tmux and Optimal Layout

I use screen a lot. It’s a good way to ensure transient network lossage [including suspending the machine you’re using] doesn’t nuke your editor sessions or other state.

During a session I usually have some tiled arrangement of terminal windows each attached to the same screen session (using -x). I want to see more than one terminal at a time but I still want each session under screen and it would be tedious to have many screen sessions.

I stumbled across tmux last night. It reminds me a bit of DESQview. Today I’m experimenting with using tmux and a single, giant terminal window in place of my screen + several terminal windows. It’s easier to reconnect and get everything set up, although I’m not yet sure how well it will work out since I have different layouts for different sized screens. I may need to edit some of the keybindings to match screen’s to smooth out the transition, but I’m going to try the defaults first.

It’s not really related to tmux, but Optimal Layout is pretty great. The few default window positions plus a few I added mean I can quickly move windows into useful positions (and between monitors) with the keyboard.