diff --git a/src/modules/punk/repl-0.1.tm b/src/modules/punk/repl-0.1.tm
index ac08c9e5..3a6cab6c 100644
--- a/src/modules/punk/repl-0.1.tm
+++ b/src/modules/punk/repl-0.1.tm
@@ -1364,14 +1364,42 @@ proc repl::repl_handler {inputchan prompt_config} {
                         lassign [dict get $outconf -winsize] cols rows 
                     } else {
                         #fallback - try external executable. Which is a bit ugly
-                        #tput can work on windows too if it's installed e.g from msys2
+                        #tput can't seem to get dimensions (on FreeBSD at least) when not run interactively - ie via exec. (always returns 80x24 no matter if run with <@stdin)
+
+                        #bizarrely - tput can work with exec on windows if it's installed e.g from msys2
                         #but can be *slow* compared to unix e.g 400ms+ vs <2ms on FreeBSD !
+                        #stty -a is 400ms+ vs 500us+ on FreeBSD
+                        
+                        if {"windows" eq $::tcl_platform(platform)} {
+                            set tputcmd [auto_execok tput]
+                            if {$tputcmd ne ""} {
+                                if {![catch {exec {*}$tputcmd cols lines} values]} {
+                                    lassign $values cols rows
+                                }        
+                            }
+                        }
 
-                        set tputcmd [auto_execok tput]
-                        if {$tputcmd ne ""} {
-                            if {![catch {exec {*}$tputcmd cols lines} values]} {
-                                lassign $values cols rows
-                            }        
+                        if {![string is integer -strict $cols] || ![string is integer -strict $rows]} {
+                            #same for all platforms? tested on windows, wsl, FreeBSD
+                            #exec stty -a gives a result on the first line like:
+                            #speed xxxx baud; rows rr; columns cc;
+                            #review - more robust parsing - do we know it's first line?
+                            set sttycmd [auto_execok stty]
+                            if {$sttycmd ne ""} {
+                                #the more parseable: stty -g  doesn't give rows/columns
+                                if {![catch {exec {*}$sttycmd -a} result} {
+                                    lassign [split $result \n] firstline
+                                    set lineparts [split $firstline {;}] ;#we seem to get segments that look well behaved enough to be treated as tcl lists - review - regex? 
+                                    set rowinfo [lsearch $lineparts -index end -inline $lineparts rows]
+                                    if {[llength $rowinfo] == 2} {
+                                        set rows [lindex $rowinfo 0]
+                                    }
+                                    set colinfo [lsearch $lineparts -index end -inline $lineparts columns]
+                                    if {[llength $colinfo] == 2} {
+                                        set cols [lindex $colinfo 0]
+                                    }
+                                }
+                            }
                         }
                     }
                     if {[string is integer -strict $cols] && [string is integer -strict $rows]} {