How can I keep terminal input and output separate. So that what I am typing does not get confused by output

Question

What I mean by that is when a program is running (let's say, telnet), any inputted text gets lost when something is written on the screen. For example, on a chat server,

I type

> Hey, I'd like to ask y

Suddenly I receive a string, and now my screen looks like this

> Hey, I'd like to ask yHey, what's up?

I can still continue to write and hit return to successfully send the string, but I'd like to have my input move down like so

Hey, what's up?

> Hey' I'd like to ask y

How can I do that? I use bash and lxterminal

UPDATE So here's a quick and dirty solution: anytime your input gets lost, press ^R to recover it.

It's the same problem, but it's not solved. – Manheim May 14 '20 at 10:08 — Manheim, May 14 '20 at 10:08

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 11 '20 at 14:16

1

Version 2

Version 1 (below) did not work, as the input went to the parent terminal, but is not processed. So I had another go. We have to have the program run in the input terminal, it gets its input as normal. Then directs its output to the other terminal. I think it should work, but have not tested (no mud server).

xterm -e bash -c "telnet mud > '$(readlink -f /dev/stdin)'"

Version 1

I used to use a separate terminal for input.

Create input terminal by doing:

xterm -e bash -c "cat > '$(readlink -f /dev/stdin)'"

How it works

First the readlink -f /dev/stdin determines the terminal you are in. It does this by following the symlinks from /dev/stdin. These are dynamic (they change), depending on the process that looks.
The command now looks like xterm -e bash -c "cat > '/dev/pts/x'"
Next xterm runs and launches bash that launches cat redirected to this terminal.

edited Jun 11 '20 at 14:16

Community

1

answered May 14 '20 at 10:53

ctrl-alt-delor

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It's a great idea, thanks for sharing. Can you please explain how it works? – Manheim May 14 '20 at 13:41
Thank you for explaining it! – Manheim May 14 '20 at 14:57
I just tried it out, and it doesn't work. The input is sent over, but it's not registered. If I input "man tty" it's printed without any action. The same is true for telnet. I tried both xterm and lxterminal. I'm on archlinux. Any ideas? – Manheim May 14 '20 at 15:11
Oh Yes. Now you point it out, it is obvious. I will have another think. – ctrl-alt-delor May 14 '20 at 18:09
It works! It works with lxterminal and with xterm. Thanks again! – Manheim May 16 '20 at 08:53
There are still problems with version2. Depending on what you connect to, it may not work. – ctrl-alt-delor May 16 '20 at 09:29

How can I keep terminal input and output separate. So that what I am typing does not get confused by output

1 Answers1

Version 2

Version 1

How it works