Comment by w1ntermute | Hacker News Reader

Comment by w1ntermute | Hacker News Reader

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""I'm hoping for Karmic that screen-profiles is used ubiquitously on the server [and] that it becomes as important to the Ubuntu server as Gnome/KDE are to Ubuntu/Kubuntu," he said during the presentation."

I believe this is targeted at system administrators, and not the average desktop user.

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Edit: as a regular user of Screen, I cannot pass up an opportunity to promote it. It is most definitely one of the most amazing pieces of software I've ever used, CLI or not. The ability to run multiple terminals inside a persistent session is enormously useful.

I not only use it for software development (where split-screening the Screen session gives me the best development environment I've ever used) but also for running all kind of other applications. I use rTorrent (http://libtorrent.rakshasa.no/), Irssi (http://irssi.org/), ncmpc++ (http://unkart.ovh.org/ncmpcpp/) with MPD, and CenterIM (http://www.centerim.org/), all in a Screen session on my always-on desktop, which lets me turn off my laptop whenever I want without closing any of those applications.

Yeah, I'm a huge screen fan. I think it's probably the most important single app I ever learned of. There's nothing quite like being able to do attach to a single screen session from multiple locations, or leaving a heavy duty screen session running for weeks on end on a remote server. In linux just being able to log out and back into X without losing the terminal session is very useful (though I think it fouls up $DISPLAY somehow so starting X apps stops working).

I actually don't think I've used the splitting feature, I'll have to give it a whirl.

"I actually don't think I've used the splitting feature, I'll have to give it a whirl."

Make sure you get an SVN build, so that you've got vertical splitting ;)

$DISPLAY should be the same, but $SESSION_MANAGER would change.

In response to your edit - agreed wholeheartedly.

To any Linux developer/admin who hasn't used it - if you want to push your terminal wizardry to the next level, make a concerted effort to learn Screen. Once you get the basic commands down (and these Ubuntu modifications should help the learning curve) it really does save a lot of time.

I wish it had vertical splitting.

That said, I've probably had at least one screen running somewhere in the last fifteen years.

Actually, if you download the current SVN revision, you can get vertical splitting (use it with Ctrl-A, then "|"). I use the SVN revision solely for that reason. Stability is generally not an issue with the SVN builds either.

Well, the headline is a bit misleading then.

I doubt that sysadmins will ever be considered "the masses".

Yes, it is a bit misleading. I think that by "the masses", the author is referring to the masses of sysadmins who are not aware of Screen's capabilities.

Agreed and edited - the author's original headline was a little over the top.

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