(add-to-list 'display-buffer-alist
'("\\*e?shell\\*"
(display-buffer-in-side-window)
(side . bottom)
(slot . -1) ;; -1 == L 0 == Mid 1 == R
(window-height . 0.33) ;; take 2/3 on bottom left
(window-parameters
(no-delete-other-windows . nil))))
(add-to-list 'display-buffer-alist
'("\\*\\(Backtrace\\|Compile-log\\|Messages\\|Warnings\\)\\*"
(display-buffer-in-side-window)
(side . bottom)
(slot . 0)
(window-height . 0.33)
(window-parameters
(no-delete-other-windows . nil))))
(add-to-list 'display-buffer-alist
'("\\*\\([Hh]elp\\|Command History\\|command-log\\)\\*"
(display-buffer-in-side-window)
(side . right)
(slot . 0)
(window-width . 80)
(window-parameters
(no-delete-other-windows . nil))))
(add-to-list 'display-buffer-alist
'("\\*TeX errors\\*"
(display-buffer-in-side-window)
(side . bottom)
(slot . 3)
(window-height . shrink-window-if-larger-than-buffer)
(dedicated . t)))
(add-to-list 'display-buffer-alist
'("\\*TeX Help\\*"
(display-buffer-in-side-window)
(side . bottom)
(slot . 4)
(window-height . shrink-window-if-larger-than-buffer)
(dedicated . t)))
That would be perfect on my Hannah Montana Linux installation :-)
Have you tried taking that on a plane?