<html><head><style type='text/css'>p { margin: 0; }</style></head><body><div style='font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000'>">&" (or "&>") together mean send standard out and standard error to the following file. They will get interpreted by the shell not get passed into mate-terminal. In other words, it's the std out/err of mate-terminal itself being sent to /dev/null. I don't know if mate-terminal actually generates any std out/err but it couldn't hurt. The second & by itself is the background one.<br><br><div>Scott<br><hr id="zwchr"><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><b>From: </b>"Ron Frazier (ALE)" <atllinuxenthinfo@techstarship.com><br><b>To: </b>"Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts" <ale@ale.org><br><b>Sent: </b>Thursday, April 18, 2013 10:50:44 AM<br><b>Subject: </b>Re: [ale] how do I - icon starts script starts 4 scripts<br><br>Hi Phil,<br><br>Thanks for the note. I'll look up the disown command.<br><br>Wouldn't using >/dev/nul send all the output of my sub scripts to a <br>black hole instead of their terminal windows? I wouldn't be able to see <br>their output then.<br><br>Also, why did you suggest a second "&" command?<br><br>Sincerely,<br><br>Ron<br><br><br>On 4/18/2013 8:54 AM, Phil Turmel wrote:<br>> Hi Ron,<br>><br>> On 04/17/2013 09:35 PM, Ron Frazier (ALE) wrote:<br>><br>> <br>>> #!/bin/bash -eu<br>>> # program to start all mining scripts<br>>> cd ~/mining-scripts<br>>> # commands to start the first miner<br>>> mate-terminal --geometry=70x4+1800+100 -t "Miner 1" -e ./miner1&<br>>> # commands to start the second miner<br>>> mate-terminal --geometry=70x4+1800+250 -t "Miner 2" -e ./miner2&<br>>> # commands to start the third miner<br>>> mate-terminal --geometry=70x4+1800+400 -t "Miner 3" -e ./miner3&<br>>> # commands to start the fourth miner<br>>> mate-terminal --geometry=70x4+1800+550 -t "Miner 4" -e ./miner4&<br>>> echo "Press enter to continue."<br>>> read junk<br>>><br>>> I have to use mate-terminal to activate Mint's terminal emulator. The<br>>> --geometry option (mentioned by both you and Brian) sets the window size<br>>> for each MINERx script as well as a location so they all stack up on the<br>>> right of my monitor. The -t option specifies a unique title for each<br>>> window. Each MINERx program is started with the "&" command (also<br>>> mentioned by you and Brian) so the master script keeps on going without<br>>> waiting. For some reason, I had to put the read command at the end of<br>>> the START-MINERS script or the sub scripts never kick off. I have no<br>>> idea why.<br>>> <br>> When a script ends, bash kills off any unfinished background tasks. To<br>> avoid this, the script must explicitly "disown" them. However, the<br>> background tasks that are still connected to the original terminal's<br>> file descriptors might suicide on the loss of those pipes.<br>><br>> I would rewrite your script as follows:<br>><br>> #!/bin/bash -eu<br>> # program to start all mining scripts<br>> cd ~/mining-scripts<br>><br>> # commands to start the first miner<br>> mate-terminal --geometry=70x4+1800+100 -t "Miner 1" -e ./miner1&>/dev/null&<br>><br>> # commands to start the second miner<br>> mate-terminal --geometry=70x4+1800+250 -t "Miner 2" -e ./miner2&>/dev/null&<br>><br>> # commands to start the third miner<br>> mate-terminal --geometry=70x4+1800+400 -t "Miner 3" -e ./miner3&>/dev/null&<br>><br>> # commands to start the fourth miner<br>> mate-terminal --geometry=70x4+1800+550 -t "Miner 4" -e ./miner4&>/dev/null&<br>><br>> # Disconnect the background tasks from this script<br>> disown -a<br>><br>><br>><br>> HTH,<br>><br>> <br><br><br>-- <br><br>(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to<br>call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy<br>mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email messages very quickly.)<br><br>Ron Frazier<br>770-205-9422 (O) Leave a message.<br>linuxdude AT techstarship.com<br>Litecoin: LZzAJu9rZEWzALxDhAHnWLRvybVAVgwTh3<br>Bitcoin: 15s3aLVsxm8EuQvT8gUDw3RWqvuY9hPGUU<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Ale mailing list<br>Ale@ale.org<br>http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale<br>See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br>http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo<br></div><br></div></div></body></html>