twin
Twin is a text-mode window environment. It turns a text terminal into a X11-style display with window manager, terminal windows, and can also serve as display for remote applications. Each terminal window provides the functions of a text-mode Linux console. Twin runs on X11, libggi, itself, the Linux console, and any termcap/ncurses-compatible tty. It supports multiple simultaneous displays, and can attach/detach each display on the fly.
| Tags | Terminals Terminal Emulators/X Terminals |
|---|---|
| Licenses | GPL LGPL |
| Operating Systems | POSIX BSD Linux |
| Implementation | C |
Recent releases
- 02 Dec 2007 00:27
Release Notes: This release fixeds build errors using gcc 4.0, 4.1, and 4.2. It also fixes a problem related to VT-switch in the raw keyboard driver for the Linux console. Several 64-bit achitecture issues were fixed, including a bug causing twin server to hang in a busy loop for several seconds. Dead keys and compose key are now supported by --hw=X11 and --hw=gfx drivers. twsysmon was updated to show the improved CPU and disk usage statistics found in Linux kernel 2.6.
- 18 Jun 2003 14:18
Release Notes: The raw keyboard is now supported by the Linux console driver.
- 27 Mar 2003 01:41
Release Notes: Several bugs were fixed, including a buffer overrun in twdisplay, a memory leak in 'Reload RC', a missing stdarg.h includ in the libTw headers, compilation errors in hw_tty.c, and a problem with cut and paste pasting when clicking on the window border. getpt() support was added along with better error reporting in the pty code, 'make uninstall', a new shinyMetal_6x13.xpm theme. The twdisplay now autoprobes module HW drivers, support for utf8 on the Linux console was added, and more libTutf character sets were included. 'make install DEBUG=y' no longer strips binaries.
- 25 Oct 2002 13:47
Release Notes: This release fixes several bugs, including missing libtool support, an AVL trees remove bug, partially broken keypad on -hw=X11, broken mouse options on -hw=tty and broken {bg|root}-as-root options on -hw=gfx, and a server side bug in libTw widget repaint. Also, new features were added: all programs now accept options as either -<option> or --<option>, the twin server also autoprobes hw driver modules, there are new -hw=gfx themes "kde2", "goldenblue", and "mac", a new "9x19u" X11 unicode font, a greatly enhanced libTT library, and libTw autofocus subwidgets.
- 06 Jul 2002 12:15
Release Notes: This release adds several features: new HW driver `-hw=gfx' with enhanced graphics and customizable themes, more libTutf charsets, more `-hw=tty' options, new twsendmsg option `-twin@dpy', new human-readable config summary, new contributed twin.spec file and `twlsmsgport' client, and optimized shared library support. Also, some bugs were fixed: out of date headers, glitches in makefiles under some configurations, random segfault on client menu rows activation, and buffer overruns in twdisplay and HW drivers (if vsnprintf() is available, everything was already safe).
Recent comments
Thanks for the appreciation, tallship!
I guess one of the reasons is that I am not actively working on twin anymore... just some sporadic bugfixes.
And let's not forget that twin is very " retro' ": using text windows when also your mobile has a graphical interface is, at best, a small niche.
I don't understand why this project has fallen off the map, so to speak.
There is no corollary to this product, as it runs nicely on my machines, full screen on a pager screen under KDE or XFCE (nice).
Within Twin itself, I have several windows running, typically w/SSH sessions to other machines I'm managing, where I'll run screen or tmux sessions.
Twin is a remarkable product, the latest release and tutorials/docs for which can be found at the author's website: linuz.sns.it/~max/twin
The current release at the time of this writing is 0.6.2
I am so surprised that there aren't several products based upon this software, which had its humble beginnings on DOS, of all things.
KUDOS!!!
Re: Ah, Sweet Relief
> Glad to see this new release gets rid of
> the blinking. I'm in heaven now! I spend
> most of my time in the console, and a
> "window manager" for text mode is
> wonderful. Great work -- btw, where can
> I find info on increasing the size of my
> console (i.e. much more than the
> 80xwhatever default)?
Check out the Framebuffer HOWTO, or look at /usr/src/linux/Documentation/Framebuffer.txt or whatever it is called. I suggest setting your console to 1024x768x8bit ... that provides good size and speed (unless you can get it hardware accellerated, then use 24-bit).
Mirrors
The connection to linuz.sns.it is having big problems recently :-(
You will surely have more luck using one of the mirrors:
Multiple simultaneous displays
I was expecting much more feedback then what I got about running twin with multiple simultaneous displays...
Come on, let me know your opinions on the new features I added!
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