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Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

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Re: Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

#501

Post by digi_owl »

avar wrote: post #120
cperciva wrote: post #79

Chrome, the fast, stable, and lightweight alternative to Firefox. I don't know quite where it went off the rails...

Chrome's still fast, but other browsers caught up, and more importantly web developers took advantage of the increase in performance and started getting away with writing more bloated websites, resulting in much of the speed gains being nullified. Just try to use Chrome or Firefox to browse relatively lightweight websites (e.g. GNU.org), they're amazingly fast compared to what browsers used to be like before Chrome c…

Why i first started using Noscript.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

#502

Post by robk »

rcarmo wrote: post #189

PageMaker: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_PageMaker I used it to typeset nearly all of my academic work until I was forced to switch to Word by peer pressure. Adobe made a complete hash of it, and none of those files are readable anymore.

InDesign should read them I believe

Re: Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

#503

Post by dgallagher »

sarreph wrote: post #261
skrebbel wrote: post #165

Jasc Paint Shop Pro. This tool had the useful half of Illustrator's features and the useful half of Photoshop's, it was blazing fast, and it combined them in a single program so you could mix vector and raster layers. This made it absolutely perfect for web-targeted graphics work. It was the first software I legally bought because it was so good and still affordable (a fraction of the price of Adobe's stuff - somethi…

It sounds to me like you're describing Affinity Designer - you might want to check it out if you haven't already. It's relatively very cheap and one of the few pieces of software that I use daily that I am very happy paying the list price for! I vaguely remember having Jasc installed as a kid and it was indeed great!

Affinity Designer is really great for vector graphics, and exporting to raster. Super fast. Super easy to learn.

Their developers are very active. They have a beta available to owners. I've encountered a few minor bugs in their App Store version, downloaded the beta, and noticed it was fixed.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

#505

Post by corford »

pjc50 wrote: post #284
skrebbel wrote: post #165

Jasc Paint Shop Pro. This tool had the useful half of Illustrator's features and the useful half of Photoshop's, it was blazing fast, and it combined them in a single program so you could mix vector and raster layers. This made it absolutely perfect for web-targeted graphics work. It was the first software I legally bought because it was so good and still affordable (a fraction of the price of Adobe's stuff - somethi…

I think Paint.Net is probably the closest current tool to PSP.

Second this! I loved PSP and used it daily. When I lost the binary I hunted around for a replacement for ages and finally settled on Paint.NET. It's not as good but works well enough.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

#506

Post by xor-xor »

fit2rule wrote: post #411
therealmarv wrote: post #410

Total Commander (yes it's still available and still great but I'm not using Windows anymore, now OS X). I even miss Windows Explorer... I will never get in love with Finder on OS X.. most horrible File Manager ever. Finder is like a punishment for everybody switching to OS X (I want copy&paste and folders first everywhere, gosh). Thunar on XFCE was also ok. At least ForkLift nowadays helps me not to be angry at my Ma…

On Linux and OSX: Midnight Commander! (apt-get install mc) || (brew install mc)

...or ranger [1], if you're into vi-like keybindings.

[1] http://ranger.nongnu.org/

Re: Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

#507

Post by zevv »

A phone with a proper SSH client and a real keyboard; I have owned and loved (in this order) the Nokia E71 and N900, HTC Desire Z, Motorola Droid 4 and Photon Q. But now I am out of options, as there are no worthy successors to any of these devices. Modern phones and tablets are not about production, but only about consuming. A lot of thought goes into the output devices, but the only input device - the touchscreen - is not enough to get real work done.

I still find typing on a touchscreen cumbersome, especially entry of special characters is a hassle. This makes managing remote systems or programming very hard to do.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

#508

Post by Thriptic »

FatalBaboon wrote: post #382
anexprogrammer wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lenovo destroyed the Thinkpad legacy. I gave up on them a few years ago when they dropped the 7 row keyboard. The 7 row keyboard was leagues ahead of any other laptop keyboard, ever. The replacement keyboard is awful. I hate the loss of web forward/back keys too. I hate chicklet keys. I hate pgup/dn placed as though I'll almost never use them. I still prefer the trackpoint over any touchpad. I'd buy a retro Thinkpad,…

It's too bad Lenovo ripped before I ever bought one, I often see nostalgious people. Have you tried system76 laptops? A bit expensive but no real flaw so far for me.

I believe System76 uses rebranded Clevos. I own a Sager which is also a rebranded Clevo and it has the worst build quality of any computer I have ever owned.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

#509

Post by ge0rg »

zevv wrote: post #507

A phone with a proper SSH client and a real keyboard; I have owned and loved (in this order) the Nokia E71 and N900, HTC Desire Z, Motorola Droid 4 and Photon Q. But now I am out of options, as there are no worthy successors to any of these devices. Modern phones and tablets are not about production, but only about consuming. A lot of thought goes into the output devices, but the only input device - the touchscreen -…

Oh yes, I absolutely loved the Desire Z (the other ones didn't quite make it to the European market). Haptic feedback is really important, and the little bonus features like the OK button/trackpad/notification LED were a great design.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

#510

Post by rlonstein »

mondoshawan wrote: post #499
dcuthbertson wrote: post #483

I prefer a trackball to a mouse, and the one I liked best was the Microsoft Trackball Explorer. I liked that I could control the trackball with my fingers and use my thumb for the wheel and buttons. Pointing is much more precise that way.

This. I use a Kensington trackball nowadays as a replacement and hope to never go back to a mouse again. Putting the ball under the least accurate fingers was so weird.

+1 for the Kensington Expert Mouse, I have 3. The quality of the scroll ring is up for debate but the device overall is much better than anything else I've used.

I also miss the Logitech Trackman Wheel optical. It was cheap, light, and worked very well. I still have one for occasional use.

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