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I'm an Emacs user trying to learn a software tool that is best run from a terminal. The default set-up to get the most out of that tool is to use xterm for interaction and call Vim for editing. One could simply replace Vim with Emacs in this setup, but then one would spend most of the time working outside of Emacs in an Xterm.

I figured out there is (Multi)Term-mode in Emacs, but it is really hard to find out about its pros and cons. So I have the following questions:

  1. [Without X11]: Why or when would anybody use Emacs (Mutli)Term instead of Console & TMUX (or GNU Screen)?
  2. [With X11] How does Emacs (Multi)Term compare to Xterm?

Obviously speed is one criteria for comparison, but I'm sure there are other.

Thorsten
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  • Is the tool graphical, as in `ncurses`-driven with text menus, etc? Sounds to me like you could run it in `M-x ansi-term`, just set `VISUAL=emacsclient` and `M-x server-start` before you run it. – tripleee Aug 25 '12 at 12:20
  • It sounds like you're looking for a discussion. I'm not sure Stackoverflow is the place for it. Maybe try reddit.com/r/emacs? – event_jr Aug 25 '12 at 12:23
  • No, its not a graphical tool - its a programming environment optimized for use from the terminal. And 'No' again, I'm not looking for a discussion, but for arguments - since I'm really not sure about the pros and cons of using Emacs term-mode vs e.g. xterm. – Thorsten Aug 25 '12 at 12:39
  • I would prefer to keep the question a bit abstract - its really not about the tool. I would - of course - prefer to use it from inside Emacs, so I would like to be able to take a qualified decision about using Emacs term-mode or xterm, e.g. – Thorsten Aug 25 '12 at 17:20

1 Answers1

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  1. You'd use Emacs term over tmux/screen if you're more familiar with Emacs and already use it for many other things and/or if you spend more time in Emacs than in the terminal.
  2. Emacs's Term is much less sophisticated and much less reliable than xterm. But it works within Emacs so if you live in Emacs, it might be a good option.

Note that you may also prefer to use Emacs's M-x shell functionality, which gives you a command line without giving you an actual terminal emulator. That means that the commands are edited in Emacs before being sent to the underlying command-line program, so all the usual Emacs editing can be used there (and the history manipulation as well as command completion is performed by Emacs as well, which can be great, or can be disappointing (e.g. if the completion needs info which Emacs does not have)).

Stefan
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  • Thanks Stefan, while I would obviously like to work inside Emacs,I suspected that "Emacs's Term is much less sophisticated and much less reliable than xterm". So maybe the simplest solution is to go for xterm and try to make it behave as much as Emacs as possible. – Thorsten Aug 26 '12 at 19:05
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    Why is "Emacs's Term is much less sophisticated and much less reliable than xterm"? Any specific examples or references? I just recently started using `ansi-term` and `multi-term` to bring a terminal inside Emacs, and I really enjoy it, but should I be cautions about anything? – modulitos Mar 30 '14 at 03:12