Yrurtj

I read through your questions several times before I realized that I definitely have a recommendation for you: vim with tmux: http://tmux.sourceforge.net/

tmux is a screen 'multiplexor' that lets you have several windows and panes 'within 1'

It is a successor to the venerable 'screen' program, long a staple of many cli coders. One of its original winning features over vim was the ability to do split windows vertically as well as horizontally. However screen has moved forward and can now do that too.

Example:

Another part of the setup that I would recommend is a good set of aliases. These will make your typing and interaction a lot easier and quicker

Some of my favorites are shown here as examples:

alias gcv='git commit'

alias gg='git grep ' # for searching (add parameter)

alias gst='git status -sb' # I must use this 100 times a day!!!

alias h='history | tail'

alias hg='history | grep' # for searching my history (add parameter)

alias l='ls -alFtrG'

alias ls='ls --color=auto'

alias mv='mv -i'

alias p='pwd'# at least 200 times a day! so 2 chrs saved * 200 = 400 less characters to type ;)

Aliases can be setup in a .bash_aliases file that is called from .bashrc with:
# Alias definitions.
if [ -f ~/.bash_aliases ]; then
. ~/.bash_aliases
fi

Chances are you already have that code, so just your own .bash_aliases file.

Both these options work on a Mac and that is an important consideration for myself (a mostly Ubuntu user).

Most folks using tmux remap the keys to make it easier. The default bindings are just not that good. Here are my settings:

$ cat ~/tmux.conf

# mdd tmux settings

bind r source-file ~/.tmux.conf ; display "Reloaded!"  # Reload with ctrl-r

set -g prefix C-a         # prefix from ctrl-b to ctrl-a

unbind C-b                # allow ctrl-b for other things

set -sg escape-time 1     # quicker responses

bind C-a send-prefix      # Pass on ctrl-a for other apps

set -g base-index 1        # Numbering of windows

setw -g pane-base-index 1  # Numbering of Panes

# bind | split-window -h    # Split panes horizontal

bind  split-window -h    # Split panes horizontal

bind - split-window -v    # Split panes vertically

bind h select-pane -L     # Switch to Pane Left

bind j select-pane -D     # Switch to Pane Down

bind k select-pane -U     # Switch to Pane Up

bind l select-pane -R     # Switch to Pane Right

bind -r C-h select-window -t :-  # Quick Pane Selection

bind -r C-l select-window -t :+  # Quick Pane Selection

bind -r H resize-pane -L 5       # Switch to Pane Left

bind -r J resize-pane -D 5       # Switch to Pane Down

bind -r K resize-pane -U 5       # Switch to Pane Up

bind -r L resize-pane -R 5       # Switch to Pane Right

setw -g mode-mouse off           # Mouse Off

set -g mouse-select-pane off     # Mouse Off  

set -g mouse-resize-pane off     # Mouse Off

set -g mouse-select-window off   # Mouse Off

#set -g  default-terminal "screen-256color"

setw -g monitor-activity on      # Activity Alerts

set -g visual-activity on

set -g status-fg white           # Status line Colors

set -g status-bg black

setw -g window-status-fg cyan    # Window list color

setw -g window-status-bg default

setw -g window-status-attr dim

setw -g window-status-current-fg white     # Active Window Color

setw -g window-status-current-bg red

setw -g window-status-current-attr bright

set -g pane-border-fg green      # Pane colors

set -g pane-border-bg black 

set -g pane-active-border-fg white 

set -g pane-active-border-bg yellow

set -g message-fg white          # Command/Message Line.

set -g message-bg black

set -g message-attr bright

set -g status-left-length 40     # Status Line, left side

set -g status-left "#[fg=white]Session: #S #[fg=yellow]#I #[fg=cyan]#P"

set -g status-utf8 on            # Status Line, right side

set -g status-right "-------"

set -g status-interval 60        # frequency of status line updates

set -g status-justify centre     # center window list

setw -g mode-keys vi             # vi keys to move 

unbind v                         # Open panes in same directory as tmux-panes script

unbind n

bind v send-keys " ~/tmux-panes -h" C-m

bind n send-keys " ~/tmux-panes -v" C-m

unbind Up                        # Maximizing and Minimizing...

bind Up new-window -d -n tmp ; swap-pane -s tmp.1 ; select-window -t tmp

unbind Down

bind Down last-window ; swap-pane -s tmp.1 ; kill-window -t tmp

bind P pipe-pane -o "cat >>~/#W.log" ; display "Toggled logging to ~/#W.log"

# Make keys for copy mode be like vi

unbind [

bind Escape copy-mode

unbind p

bind p paste-buffer

bind -t vi-copy 'v' begin-selection

bind -t vi-copy 'y' copy-selection

Finally (to close the loop), here's my .vimrc settings themselves that I like having to make the shell easier to use:

" mdd specific stuff --- start

set hlsearch

set incsearch

set number

" more3 mdd stuff - set tabs to be spaces and length of 2 characters.

set smartindent

set tabstop=2

set shiftwidth=2

set expandtab

" mdd specific stuff --- end

"

