Alright, let’s talk about this tmux thing. I ain’t no fancy computer person, but I got a grandson who showed me some tricks, and I figured I’d share ’em with ya’ll, ’cause they’re mighty useful, even for an old lady like me.
So, what’s this tmux, huh? Well, it’s like havin’ a bunch of them black windows on your computer, but you can do more stuff with ’em. Like, you can split ’em up, move ’em around, and even close your computer and come back later and everything’s still there. It’s like havin’ a bunch of them sticky notes, but on your computer, ya know? My grandson calls it a “terminal multiplexer” , sound so fancy ha!
Now, I ain’t gonna lie, it’s got some weird buttons you gotta push. They call ’em “shortcuts” or somethin’, but I just call ’em buttons. The main one, the one you gotta remember, is like holdin’ down that Ctrl key and then tappin’ the “b” key. My grandson told me to call it “prefix”. That prefix button is like tellin’ the computer, “Hey, I’m about to do somethin’ special with tmux!”
- Starting and Stopping: If you wanna start a new tmux thingy, you just type “tmux” in that black window. Easy peasy. And if you wanna leave, but keep everything goin’, you do that prefix button thing and then tap “d”. It’s like puttin’ your work on pause. When you wanna come back, you type “tmux attach” and boom, everything’s right where you left it.
- Windows and Panes: Now, this is where it gets fancy. You can split that black window into smaller parts, they call ’em “panes.” Like dividin’ your garden into sections for different vegetables, you know? To split it sideways, you do the prefix button and then tap the key. To split it up and down, you do prefix and then . It looks like a slash, but not the one that leans back, the other one. And if you want a whole new window, like a whole new garden plot, you do prefix and then “c”. You move between these windows and panes by pressing prefix button then press a number button or arrow keys. My grandson said, arrow keys need set up in .*, too complicated, just use number keys.
- Moving Around: Once you got all them panes, you gotta move between ’em. It’s like walkin’ through your garden, checkin’ on your tomatoes and then your beans. To move to the next pane, you do prefix and then the arrow keys. Up, down, left, right, you got it. Or just like I told you, use number keys!
There’s a whole bunch of other stuff you can do, but I ain’t gonna try to remember it all. My grandson gave me a little piece of paper with all the “shortcuts” written down. He called it a “cheatsheet.” It’s like a recipe card, but for computer stuff. It tells you all the buttons to push to do different things. You can probably find somethin’ similar online, just search for “tmux cheatsheet pdf”. That’s what the young folks do, right? Google everything.
And you know what? Even though I ain’t a tech whiz, I find this tmux thing pretty darn handy. It’s like havin’ a bunch of extra hands when you’re workin’ in the garden. You can keep track of different things all at once, and you don’t gotta worry about losin’ your place. So, if an old lady like me can figure it out, I reckon you can too. Don’t be scared to give it a try. And if you get stuck, just ask your grandson. Or Google. That’s what they’re there for.
More buttons to push, just for fun:
- List Sessions: If you forgot the name of your session, like you forgot what you planted in which garden bed, press prefix then press “s”. It’ll show you all the sessions you got goin’. Then you can pick the one you want and get back to work. You also can type command “tmux ls” to check your sessions
- Kill Session: Sometime a session gets like weeds in the garden, gotta get rid of ’em. You do this by typing “tmux kill-session -t session_name” in your black window. But be careful, you don’t wanna kill the wrong session, or you’ll lose all your work.
- Scroll Mode: You know how sometimes you got too much stuff in the window and it scrolls off the top? Well, you can go back and look at it by doing the prefix key and then the key. It’s like lookin’ back at old seed catalogs. And when you’re done lookin’, you just press the “q” key to get back to normal.
- Rename a Window: If you wanna give your windows names, like labelin’ your garden rows, you do prefix and then the key. Then you can type in a new name, like “tomatoes” or “beans.” It helps keep things organized.
So there you have it. A little bit about tmux, from an old lady who ain’t afraid to try new things. It might seem complicated at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s a real time-saver. And remember, if you get stuck, just grab that “cheatsheet” or ask your grandson. Or Google. You got this.
Tags: [tmux, cheatsheet, terminal, linux, command line, productivity, shortcuts, tips, tutorial, beginner’s guide]
