I was able to use mpv to watch some anime I had downloaded on tty. Does this mean this was only possible because I already had xorg installed and running (I was using qtile prior to that)? I’m not sure if that’s how that works though.

I’ve found sc-im to be very useful, but I’m still a little new to it. Visidata is another one that seems to be a lot more powerful than sc-im.

Messaging, reading, school work, watching anime, music, web browsing (may not be able to do this one nicely though). My use cases are very simple to implement on tty-only I think.

Yes, I know how to this. I think the way I’m saying it is confusing so let me explain. I know how to install a minimal system without a GUI, however I needed advice on the tools to be able to run this system effectively (i.e. tmux, byobu, and other things people have been mentioning).

Well yeah, but I want to know any tips on doing it effectively. If I just “don’t install a DE” I wouldn’t know where to go from there.

Thanks a lot, I’ll definitely try the terminal multiplexers you’re talking about. I wondered how you would get different windows in tty.

I actually am using a manual Arch install. What i meant by gaining confidence is completely abandoning xorg and using the tty only.