terminal multiplexers - screen screen is a unix utility that lets you manage multiple shells from within a single window. You switch between them with a few keystrokes. When you disconnect it keeps the processes alive, and you can reconnect from another login. It’s pretty handy. tmux[1] does a similar set of things. a nice screen tutorial[2] from ~jonathan will walk you through it. [1] tmux.html [2] http://tilde.club/~jonathan/screen/