Great project. It would be even better if it supported platforms other than Mac.
I'm working on a Windows version.
Show HN: WhatCable, a tiny menu bar app for inspecting USB-C cables
61–70 of 185 posts
Re: Show HN: WhatCable, a tiny menu bar app for inspecting USB-C cables
#62This is pretty nice, but why do a lot of Mac apps insist on living in the menu bar?
Making 1 click to access is faster than typing the app name in finder. Dock is usually full and used for different type of apps. Makes also constantly visible output possible with standard ui patterns.
> Dock is usually full
My menu bar is also full and, unlike the Dock, I can’t resize it to fit more.
Re: Show HN: WhatCable, a tiny menu bar app for inspecting USB-C cables
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
OK, thanks. We understand what a menu bar is. How is this conducive to the typical usage pattern of an app like this?
Are you saying you wish this was a desktop app and you would just open it occasionally when curious? If so, it feels like a needlessly indirect and combative way to go about it.
Why is it "combative"? Seems like a needlessly hyperbolic description of launching a desktop app.
Re: Show HN: WhatCable, a tiny menu bar app for inspecting USB-C cables
#64I would like to ask an LLM to rewrite it as Python CLI script. Is it even possible, or some Swift-only functionality is necessary? P.S. Some time ago I learnt through HN of a one-line command in macOS which revealed the power (Wattage) of the connected charger. Can't find it now, but it was very useful.
`system_profiler SPPowerDataType | grep "Wattage"`?
Yes, something like this. Thanks!
Re: Show HN: WhatCable, a tiny menu bar app for inspecting USB-C cables
#65Thanks for creating this. I'm blind so the $16 USB tester off amazon to sort through my drawer of cables is not an option. This will stop me from needing to buy a sbc just so I have something running Linux to test cables.
Re: Show HN: WhatCable, a tiny menu bar app for inspecting USB-C cables
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
To save me 10 mins and $2, is this posted to GitHub somewhere?
Absolutely this is worth packaging for KDE. Although I imagine if you don't have the motivation to make it in the first place, you likely don't have the motivation to package it.
I feel like this is so lazy bothering maintainers for it is not great.
Re: Show HN: WhatCable, a tiny menu bar app for inspecting USB-C cables
#67This is pretty nice, but why do a lot of Mac apps insist on living in the menu bar?
Making 1 click to access is faster than typing the app name in finder. Dock is usually full and used for different type of apps. Makes also constantly visible output possible with standard ui patterns.
And ‘every’ Mac developer thinks people will want to run their tool all the time.
For this kind of read-only tool, I doubt that’s the case. A regular application probably serves most users better.
Also, if you want users to have the option of permanently displaying this kind of info, a desktop widget (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/widgetkit) may be a better option than a menu bar item.
Re: Show HN: WhatCable, a tiny menu bar app for inspecting USB-C cables
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
Making 1 click to access is faster than typing the app name in finder. Dock is usually full and used for different type of apps. Makes also constantly visible output possible with standard ui patterns.
And ‘every’ Mac developer thinks people will want to run their tool all the time. For this kind of read-only tool, I doubt that’s the case. A regular application probably serves most users better. Also, if you want users to have the option of permanently displaying this kind of info, a desktop widget ( https://developer.apple.com/documentation/widgetkit ) may be a better option than a menu bar item.
Exactly, this should just be a regular app with an optional menu bar option for those who want to switch it on.
Re: Show HN: WhatCable, a tiny menu bar app for inspecting USB-C cables
#69Re: Show HN: WhatCable, a tiny menu bar app for inspecting USB-C cables
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
OK, thanks. We understand what a menu bar is. How is this conducive to the typical usage pattern of an app like this?
For some reason the app supports a separate standalone window mode as well [0]. It's not clear why the developer took the trouble to support two different modes when the menubar mode doesn't seem to add anything (like a live-updating icon for throughput). Well, I can think of one reason why it wasn't that much more trouble. François Chollet had a nice tweet [1] on why removing human cognitive friction is resulting in…
> removing human cognitive friction is resulting in needless software complexity
This is kind of a hilarious statement just on the surface. Isn't removing burden from humans the whole purpose of software? How can you call the complexity "needless"?!
(the actual tweet seems to go into a bit more detail around being incentivized to find good abstractions)