[kwlug-disc] screen is keen

Johnny Ferguson hyperflexed at gmail.com
Mon Oct 25 21:20:28 EDT 2010


Screen is pretty amazing. If you use Ubuntu, there's a package 
containing some nice wrappers for screen named "Byobu". I highly 
recommend. Warning: you may never leave the terminal ever again.

I find screen amazing for coding as I can keep code in one split, and 
compiler messages in the other. I hear VIM is capable of building code, 
but I haven't got around to learning that yet, so screen is very handy.

If you appreciate screen, you might appreciate window managers like 
xmonad or ratpoison. No idea if they support multi-user sessions, but 
they embody the simple-yet-powerful (and minimalist) philosophy 
characteristic of screen.

I couldn't imagine sharing control of a session. Multi-user sessions 
don't look that hard to set up:
http://aperiodic.net/screen/multiuser

-Johnny

On 10/25/2010 07:40 AM, Richard Weait wrote:
> You might remember a presentation on the GNU utility, screen, from a
> few meeting back.  You might have thought, "sure that seems nice and
> all, but how do I add an animated wallpaper to it?"
>
> Or you might have thought, "hunh? Paul says it gets confused by sudo.
> I should probably remember that so it doesn't cause me trouble in the
> future."
>
> Let this be a lesson to you.  Screen does get confused by sudo, so ssh
> in as the user who should be using screen.  Thanks Paul for that tip
> that, had I remembered earlier, would have saved me ten minutes.
> Without your tip, I could have wasted hours.
>
> So screen is keen.  I found it super-useful last week during a
> conference call regarding some server stuff.  A developer and I used
> the same screen to work on the project via the -x option.  We each
> ssh'd in to the server as the same user.  I started a screen session.
> He used screen -x to attach to the existing screen session. Then we
> could each see what the other was typing, and all the results from
> those commands.  This was a very handy way for two people with
> different skill sets to collaborate on a project.  When combined with
> a telephone call for a simultaneous voice connection, it felt very
> productive.
>
> Plus the whacky, "I'm going to press enter when you are typing your
> password" hijinx.
>
> So, it was good fun.  Screen is Keen.  Paul's presentation saved me some time.
>
> Apparently screen will let different users attach to the same session,
> but I haven't tried that yet.
>
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