Re: [dev] dvtm status update

From: Ross Mohn <rpmohn_AT_waxandwane.org>
Date: Fri, 07 Nov 2014 12:06:48 -0500

On 11/07/2014 04:54 AM, Marc André Tanner wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 01, 2014 at 11:21:49AM +0100, Marc André Tanner wrote:
>> The copy mode, allowing you to move around in the scroll back buffer
>> history, selecting text and then later pasting it into different
>> windows was rewritten. It now works by piping the whole history to
>> your $EDITOR and whatever the editor writes to stdout is kept in a
>> dvtm "register" for later pasting.
>>
>> echo Hello World | $EDITOR - | cat
> I thought this would appeal to the list audience, but I guess I was
> wrong. Since the feedback was so overwhelming I'm probably just
> going to release it as is ...

I've been using the new copy mode for about a week and can report
excellent results. I never got the hang of the original dvtm copy mode,
so I never ended up using it more than once or twice. The new copy mode,
on the other hand, I've been using much more than I ever expected to
(I've got DVTM_EDITOR=vis). Because it leverages the external vi-like
editor, the only new commands to learn are MOD+e to begin selecting and
MOD+p to paste. I find myself using it, instead of mousing, to copy &
paste almost always now because it keeps my hands in place on the
keyboard and I don't have to make the cognitive switch from keyboard to
mouse and back again.

I've been using the tab branch for many weeks now and am very happy to
see it merged into the master branch. It's brilliant! I work in dvtm all
day, every day on my Linux systems at home and on my AIX systems at
work. I had used the dwm X window manager on Linux since Anselm first
released on this mailinglist (and wmii and even wmi before that!), but I
eventually defaulted to monocle mode for all my GUI apps, and found I
didn't really need dwm after that. That left me frustrated when working
with terminals, because I still wanted the dwm-like usage patterns for
them. Now I have that in a single short script that launches an
instance of dvtm with an informative status bar, vis for copy/paste, all
under abduco for session persistence. It's the terminal window manager
that I've always needed! As to key bindings, I think the defaults are
fine enough, but I do have a few significant differences. Personal tastes!

I encourage everyone who is currently using tmux or screen to spend some
time with dvtm. It will be very worth your while! Those of you who spend
any amount of time in terminals and aren't already using dvtm, tmux, or
screen will find your productivity massively improved by using dvtm. It
makes me smile every morning when I launch dvtm and my entire terminal
environment opens up, just as I left it the night before, and I am
immediately productive! It's a beautiful piece of work.

Cheers,
Ross
Received on Fri Nov 07 2014 - 18:06:48 CET