The nuts and bolts of Linux seem destined to be increasingly hidden away from the desktop user. The continuing development of popular desktop environments offering attractive interfaces and fancy features shows no sign of abatement. However intuitive and slick desktop environments become, there is little prospect that the faithful terminal will be consigned to the recycle bin in the near future. There is simply too much power at the hands of a terminal for many experienced Linux users.
Users that want to exploit the full power of the terminal may benefit from using a terminal multiplexer. This type of application can be considered to be a text version of a graphical window manager. It enables users to run multiple text programs simultaneously, as well as offering features that allow users to switch seamlessly between these programs in operation. Terminal multiplexers also allow multiple computers to make simultaneous connections.
To provide an insight into the quality of software that is available, we have compiled a list of 12 useful terminal multiplexers. Hopefully, there will be something here to help improve your productivity at the console. Combine one of these terminal multiplexers with a tiling window manager, and you’ve got a low resource desktop environment.
Here’s our verdict captured in a legendary LinuxLinks-style ratings chart. They are all free and open source goodness.
Let’s explore the 12 terminal multiplexers. For each title we have compiled its own portal page, a full description with an in-depth analysis of its features, a screenshot, together with links to relevant resources.
| Terminal Multiplexers | |
|---|---|
| Zellij | Terminal workspace with batteries included |
| tmux | Truly sublime terminal multiplexer which uses a client-server model |
| Tmuxinator | Create and manage complex tmux sessions easily |
| Byobu | Powerful, text based window manager and shell multiplexer |
| vtm | Terminal multiplexer with window manager and session sharing |
| Screen | Terminal multiplexer with VT100/ANSI terminal emulation |
| TUIOS | vim-like modal interface with comprehensive keyboard shortcuts |
| 3mux | Terminal multiplexer inspired by i3 |
| mtm | Micro terminal multiplexer |
| TERM39 | Modern terminal multiplexer with classic MS-DOS aesthetic |
| tab | Intuitive, config-driven terminal multiplexer |
| dvtm | Dynamic virtual terminal manager |
Of course, a tiling window manager combined with a terminal multiplexer won’t be a solution for everyone. If you’re looking for a great desktop environment, check out our review of the Best Linux Desktop Environments.
This article has been updated to reflect the changes outlined in our recent announcement.
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Just get byobu. (It runs tmux (or screen) under the hood, but adds user interface niceties to these two, and has been rock-solid for years.
Byobu is a “meta multiplexer”, that is, it still depends upon, and runs on top of either screen (the older system) or tmux (the newer one), but prefers tmux (which has more features). So byobu is running tmux (or screen) under the hood. But byobu adds functionality and lots of user-interface ease to tmux (or screen). With my distro (OpenSUSE) if I install byobu, tmux — a dependency — gets installed automatically, and I can simply then type ‘byobu’ at command line, and Ctrl-a d to ‘disconnect’ or Ctrl-a c to create a new ‘window’ or Ctrl-a n to go to next window. F9 gives help screen with other options. Easy-peasy.
Saying ‘just get Byobu’ might reflect that this terminal meets your requirements. But it certainly doesn’t meet mine. This article is in need of an update IMO.
I’ve been using tmux for years and it still gets my thumbs up. Great software that just keeps on giving.