There are a few non-mainstream software tools I’d like to try when I have some spare time, alternatives for currently popular tools.
First, Linux isn’t the only open-source UNIX kernel out there. While I’ve used Solaris a lot, I never tried BSD beyond its toolset since early versions of Mac OS X. It just so happens that NetBSD version 6 was released this week. In the past I ended up avoiding BSD variants because of the lack of driver support and how they wouldn’t work well in a virtual machine.
Also, while I use a lot GNU Screen, it tends to be bulky and complicated. It is primarily a terminal emulator, but I always end up using it purely for detached terminal sessions. Well, from OpenBSD, there is the tool called tmux, a terminal multiplexer first.
Finally, just so that I can feel even more like a hipster with computers, I’d like to try out Z shell. There used to be a time (decades ago?) when there was a healthy competition between various shell alternatives. Over time BASH mostly won, with Tcsh second (on legacy Mac OS X and BSD). But then, both annoy me, not as badly as DOS, but still. I heard that Z was more decent, so I’ll try it out.
Published on October 18, 2012 at 22:07 EDT
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