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Hello, Grant. |
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On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 12:32:28 -0700, Grant Taylor wrote: |
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> On 1/13/21 11:14 AM, Alan Mackenzie wrote: |
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> > This is appalling. I do all my work on the console (apart from web |
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> > browsing), and with this development, Linux effectively becomes |
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> > unusable to me. I will NOT be bullied into using second rate |
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> > alternatives like X-Windows terminals. |
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> Wow. I don't think I've run into someone that was a devout |
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> {physical,virtual} /console/ user in quite a while. |
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> I'm curious what you do in the Linux console that can't be done in a |
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> terminal emulator. |
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Well, there's really not much that can't be done in a terminal emulator. |
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But it's the manner of the doing that's important. Doing text work in X |
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is s l u g g i s h. Changing from one application to another, which |
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would be achieved by, say Alt-F4 on a console takes more key sequences |
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in X, and is less than instantaneous. The X terminal emulator tends not |
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to occupy the whole screen - it tends to have title bars, menu items, |
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tabs even, which just distract from the task at hand. Maybe it can be |
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set up to take the whole screen, but that's work. And the fonts used |
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tend to be less distinct and helpful than the 16 x 8 bitmaps I have on |
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the console. And X windows steals useful key sequences, such as |
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Alt-Tab. On an Emacs session, in three columns on a console, I can |
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display 195 consecutive lines of a source file simultaneously. |
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I could go on, but ... |
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That's not to say there aren't problems with the tty console - even |
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before the screen scrolling was removed altogether, it wasn't exactly |
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anything to write home about. And it would be nice to have more than 16 |
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colours available. But, on balance, I'll stick with the console. |
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> I know that there is a lot of difference in different terminal |
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> emulators. -- I *strongly* prefer XTerm as it does things that other |
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> terminal emulators have never heard of. |
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> Please share if you do things that /can/ be done in the Linux console |
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> that /can't/ be done in a terminal emulator. |
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I think bringing up a new Gentoo system absolutely requires working in |
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the console, certainly up to the point where X11 and a Window Manager |
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have been installed and debugged. |
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> If it's just preference, then hat's off to you. |
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> -- |
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> Grant. . . . |
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> unix || die |
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-- |
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Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany). |
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