Is there some good "window manager" for terminals?

I tried Screen, but it seems more oriented towards switching between sessions instead of tiling the sessions. Maybe I just don't know enough about it.

I'm assuming you mean a text based windows manager? I've never used anything like that. The closest I would say is virtual terminals that you can switch between (built into Linux consoles). A company called Facetterm (or facetwin) sells a product for that. It may also do Windowing.

If you mean GUIs there are several built into Linux.

I see developers rave about how good EMACS is for that kind of stuff but haven't (and won't) use it myself.

You're correct that the main point of screens is to allow users to detach and reattach to screens. (Since it allows for attachments it can also be used to allow multiple people to see the same screen at the same time.) It wouldn't be good for what you're asking.

Sorry, I won't contribute much to this thread

Facetterm looks like a brilliant solution. I like screenshots from their brochure but (after a quick google search) it seems that it is quite expensive. The UK official reseller of the product seems to have discontinued distributing it, though.

I'll be closely watching this thread as I love the idea of something like that.

I would like something free and open source.

Not sure if it exists. What I do is use a Windows workstation and open multiple PuTTY sessions into my Linux boxes.

I did note "sells" when I mentioned Facetterm. Back in the dawn of time (a/k/a 1991) when I worked on SCO UNIX (I know...) without GUI Facetterm was the only tool to do this that I knew of. Interestingly my company has recently gotten much newer SCO Open Desktop Servers and the software on those is integrated into Facetterm which is something I never did back when.

However, it appears from this article that I didn't think through screen properly:
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com...1-6063744.html

Essentially what is suggested there is to open multiple screen sessions then you can detach from one and move to another then detach from that to move to another or move back to the original etc... It might be a few more keystrokes than the Facetterm would take but it is FOSS.

Why not just open a few terminal emulators in the Linux box?

Because the Windoze laptop is my main workstation as provided by the company and I like to have everything in a single workspace. I might have a single session open to 10 or more UNIX or Linux servers at once. (We have quite few servers here.) When I need to do something on one of the servers for which I need multiple windows I simply open as many more PuTTY sessions to that specific server as I need. I can then quickly switch between those sessions or even from those to other servers.

If you're on the console (or a VNC or XDMCP session) you can open as many GUI windows (e.g. Xterm) as you want within that space. Or you can access the console virtual terminals if you're on the console.

On rereading your original question I see you want to "tile" but that would be a GUI function I'd think. Facetterm didn't do that back when and I haven't played with those newer (yet old) SCO systems to see if the newer version does this. Why don't you want to use GNOME, KDE or other GUI windows manager?

twin: http://www.archlinux.org/packages/community/i686/twin/
vwm: http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=21767
dvtm: http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.ph...m&do_Search=Go
tmux: http://www.archlinux.org/packages/community/i686/tmux/

And you've used one or the other of these successfully?
The first link seems to just have another link that says "We're sorry...".

MensaWater: You don't use Arch Linux? No soup for you! Well. Not really. It says "We're Sorry but this Project hasn't yet uploaded their personal webpage yet. Please check back soon for updates or visit SourceForge". It's the differences that make this world so rich, diverse and wonderful. http://sourceforge.net/projects/twin/

KTHNX

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Scr...l_multiplexers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_%2...wing_system%29

KTHNX * 2

My point was posting random links you Googled without any input as to what you know about it (if you know anything) isn't really an "answer". Sometimes its appropriate to post a link after you've reviewed it if you think it answers the user's Q but when you do you really ought to post "haven't used this but my read of it leads me to believe...".

Your comments about Arch Linux mystify me.

I'm an Arch Linux user. MTK358 (the OP) is an Arch Linux user. I have known about twin, vwm, dvtm and tmux for a long time and I'm sure I even tried a couple of them (though I don't remember which). From earlier posts I gathered that neither you, MTK356 nor sycamorex were aware of any such (FOSS) programs existing. I gave you some names, if you want to know more about them you are quite free to look up more information by yourself or, obviously, go ahead and try them. My post was/is an -answer-, despite your disagreement.

The original question was: "(sic) Is there some good "window manager" for terminals?". My post did -more- than answer it, I even provided links to (in Arch Linux terms) official and community-operated packages destined for the distribution that the OP is using.

You're welcome, by the way. Sheesh.

I am with FacetCorp, the maker of FacetTerm, and thought I would clarify a couple of things about the product. From the brief description given, it should do the job nicely and includes some other features like screen alerts for activity to a window, copy & paste, and screen lock. It is still available and supported in the UK either through a reseller or directly from FacetCorp. It is not free. But there is a free 30-day fully functional evaluation period. So if your need is short term, this might take care of it. This is my first post, so I can't put in a URL, but the free eval is at the facetcorp website under the Support menu option.

Sorry, I only want free/open source, as this isn't really important and it is probably something I might use for a long time. If not, then having a few GUI terminal emulators open is fine.

Unrelated:

I wonder if something like Terminator or Multi-GNOME-Terminal would work?

The most recent versions of screen will allow you to split screens either vertically or horizontally, allowing you to log in to a single server in, say, putty. Then slice and dice your workspace as needed (this is probably something that you would put in your .screenrc), then log in to various servers in the different sectons of the screen.

Alternatively, you could use X forwarding through ssh, and run ratpoison as your window manager... ratpoison is to window managers as screen is to terminals. It allows the work space to be tiled, and for different windows to be opened within the tiled framework.

I use screen all the time, but I've only briefly used ratpoison... it's definitely an acquired taste.