A. Appendix: Command Examples

Example A-1. Start a login shell

The most typical usage is to start a normal, interactive shell. The --login bash command line option above is optional.

  bash --login

Example A-2. Start a remote shell with ssh

But we can also start a remote shell on another host:

  ssh some_host.example.com

Example A-3. Start a mail reader

We can also start any text based program automatically, like a mail reader, or news reader:

  pine

Example A-4. Specify a specific mailbox

You can watch multiple mailboxes with multiple instances of your mail reader. This way the Tab labels will change color to alert you to new mail in that mail box.

  mutt -f ~/Mail/inbox

And another command for another mailbox:

  mutt -f ~/Mail/multignometerm-usability

Example A-5. Start a text web browser

  w3m ~/my_bookmarks

Example A-6. Start a remote shell and start a program on the remote host

  ssh -t some_host.example.com pine

Example A-7. 'watch' netstat connections

  watch netstat -tn

Example A-8. Watch the "message" log

  tail -f /var/log/messages

The Tab labels will also change colors every time a new entry is made to the log.

Example A-9. A Google search

  #!/bin/sh
  txt_browser=w3m

  read -e -p "search google/linux for: " search_str
  [ -z "$search_str" ] && exit
  $txt_browser \
  "http://www.google.com/linux?num=50&restrict=linux&\
  hl=en&lr=lang_en&q=%22$search_str%22&btnG=Google+Search"
  

This uses the shell "read" command to get user input, which is passed to a text web browser. If the user enters nothing, or after the web browser exits, then the script exits also, effectively closing the Tab. (The google search parameters also include some personal preferences that might be customized as well. The above example is available with mgt-helper as mgt-helper -lg.)

Example A-10. Look up a word in a Dictionary

  #!/bin/sh
  txt_browser=w3m
  
  read -e -p "Look up: " word
  [ -z "$word" ] && exit
  $txt_browser "http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va\
   =$(echo "$word" | sed 's/ /+/')"
  

This looks up any word in the Merriam-Webster on line dictionary, also using read and a text browser, like above. (The above example is available with mgt-helper as mgt-helper -l.)

Example A-11. A better netstat watcher

Above we had an example of watch netstat -tn that displays a continually self updating display of all our network connections. But watch wants to put a clock on the screen, and as it updates the Tab titles alternate from blue to red every 2 seconds as the screen updates. Very annoying IMO!

So here is a short script to do most of the same thing. It just writes the netstat output to a file, and only dumps this file to screen when and if the netstat output changes. It also uses some filters to eliminate some things we (errr, I) did not want to be bothered with (e.g. CLOSE_WAIT condition, see the netstat man page).

  #!/bin/sh
  # display netstat output only if it changes

   tmp_file=/tmp/_netstat
   exclude='127\.0\.0.*127\.0\.0\|_WAIT'
   command="netstat -tn |grep -v \"$exclude\""
   eval $command |tee $tmp_save.sav
   while :; do 
     eval $command > $tmp_file.tmp
     ! diff $tmp_file.tmp $tmp_save.sav && clear && cat $tmp_file.tmp |tee $tmp_save.sav
     sleep 2
   done
  

Now the Tab title will only change color when the connections change, and we are alerted accordingly.

Example A-12. Starting with a Split Tab

To have Multi Gnome Terminal start with a split Tab, create a short script like below. Name it something like add-htab.sh.

  #!/bin/sh
   multi-gnome-terminal --add-tab --hsplit
  

Example A-13. Having specific HISTORY files for Tabs

It would be nice if Multi Gnome Terminal could save the bash (or other shell) history for each Tab. So when you opened a new Tab, there is only history from your last session in that Tab. But this can be done with a simple shell script quite easily. Create a script like below, and name it something like bash_wrap.sh:

  #!/bin/sh

    if [ "$1" == "" ]
    then
     BEXT=""
    else
     BEXT=-$1
    fi
    
    export HISTFILE=$HOME/.bash_history$BEXT
    exec bash --login
 

Put this script in your PATH somewhere (e.g. /usr/local/bin/). Now edit your custom Multi Gnome Terminal Commands to use the name of this script, instead of just "bash", and some unique argument for the script:

  Name          Path            Command
  -------------------------------------------------
  Shell1        None          bash_wrap.sh  myshell1
  Shell2        None          bash_wrap.sh  myshell2
  Shell3        None          bash_wrap.sh  myshell3
 

What identifier you use for the argument (e.g myshell1), is not important, just so it is unique. Now bash will load that history file whenever that Tab is opened. (The above functionality is available with mgt-helper as mgt-helper -h EXT.)