terminal acting weird

[cuckooflew]

I guess I have it backwards then, What if you just use 'screen' in a tty, as it is intended to run ?
You say before Debian 10, on Debian 9 you could use screen in this manner, so something changed in the upgrade, maybe the developer or maintainer would know, what changed ? maybe there is something that can be changed back in program code, but that is much more advanced then what I can do,.
You mentioned using "tmux" , so that is a option, What about:

LE_746F6D617A7A69 » So I think a solution to Your problem could be to run the screen as a foreground job and for other tasks You can use another terminal instance.

have you tried this ? I am running out of ideas

[cuckooflew]

I don't see why you can not just use the & , in your terminal, there is no need or reason to use the 'screen' command, EG:

Code: Select all

$ thunar &

, etc.... this is what I had done earlier, when I said I could not duplicate the problem, I did not have the screen command, and still had no problem starting several programs from 1 terminal,...In the screen shot below I still have the task bar on the bottom, but it is not necessary either.
Maybe the DE does not work the same, and that is why you can't do it this way, ? I don't know, but any way:

[PsySc0rpi0n]

I guess I have it backwards then, What if you just use 'screen' in a tty, as it is intended to run ?
You say before Debian 10, on Debian 9 you could use screen in this manner, so something changed in the upgrade, maybe the developer or maintainer would know, what changed ? maybe there is something that can be changed back in program code, but that is much more advanced then what I can do,.
You mentioned using "tmux" , so that is a option, What about:

LE_746F6D617A7A69 » So I think a solution to Your problem could be to run the screen as a foreground job and for other tasks You can use another terminal instance.

have you tried this ? I am running out of ideas

By tty you mean in text mode? But then, can I access it while I'm using the Desktop? My regular way of using Debian is to get into my Desktop and use the terminal emulator for almost everything I can but surfing the web which is a bit more tricky with terminal based web browsers.

The problem with what you suggest about messing with the code and contacting devs, etc, is that until now I didn't know this was just a problem of mine or not because I have messed up so much with my Debian through the years that it's very likely that I have conflicting configurations, unused old applications, errors and other problems from the past that might not be properly fixed, etc, etc for the past 8 years or so. I use Debian for probably about 10 years and I have never made a fresh install for the past 8, iirc. So many underlying problems maybe the cause of many strange behaviours I see every now an then. I struggled so much with Java installs, Flash Player installs, OBS and many other programs I used in the past.

As an example, I use WPS Office just because I like the way it looks, but in Spreasheets, that bar where you type cell contents, formulas etc, is always the same colour as the text I type in it which is annoying because when you try to see what you're typing, at least me, look always to that bar instead of the cell.

So, all this to say that I always question myself and my Debian install because any problem I have I always consider the possibility that is a result of my poor knowledge of the advanced topics of Linux. As I use to say, I'm quite an old Linux user, but never been able to become an experienced user. I have a "net" friend that does miracles when I ask for his help. But I don't want to be bothering him every time I have a problem. I also want to try to do things on my own, but most of the times, I never find the correct fixes.
One other example is that a few days ago, my mains failed and my laptop shutdown because I don't have a battery. When I turned it on, it wouldn't boot with some message about being writing out of "hd0" range and also referring to grub. So, I tried to search for messages like that and my fears were becoming real. HD mechanical failure or something not repairable. So, I asked that friend of mine for some help an after a while, solution was only to reinstall the kernel. Nothing else. But my web searches were leading me to think on the worst scenario.


About trying @LE_746F6D617A7A69 suggestion, I need to check how's that done.

I don't see why you can not just use the & , in your terminal, there is no need or reason to use the 'screen' command, EG:

Code: Select all

$ thunar &

, etc.... this is what I had done earlier, when I said I could not duplicate the problem, I did not have the screen command, and still had no problem starting several programs from 1 terminal,...In the screen shot below I still have the task bar on the bottom, but it is not necessary either.
Maybe the DE does not work the same, and that is why you can't do it this way, ? I don't know, but any way:

If I use '&' alone, can I call the applications back to the front so that I can use them whenever I need? How o I send them back again?

[cuckooflew]

Ok, well I can understand what you are saying, most any way,...it is kind of long but any way, your last comment /question :

If I use '&' alone, can I call the applications back to the front so that I can use them whenever I need? How do I send them back again?

Good question, I forgot to check that, I just use the icons in the task bar, click which ever one, and that brings it back, just like as if I had minimized the window, I need to start the VM again, and try it... Oh, no maybe not...
You should be able to use the arrow keys, to scroll back to which ever command you ran, for example just now when I said I need to start the VM, so I went to my terminal, (xterm), using the arrow key, <up>, I went up to when I started the VM, and just clicked it, and started the VM. Does that make sense ? I suppose another screen shot may be needed if it doesn't , just be sure not to close the terminal you used, but actually that would not be easy, I tried closing the terminal, and it gave me a warning that there are processes running, and so I could not close it. The task bar though is still nice to have, even if you don't use it much, it is handy for starting the programs I use regularly, no need to even open a terminal, I just click the icon, and it starts......

By tty you mean in text mode?

Yes, but I am surprised you did not know this --

I use Debian for probably about 10 years and I have never made a fresh install for the past 8, iirc

But any way, guess you will learn a new "trick", use the <ctrl+alt+f2 > key combination, where I say "f2", could be f3, f4, etc,... to get back to where you started, use f5, that usually is the one that your Desktop will be on, however, you still will not be able to use the 'screen' command the way you were, since I only just installed that a day or 2 ago, I am not sure with the options, etc...need to read the manual more on that. Any way, try it, if I make sense to you, if you don't understand me, I will have to try making some more screen shots, maybe even a gif animation,...it is one of those things that is hard for me to explain, if I could be there in in person, and show you , you would see what I mean about using the arrow keys to scroll through your command history, and also about the <ctrl+alt+f2 > to open up a new tty, that is "text mode", I guess, I never really have seen that term used much, I may be misunderstanding,...
=======edit===
Here is a animation I made, not very good though , I don't do this very much and need practice, but any way, you will see the commands changing at the prompt, I am using the arrow keys to do that, scroll up and down:

[Head_on_a_Stick]

If I use '&' alone, can I call the applications back to the front so that I can use them whenever I need? How o I send them back again?

https://www.tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/x9644.html

[hiran123]

I comprehend what all of you are attempting to state. I acknowledge it. All things considered, what different choices do I need to abstain from having numerous terminal tabs opened in a solitary terminal window, squandering RAM, and processor power that can be utilized for different errands? Additionally, another motivation to utilize screen is that on the off chance that I have these 4 or 5 tabs open for the applications I generally run, in addition to 3 or 4 more when I and "having a great time" programming (3 or 4 tabs for this, isn't a lot), I effectively lose all sense of direction where the tab is the thing that... I realize you can utilize vim to deal with different open records and so forth yet is far more advantageous to have this consistent 4 or 5 applications inside screen an at that point, have the other 3 or 4 tabs for programming (different errands) out of the screen, not too far off toward the end. In this way, by the day's end, I believe involves product, being utilized to that, and perhaps simply my method of keeping things composed.

[sgosnell]

What people are saying is to use an actual terminal, not a terminal emulator. Using screen is fine, but it shouldn't be run from a terminal emulator inside X. Run it from a tty by using Ctrl-Alt-F2, or whichever function key you want, below F7. From that tty, Ctrl-Alt-F7 will return you to the GUI desktop, and you can switch at will.