Ask HN: Struggling with managing i3/tmux/vim. Need to simplify.
The user relies on i3, tmux, and vim for a keyboard-driven, browser-free workflow but feels overwhelmed by the complexity and number of keybindings required to manage windows, panes, and buffers. Despite appreciating the power and flexibility of these tools, they struggle with efficiency and simplicity, especially when solving common issues like hiding tmux panes. They are seeking simpler alternatives or configurations that maintain productivity without increasing cognitive load.
- ▪The user uses i3, tmux, and vim for a mouse-free, browser-free workflow.
- ▪They find tmux keybinds awkward compared to i3 and are overwhelmed by the number of shortcuts to remember.
- ▪A specific pain point is the lack of a convenient way to hide tmux panes within their current setup.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
I use i3 for managing my tiles/windows ( and I like the features like the scratch pad). I like tmux even though it has pretty awful keybinds (relative to i3) for pane/window navigation, but it's super convenient for managing and saving sessions and restoring them when i reboot my laptop.For many years, I've used marimo/jupyter/obsidian for research and writing notes and vim for quick edits, but I've switched to primarily vim as my go to editor and it's been nice to ditch the browser and focus on 1 tool, plus plugins like telescope are very convenient.But I'm getting overwhelmed with the variety of options I have for navigating/switching/resizing my windows/panes/buffers/sessions/etc.There's a lot of keybinds to remember and execute on the fly, and honestly I'm running out of meta keys.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Ycombinator.