GNU Screen its one of those programs that you just can’t stop using once you've started. It allows to run many shell processes in a single terminal and easily switch between them.
If you are new to it - you can find some basic usage tips here (pictures will help you to understand).
My .screenrc gives a printout of host name, name of current process, load average and then a series of nameable tabs similar to a task bar, highlighting the active screen. Hope that somebody will find it useful.
How to install it:
mv ~/.screenrc ~/.screenrc.old; cd; wget sysadmin.md/stuff/.screenrc