GNU screen slow when using vertical split

[Joel Eidsath]

Binary package hint: screen

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
screen 4.0.3-14ubuntu1

The current Ubuntu screen package is very slow to scroll when you use a vertical split window. I believe that a special Debian patch is being used to add the vertical split functionality since there has not yet been a GNU screen release with this functionality.

Reproduction instructions:

1) Invoke screen
2) Create a vertical split (ctrl-a |)
3) Run 'less my_large_file'

Not that it takes a very long time to scroll down the screen.

Fix:

Compiling screen from the latest trunk on git fixes this issue. Their vertical split implementation appears to be better than the Debian patch. Also, they have the very useful command 'focus prev' which in combination with 'focus' makes getting around easier when you have several vertical and horizontal splits open.

Joel Eidsath