" Forget being compatible with good ol' vi

set nocompatible



" Get that filetype stuff happening

filetype on

filetype plugin on

filetype indent on



" Turn on that syntax highlighting

syntax on



" Why is this not a default

set hidden



" Don't update the display while executing macros

set lazyredraw



" At least let yourself know what mode you're in

set showmode



" Enable enhanced command-line completion. Presumes you have compiled

" with +wildmenu.  See :help 'wildmenu'

set wildmenu



" Let's make it easy to edit this file (mnemonic for the key sequence is

" 'e'dit 'v'imrc)

nmap <silent> ,ev :e $MYVIMRC<cr>



" And to source this file as well (mnemonic for the key sequence is

" 's'ource 'v'imrc)

nmap <silent> ,sv :so $MYVIMRC<cr>



highlight ExtraWhitespace ctermbg=red guibg=red

match ExtraWhitespace /s+$/

autocmd BufWinEnter * match ExtraWhitespace /s+$/

autocmd InsertEnter * match ExtraWhitespace /s+%#@<!$/

autocmd InsertLeave * match ExtraWhitespace /s+$/

autocmd BufWinLeave * call clearmatches()

Finally I make a few changes to my .bashrc file For example with shopt -s autocd when I type a directory name (that exists) my shell cd's into that directory immediately. Nifty! So here's my .bashrc changes:

# Automatic cd'ing

shopt -s autocd



# Have cd show directory info ('cos my shell doesn't show full directory path in $PS1 prompt (intended).

cd() {

      builtin cd "$@" && pwd 

  }



# enable programmable completion features

if [ -f /etc/bash_completion ] && ! shopt -oq posix; then

    . /etc/bash_completion

fi



PATH=$PATH:$HOME/.rvm/bin # Add RVM to PATH for scripting

[[ -s "$HOME/.rvm/scripts/rvm" ]] && . "$HOME/.rvm/scripts/rvm"  # Load RVM into a shell session *as a function*



# mdd Terminal Multiplexor 6/15/2012

if [[ ! $TERM =~ screen ]]; then

    exec tmux

fi



[ -z "$TMUX" ] && export TERM=xterm-256color



export EDITOR=vim



git config --global --add color.ui true

I'm using XMonad + tmux + Emacs for a similar setup.

I used ratpoison for a year in the past but XMonad felt more robust. I never had any problems in my 256MB, 512MB boxes with it. Ratpoison had some stability problems, but this is anecdotal and things might have changed since then.

I also used GNU screen but tmux has some features that screen hasn't.

If you already know vim, you'd better not learn a new tool. If you don't, Emacs can employ multiple shells (C-u M-x shell), use your favorite shell (M-x term), you can write, compile and debug your programs, read your mails, hangout in IRC, read web/info/man pages, run most REPL shells (e.g. M-x run-python), use git/hg/svn inside it, edit remote files with TRAMP, use dired to do almost all file operations, use grep/find/ack inside it. You can use Emacs with or without X. You don't need a terminal multiplexer like screen or tmux, but I prefer to run emacs as a server and use emacsclient from tmux if running it from shell.

• solution with no X at all: framebuffer + Linux console + GNU screen + vim + w3m


• solution with X but no desktop environment: dwm + urxvt + GNU screen + vim + w3m + surf

dwm uses only a few hundred kB of memory, keyboard driven, but you can use mouse as well if you like. Check http://suckless.org for more simple yet powerful tools.

For multiple shells with easy keyboard navigation between them, you might want to look into GNU Screen, or byobu (which is an enhancement of it).

I undertook a similar endeavor a couple of months ago, abandoning my mouse and exploring a multitude of set ups and window managers. Looks like you've already been offered plenty of helpful suggestions, but I figured a couple extra cents couldn't hurt. Here's my two:

Take a look at i3 window manager. It's light, with simple configuration and doesn't require a recompile after altering the config. Tiling functionality and tagged workspaces mean no mouse and endless possibilities based on preference and screen space. Programs can be assigned to tags and keys can be bound to just about anything. i3status or conky are easily piped to i3 for system info. Install dmenu and unplug your mouse.

Try a light distro. Arch, Gentoo, and Slackware all offer different options for setting up a light environment. Start small, and pay attention to dependencies. Install only what you need and learn to configure it properly.
Don't start X on boot. Learn to use all of the tools at your expense. Vim is a beast. If you already know it, use it. If not, learn it. Pay attention to the details. Learn what you have on your system and why it's there.

I had a similar desire about six months ago. Primarily because I was working via SSH all day. As has already been suggested, use GNU screen. Its pretty terrible (IMHO) straight after installing it. However! It is highly customizable via the .screenrc file. There are plenty of online tutorials which provide code you can cut and paste to get it just as you like.

I went so far as to put together a few scripts for setting up such an environment - MALiCE - 'My Awesome Linux Coding Environment'. Its available on Github here:

MALiCE

This also documents a lots keyboard shortcuts as well as a sample .muttrc and .screenrc files - which are setup to work with things like gmail.

Note its not perfect but it may save you some time and effort to have a look at some of the config files and scripts. There's a strong vim bias.

I'd also recommend programs such as cmus (text-based media player - pretty good) and mutt (email client - again configured via text file .muttrc). There are also text-based IRC clients and believe it or not, text-based video decoders which will turn video into ASCII - a bit extreme but each to their own.

If you don't want a desktop at all then there are number of options. For example you could install slackware, which if I remember correctly boots to a command-line interface. You have to go out of your way to start the GUI.