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regolith-linux / regolith-desktop

Meta package for the Regolith Desktop Environment
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[Discussion] Zutty as a terminal? #541

Closed ploum closed 3 years ago

ploum commented 3 years ago

This ticket is there only as a source of discussion. It can be closed at any time.

I remember that, years ago, the terminal of choice for Regolith was a quite controversial. Bugs, speed, integration. Some other controversial stuff had happened too (I’ve read that the Suckless team has been criticized for using some nazi iconography. I don’t know the whole story but the fact is that some people are uncomfortable using SL tools such as ST terminal).

I don’t know if the debate has been definitely settled by I came across Zutty, which looks quite interesting.

https://tomscii.sig7.se/zutty/

The comparison with other terminals is a must-read.

https://tomscii.sig7.se/2020/12/A-totally-biased-comparison-of-Zutty

moritzheiber commented 3 years ago

While I'm not opposed to discussing alternatives to GNOME Terminal, I'm fairly certain due to the limitations mentioned on the Zutty website it won't become a default for Regolith, which has to support most of the features Zutty considers "optional" or obsolete (particularly, scroll back/buffer or right-to-left text).

ploum commented 3 years ago

I missed that very important point, you are right. Thanks for clarifying, I’m closing this.

kgilmer commented 3 years ago

Huh, interesting. I had no idea of any of that grossness of the suckless project. But, in fact it was in building and thinking about how "normal people" might use suckless tools like st was an early motivation for me to work on what became Regolith. I think st was my first debian package. The suckless website and docs have this unmistakable elitist vibe to them ("if you can't write C you're a worthless human being etc etc"). I wanted to counter that in some way. I may not have done a very good job of it but my trying to be inclusive and "newb friendly" came as a direct result to my perception of the suckless project and what I think is wrong with it.

I don't get many complaints about gnome-terminal and I think despite a slightly slower boot up, it's a good fit for most users. But, there's nothing saying we can't provide something for the super-minimalists out there at some point in the future. Good to know about zutty, thanks for the info!