Clipboard without KDE

Hi all I'm setting up an old laptop. It doesn't really have the umph to handle KDE or Gnome, and because it's a laptop I don't really want a mouse based environment anyway. So, I installed Ion3, which I've used before and very nice it is too, but the only thing I can't get to work with it is some sort of clipboard for cutting and pasting between applications. Anyone have any ideas on how to cut and paste between two terminal sessions? Ion3 does run an X-server, so it should have all the facilities of X, which *should* include a clipboard, but I can't get it to work. On a semi-related note, is it possible to have a clipboard without X? For instance, between two virtual terminals on boot-up (Alt-F1, Alt-F2 for instance)? TIA. jalal