Command line freedom.

More and more computers are going back to the command line. This is being done so that it takes less resources to run that system. It also makes it easier to have what is known as virtual machines all running on one piece of hardware, thereby saving money. That includes Microsoft products such as their server. Yes, they will have a product that runs without MSWindows. Just like the old DOS machines. With Linux, BSD, and etc have been doing this all along. Two invaluable tools are DVTM (a command line window manager and SCREEN (a command line connection or session  detacher/reattach).




With SCREEN you can free yourself of that ssh or rlogin session and then reattach to the session later from the same or another computer. For details see: http://www.instructables.com/id/Linux-screen-play/ .

With DVTM you can have multiple windows or more than one usable prompt at a time. You could be working on your favorite  spreadsheet doing important reports while watching an administrative process. You are not limited to just two windows. Just depends on the screen size and what area the programs you have require. You can also minimize and maximize screens just like in a gui environment.  For more details see: Linux command line window manager at www.instructables.com/member/computothought/.

Hope this helps put your old machines back to work for a bit longer.

Note: programs shown are aclock, lizzyclc, sc, and top.