diff --git a/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py b/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py
index 82eb15b..00de609 100644
--- a/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py
+++ b/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py
@@ -227,6 +227,7 @@ class InteractiveShell(Configurable, Magic):
         # These are relatively independent and stateless
         self.init_ipython_dir(ipython_dir)
         self.init_instance_attrs()
+        self.init_environment()
 
         # Create namespaces (user_ns, user_global_ns, etc.)
         self.init_create_namespaces(user_ns, user_global_ns)
@@ -396,6 +397,10 @@ class InteractiveShell(Configurable, Magic):
         # interactive statements or whole blocks.
         self.input_splitter = IPythonInputSplitter()
 
+    def init_environment(self):
+        """Any changes we need to make to the user's environment."""
+        pass
+
     def init_encoding(self):
         # Get system encoding at startup time.  Certain terminals (like Emacs
         # under Win32 have it set to None, and we need to have a known valid
@@ -1869,7 +1874,7 @@ class InteractiveShell(Configurable, Magic):
         Parameters
         ----------
         cmd : str
-          Command to execute (can not end in '&', as bacground processes are
+          Command to execute (can not end in '&', as background processes are
           not supported.
         split : bool, optional
         
diff --git a/IPython/core/magic.py b/IPython/core/magic.py
index 2029e26..31ba558 100644
--- a/IPython/core/magic.py
+++ b/IPython/core/magic.py
@@ -577,7 +577,6 @@ Currently the magic system has the following functions:\n"""
         """Provide extra detailed information about an object.
     
         '%pinfo2 object' is just a synonym for object?? or ??object."""
-        print 'pinfo2 par: <%s>' % parameter_s  # dbg
         self.shell._inspect('pinfo', parameter_s, detail_level=1,
                             namespaces=namespaces)
 
@@ -2509,6 +2508,7 @@ Defaulting color scheme to 'NoColor'"""
             #     atab.append(k, v[0])
 
             print "Total number of aliases:", len(aliases)
+            sys.stdout.flush()
             return aliases
         
         # Now try to define a new one
@@ -2917,11 +2917,8 @@ Defaulting color scheme to 'NoColor'"""
         except ValueError:
             var,cmd = '',''
         # If all looks ok, proceed
-        out = self.shell.getoutput(cmd)
-        if opts.has_key('l'):
-            out = SList(out.splitlines())
-        else:
-            out = LSString(out)
+        split = 'l' in opts
+        out = self.shell.getoutput(cmd, split=split)
         if opts.has_key('v'):
             print '%s ==\n%s' % (var,pformat(out))
         if var:
@@ -2965,9 +2962,7 @@ Defaulting color scheme to 'NoColor'"""
         system commands."""
 
         if parameter_s:
-            out = self.shell.getoutput(parameter_s)
-            if out is not None:
-                return SList(out.splitlines())
+            return self.shell.getoutput(parameter_s)
 
     def magic_r(self, parameter_s=''):
         """Repeat previous input.
diff --git a/IPython/zmq/zmqshell.py b/IPython/zmq/zmqshell.py
index 4fdbd5e..f3a7d00 100644
--- a/IPython/zmq/zmqshell.py
+++ b/IPython/zmq/zmqshell.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import re
 from IPython.core.interactiveshell import (
     InteractiveShell, InteractiveShellABC
 )
+from IPython.core import page
 from IPython.core.displayhook import DisplayHook
 from IPython.core.macro import Macro
 from IPython.core.payloadpage import install_payload_page
@@ -78,6 +79,19 @@ class ZMQInteractiveShell(InteractiveShell):
 
     displayhook_class = Type(ZMQDisplayHook)
 
+    def init_environment(self):
+        """Configure the user's environment.
+
+        """
+        env = os.environ
+        # These two ensure 'ls' produces nice coloring on BSD-derived systems
+        env['TERM'] = 'xterm-color'
+        env['CLICOLOR'] = '1'
+        # Since normal pagers don't work at all (over pexpect we don't have
+        # single-key control of the subprocess), try to disable paging in
+        # subprocesses as much as possible.
+        env['PAGER'] = 'cat'
+        env['GIT_PAGER'] = 'cat'
 
     def auto_rewrite_input(self, cmd):
         """Called to show the auto-rewritten input for autocall and friends.
@@ -485,5 +499,37 @@ class ZMQInteractiveShell(InteractiveShell):
         raise NotImplementedError(
             'pylab support must be enabled in command line options.')
 
+    # A few magics that are adapted to the specifics of using pexpect and a
+    # remote terminal
+
+    def magic_clear(self, arg_s):
+        """Clear the terminal."""
+        if os.name == 'posix':
+            self.shell.system("clear")
+        else:
+            self.shell.system("cls")
+
+    if os.name == 'nt':
+        # This is the usual name in windows
+        magic_cls = magic_clear
+
+    # Terminal pagers won't work over pexpect, but we do have our own pager
+    
+    def magic_less(self, arg_s):
+        """Show a file through the pager.
+
+        Files ending in .py are syntax-highlighted."""
+        cont = open(arg_s).read()
+        if arg_s.endswith('.py'):
+            cont = self.shell.pycolorize(cont)
+        page.page(cont)
+
+    magic_more = magic_less
+
+    # Man calls a pager, so we also need to redefine it
+    if os.name == 'posix':
+        def magic_man(self, arg_s):
+            """Find the man page for the given command and display in pager."""
+            page.page(self.shell.getoutput('man %s' % arg_s, split=False))
 
 InteractiveShellABC.register(ZMQInteractiveShell)