screen

Great GNU screen tips from Damien Krotkine. Modify your ~/.screenrc file as follows:

vbell on
defscrollback 5000
caption always "%{= kw}%-w%{= BW}%n %t%{-}%+w %-= @%H - %LD %d %LM - %c"

Now you get a cool console at the bottom. By the way, to change the title of a screen, use CTRL-a, CTRL-A