[HN Gopher] Vtm: Text-Based Desktop Environment
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Vtm: Text-Based Desktop Environment
Author : klaussilveira
Score : 156 points
Date : 2025-03-07 17:12 UTC (5 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (github.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
| pvg wrote:
| A big thread five years ago
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24243521
| evanjrowley wrote:
| The main link in the thread appears to have been taken over by
| a malicious entity.
| accrual wrote:
| We've come full circle. We invented a GUI to replace the TUI,
| then reimplemented the GUI in the TUI. Long live the terminal!
| ninetyninenine wrote:
| We've done it twice. Many terminals run under electron or
| equivalent browser interfaces. So we've implemented TUI in the
| GUI as well!
| cmrdporcupine wrote:
| Revenge of DESQview
| leejoramo wrote:
| I used DESQview for a number of years, and always think about
| it when see new TUI systems
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DESQview
| sushidev wrote:
| I tried to use desqview but it was too slow on my 386 33mhz
| machine... not sure how much RAM it had back then but I
| recall it was the bottleneck and swapping to disk caused
| everything to lag.
| nxobject wrote:
| It's funny - I think of DESQView/X, their fully compliant X11
| server complete with both Motif and OpenLook. The exact
| opposite of vanilla DESQview.
| fragmede wrote:
| run it through aalib for good measure
| pantulis wrote:
| The demo video has a lot of Borland's Turbo Vision vibes.
| gjvc wrote:
| There was something similar a few years ago which ran over an ssh
| connection and had a zoomable ui of sorts. I can't find the link
| -- does this ring a bell anywhere?
| qrobit wrote:
| I don't completely understand what is meant by "zooming", but
| kitty[^1] does that: you open ssh connection with `kitten ssh
| user@host` and pressing <C-Enter> will open another ssh pane in
| the same tab, you can than IIRC <C-F> to "zoom" and make tab
| take full window
|
| [1]: <https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/>
| deadbabe wrote:
| I wish some web apps would adopt this pure text design language
| jf wrote:
| The text heavy emphasis in the UI is one of the things that I
| used to love in the Windows Phone
| jimmydddd wrote:
| Who is the target user for this?
| Defletter wrote:
| Assuming this works over SSH, then presumably people who are
| literate with a terminal but prefer GUIs.
| johnisgood wrote:
| Damn, that would be quite cool.
| rangerelf wrote:
| It does (work over ssh). Pretty neat: reconnect to the host
| and you see all the terminals you left open.
| thesuitonym wrote:
| People who think it is cool, I guess.
| munk-a wrote:
| People who were looking for a TTRPG in the modern setting and
| ended up being deeply confused and converting their entire
| computer environment into a powerful runic device that requires
| complex incantations - though maybe those folks would have been
| better off looking for Mage the Ascension.
| hnlmorg wrote:
| I know I'm missing the obvious here, but is this a terminal
| multiplexer (like tmux)? Or a tiling terminal emulator (like
| iTerm, et al)?
| Retr0id wrote:
| Neither, it's its own thing. Most similar to tmux, but you
| interact with it more like you'd interact with a graphical
| window manager.
| cryptonector wrote:
| With tiling, I think.
| jacobegold wrote:
| I feel like an LLM agent could grok and interact with something
| like this pretty well...
| meepmeepinator wrote:
| This project is definitely worth a closer look. VTM takes the
| idea of a text-based UI beyond traditional terminal multiplexers
| by introducing a structured, tile-based desktop environment. The
| concept of a TUI matrix that can be rendered in both graphical
| and console environments is intriguing, and the potential for
| nesting interfaces within each other is a unique approach.
|
| That said, it will be interesting to see how this project
| evolves. How well does it handle performance under heavy
| workloads? Is there a practical use case for a full-fledged TUI
| desktop beyond niche enthusiast circles? And how extensible is it
| for developers who might want to integrate their own tools?
| otherayden wrote:
| Thanks, ChatGPT
| VanillaCafe wrote:
| Trying to understand it... if by comparison I'm using tmux then
| switching to something like this adds mouse based window (panel)
| management?
| dmd wrote:
| I'd love to see some of these ideas folded into Zellij.
| CaesarA wrote:
| I always wondered if it was possible to have a TUI-style window
| manager inside the terminal. This is a fantastic project, whoever
| made it did a great job.
| dgsm98 wrote:
| When I first read this, I thought this was an open source project
| by DirectTV
| TheLockranore wrote:
| I use terminal specifically to _not_ need a mouse. I use a great
| many TUI tools, but this one is never going to be one of them.
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(page generated 2025-03-07 23:00 UTC)