So you avoid X altogether? How would there be updates without X? And if using X, why not use apps that have desktop update functionality (where that is important)?
Not sure what you're asking here. I use X but switch between a fullscreen terminal running tmux and fullscreen Chrome. With tmux, you can multiplex a bunch of terminal windows, monitoring some of them for activity. For instance, if new mail arrives, mutt will repaint and its window will be flagged as active in the status bar at bottom.
I also use this as an ad-hoc notifications system: for example, kick off a long build, redirecting output to a file, and monitor its tmux window. When the process exits your shell prompt is printed again (activity!) and voila, you get a "build is complete" notification.
Is it just for the ability to use these programs on a remote server? Or do they improve workflow even on a local machine?
YMMV of course, but...
I use both remote and local tmux sessions. Reattaching to remote sessions and picking up where you left off is obviously useful, but it also comes in handy locally if X crashes, or if you need to remote in from a different machine. I build up a fair amount of "working state" inside a tmux session: an editor with tens or hundreds of files open, sql prompts, chat logs, shells with important history, etc. With suspend / resume you can go for months without having to tear down and rebuild that state. If I entrusted all that state to a gui, it certainly wouldn't live as long.
As for workflow, the world of text and text manipulation really has advantages once you get comfortable in it. Random access to programs is O(1) fast: in my setup, "^A 0" for editor, "^A 4" for mail, etc and it's obvious what number to hit for other ones. Compare to Alt-Tab style switching which is more like O(n) as you cycle through the list. I find the fine-grain motor control of mouse-based copy and paste cognitively wasteful and annoying. Keyboard-based selection of text lets you use your favorite editor bindings to jump to word boundaries, end of sentence, end of line etc and is much more pleasant. Searching any terminal output via "/" or "?" is handy.
I see. I was not aware that tmux has/can be configured to have a status bar at the bottom. That makes activity updates possible.
Thanks also for elaborating about workflow. I use a similar setup with chrome and xterm and a tiling WM. I like the idea of integrating tmux and suspend/resume to build up and return to state.
Not sure what you're asking here. I use X but switch between a fullscreen terminal running tmux and fullscreen Chrome. With tmux, you can multiplex a bunch of terminal windows, monitoring some of them for activity. For instance, if new mail arrives, mutt will repaint and its window will be flagged as active in the status bar at bottom.
I also use this as an ad-hoc notifications system: for example, kick off a long build, redirecting output to a file, and monitor its tmux window. When the process exits your shell prompt is printed again (activity!) and voila, you get a "build is complete" notification.
Is it just for the ability to use these programs on a remote server? Or do they improve workflow even on a local machine?
YMMV of course, but...
I use both remote and local tmux sessions. Reattaching to remote sessions and picking up where you left off is obviously useful, but it also comes in handy locally if X crashes, or if you need to remote in from a different machine. I build up a fair amount of "working state" inside a tmux session: an editor with tens or hundreds of files open, sql prompts, chat logs, shells with important history, etc. With suspend / resume you can go for months without having to tear down and rebuild that state. If I entrusted all that state to a gui, it certainly wouldn't live as long.
As for workflow, the world of text and text manipulation really has advantages once you get comfortable in it. Random access to programs is O(1) fast: in my setup, "^A 0" for editor, "^A 4" for mail, etc and it's obvious what number to hit for other ones. Compare to Alt-Tab style switching which is more like O(n) as you cycle through the list. I find the fine-grain motor control of mouse-based copy and paste cognitively wasteful and annoying. Keyboard-based selection of text lets you use your favorite editor bindings to jump to word boundaries, end of sentence, end of line etc and is much more pleasant. Searching any terminal output via "/" or "?" is handy.
You get the drift. ;)