Re: [gentoo-user] Console scrollback

[Grant Taylor <gtaylor@gentoo.tnetconsulting.net>]

On 1/13/21 2:56 PM, Alan Mackenzie wrote:
> Hello, Grant.

Hi Alan,

> Well, there's really not much that can't be done in a terminal 
> emulator.  But it's the manner of the doing that's important.

Okay.  I can appreciate and respect that response.

> Doing text work in X is   s l u g g i s h.  Changing from one 
> application to another, which would be achieved by, say Alt-F4 on a 
> console takes more key sequences in X, and is less than instantaneous.

I don't know that I've ever experienced the sluggishness that you're 
talking about.  But that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.  I will admit 
that Alt-Tabing through windows is an additional step vs Alt-F# in that 
you have the intermediary list that you cycle through vs just jumping 
directly to the desired window.

> The X terminal emulator tends not to occupy the whole screen - it tends 
> to have title bars, menu items, tabs even, which just distract from 
> the task at hand.  Maybe it can be set up to take the whole screen, 
> but that's work.  And the fonts used tend to be less distinct and 
> helpful than the 16 x 8 bitmaps I have on the console.

Those seem more like preferences / settings to me.  But preferences are 
still sufficient to drive decisions.

> And X windows steals useful key sequences, such as Alt-Tab.

True.

> On an Emacs session, in three columns on a console, I can display 
> 195 consecutive lines of a source file simultaneously.

I would expect that to be the same possibility in X and on the console. 
Or quite close counterparts.

> I could go on, but ...
> 
> That's not to say there aren't problems with the tty console - even 
> before the screen scrolling was removed altogether, it wasn't exactly 
> anything to write home about.  And it would be nice to have more than 
> 16 colours available.  But, on balance, I'll stick with the console.

Fair enough.  To each their own.

> I think bringing up a new Gentoo system absolutely requires working 
> in the console, certainly up to the point where X11 and a Window 
> Manager have been installed and debugged.

True.

Thank you Alan, for enlightening me to your work flow and how the 
console is better for you.



-- 
Grant. . . .
unix || die