tldr:
* I installed console-only Debian on an old laptop (no desktop OS at all)
* I added some packages to make it work better for writing:
* network-manager for connecting to hotspots while I'm away
* kmscon for custom fonts and more than 16 colors in the tty
* tmux for a nice status
I haven’t tried zellij yet, but I’ll give it a shot (thanks).
If I had to guess, it’s that there are a ton of plug-ins for tmux and she’s more comfortable with tmux.
Really, any terminal multiplexer will work fine. You just need to be able to do multiple things at once, Linux offers a plethora of choices for this.