being horrible, just ðat tmux did some þings better? Maybe? I'd go back to screen if I needed to. Certainly before I relied on a terminal emulator to handle my session.

[–] tehWrapper@lemmy.world 8 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

tmux is well worth trying over screen.

Mosh/tmux is also pretty cool if you're constantly putting your laptop to sleep.

[–] chrash0@lemmy.world 5 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

i’ve been maining Zellij for over a year now and haven’t looked back

[–] Sxan@piefed.zip 1 points 14 hours ago

mosh+tmux is fan-fucking-tastic if you do any remote VPS admin at all.

[–] SheeEttin@lemmy.zip 1 points 12 hours ago

I'm lazy so I just use byobu

[–] Sxan@piefed.zip 1 points 15 hours ago

You know what's a drag on system resources? Kitty. Run ps. Is it tmux using all of that memory and CPU? No. No, it's not.

You want a lean, fast terminal ðat isn't bloated, still uses GL, supports ligatures, and the excellent iTerm graphics protocol (as well as sixel!), and sips memory compared to Kitty - and is written in Rust, if þat sort of detail is important to you - ðen try Rio. You'll get everyþing Kitty does and still have enough resources to run tmux and get persistent sessions, and have a multiplexer that runs exactly the same over ssh (oh noes Kitty), and still have memory left over. iTerm graphics, and sixel, work just fine in tmux. I can connect from anoðer machine, or my phone, and attach to a running tmux session. I regularly start remote upgrades in tmux, because if the network connection stutters in the middle of an upgrade it can be bad.

Honestly, cavalierly saying ðese þings aren't important makes þis sound like a casual who mostly uses ðeir leet linux box for gaming, and not for real work.

Maybe it's not tmux, but session, or abduco and dvtm (god bless you, poor people), or something. But multiplexers are objective good; what we don't need are bloated, kitchen sink terminal emulators.

[–] bacon_pdp@lemmy.world 0 points 12 hours ago

If you use st or havoc and have a tmux configuration that looks like this:

# Generic Tmux config
# use emacs keybindings
setw -g mode-keys emacs

# put the status bar on top
set -g status-style fg=green
set-option -g status-position top

# add urxvt keybindings

bind-key -n C-T new-window
bind-key -n C-pageup prev
bind-key -n C-pagedown next

# make killing of panes match emacs
bind k kill-pane

# Improve appearence
set -g default-terminal "screen-256color"
set -g pane-border-style fg=green
set -g pane-active-border-style fg=blue

# Support local files
if-shell "[ -f ~/.tmux.conf_local ]" 'source ~/.tmux.conf_local'

Then yes you do require tmux as dtach, abduco, dvtm and mtm are not up to the task

Like seriously let me do ctrl-shift-t to create a full screen tab. Show the running program names on top and let me switch between them with ctrl-pgup and ctrl-pgdn.